Nikon Pro Book – Spring Edition

Nikon launch their Nikon Pro Book for Spring 2013 featuring some photography recently completed by Commercial Car Photographer Tim Wallace during a shoot in Los Angeles using Nikon based equipment with the infamous Aston Martin DBS

Nikon Pro is a very highly successful publication that in the past few years has won five industry awards. It is aimed at working professional photographers and agencies across Europe and demands the highest quality work in its features to showcase the work of professionals from around the globe. Its current readership levels exceed 75,000 and it is also a source for advanced technical information as well as new products that are soon to be available, reports and reviews.

Tim – “I’m delighted that we have had some work chosen for this years exciting Spring edition of Nikon Pro and in many ways its a great honour as I know that Nikon actively choose each year the photography to include from quite literally a global pool. In my work as a professional commercial photographer I use both medium format (Hasselblad H3 / H4) and DSLR (D3s / D4) camera solutions to best adapt and work in what can often be a changing and demanding field of photography. Since the onset of the ‘digital age’ we have heard many voice concerns about if digital holds the quality of film and in my opinion digital as a whole overtook film for dynamic range and quality approx 3 years ago. Nikon is a brand that I am very familiar with having used these camera’s all my life since my first Nikon, a rather battered FM that still resides on top of my book shelve in the office, and for me they are a valuable addition to my high end medium format equipment. I think the comparison between DSLR and medium format will always be made but for me its quite simply a case of what is fit for purpose for the shoot in question. I will never be looking to get 14 frames a second from my Hasselblad but on the other side of things I would not expect to maintain the noise control and speed of my D3s and D4 if it attempted to reproduce the fine definition and resolution from a Hasselblad. In essence each has their role and each has their strong points, as a professional working photographer my only comment would be that its not productive to believe that you must ‘choose’ between either, use what works for you and if that means working on both a DSLR and medium format then pick the best ‘tool’ for the job at that point”

FOCUS on Imaging UK with AmbientLife

FOCUS ON IMAGING is Europe’s biggest annual imaging show, covering all aspects of photography from image capture through to output and beyond. Aimed mainly at the professional image maker and processor, as well as buyers of image making equipment and materials, the top manufacturers from around the World display their latest equipment and developments and this year UK commercial car photographer Tim Wallace has work on display from 3 of the very best, Nikon UK, Profoto Sweden and Epson UK at the show.

Tim -”It’s always great to have our work displayed at an event of this scale and notoriety, over recent years we have seen an increased interest in the work and photography that we create for our European and US based clients from the manufacturers and suppliers themselves which I personally feel is a real credit to the AmbientLife and the people that we work with each year that help us do what we do best, ‘inspire’ through quality photography. In the first few months of 2013 we have been working with Profoto in Sweden to record 4 distinct videos that talk about our work and our approach and are due to be launched globally on April 1st this year. We have also been working with Nikon UK to supply inspirational car photography that they have used across differing marketing campaigns such as the recent Nikon FX brochures released early 2013 and work that is due to be launched in the coming month through the Nikon PRO magazine. We have also had a long standing relationship with Epson UK and as we have done previously at UK and International events with them, we are once again supplying work that they are displaying in their event area as well as using this for large format test print samples to demonstrate their excellence within the professional printing industry. Its a great honour to work with these companies and not only support their drive within the industry but also the industry as a whole.”

Some of our work at the 2013 Epson event within Focus

Nikon FX publication work

Profoto Sweden

Royal Photographic Society Interview

The Royal Photographic Society is one of the oldest and most respected societies in England and recently David Land from the RPS spent some time with Tim Wallace to talk about his work, his outlook on the industry today and where it all started for Tim many years ago to lead him to a path that would see him build a successful international business in just 6 years and become a respected name in the industry. Tim is an ‘Associate’ of the RPS having successfully passed the Associate judging to gain this award just 1 year after starting his business with his work having been featured at exhibitions and events by the RPS on several occasions, later this year Tim will be giving a talk for the society at their headquarters in Bath England.

Royal Photographic Society full interview – PDF Download

Tim’s ARPS Royal Photographic Society – Portfolio

Royal Photographic Society Bath – Lecture and Personal talk by Tim Wallace 19th June 2013 at the RPS Headquarters in Bath.
Tickets are available direct from the Royal Photographic Society here

New Q4 Edition Pro Book now available online

The ‘Pro Book’ represents a online copy of our automotive car photography work presented on screen as a portfolio but more in the traditional sense, a soft copy you could say of the actual Pro Book that we may use in client meetings or with agents. The book is updated four times each year and we are very pleased to announce the launch of the Q4 version of the book.

Tim’s Pro Book for his automotive car photography receives a vast amount of interest from clients and agencies alike and we hope that this new release of Tim’s Portfolio inspires and demonstrates his create style and approach as well as showcasing some of his recent work both in the UK and Internationally.

Commercial Pro Book
A new online dedicated web page version of our Portfolio is available for marketing, agents and clients to view here at http://www.commercialphotographerportfolio.co.uk

Kelby Training Special Offer

Over the last few years we have recorded a series of online video training classes in the US featuring commercial car photographer Tim Wallace for Kelby Training. These online classes have proven to be a huge success and are accessed through a annual subscription system to Kelby Training where not only Tim’s work and classes can be accessed but also that of group of respected photographers from around the World such as Joe McNally.
For a limited time Kelby Training are offering 72 hour access to individuals who may wish to rent a series of training courses.

This offer is only available for a limited time at a cost of $6.99

Nikon FX Brochure

Nikon this week launched a brochure and review of their professional FX range of camera bodies and lenses in conjunction with European based photography magazine ‘Digital SLR’ magazine and some of the work of car photographer Tim Wallace was chosen to be featured to help demonstrate the quality of their optical lenses for the FX lens feature. The photograph features the legendary Shelby GT500. The GT500 is one of the best known from the Shelby stable and is very evocative of the era in which it became a working class hero.

In 1964, Carroll Shelby was asked to enhance the performance of the new Ford Mustang, and the legendary GT350 was born. Initially just for racing, the 1965 GT350 R Model began its dominance on American racing circuits and making a name for itself by winning the SCCA B production championship in 1965, 1966 and 1967.

Ford wanted to put a version on the street known as the GT350 The GT350 was essentially a de-tuned and reworked R Model and it catapulted Mustang into the world of high performance. It became one of the most popular and recognizable brands in the automotive industry. The performance evolution continued with the famed king of the road, the GT500.

DPC South Africa this month featured the work of Ambientlife photographer Tim Wallace.

“This exceptional Commercial Photographer’s work will have you drooling… Tim Wallace is an unbelievably talented Photographer, his shooting style is very pure and his attention to detail explains why he has received so many awards, including, International Advertising Photographer of the Year. Follow the images below, it will most assuredly inspire you…”

Danie Bester, founder and editor of DPC, has been lecturing extensively on photography throughout South Africa for some years. Danie’s love for fine art photography is evident in both his work, as well as his basic and advanced training courses.

DPC was birthed from Danie’s passion to help others with a desire to learn photography skills and techniques. It is the mission and vision of DPC to help novice photographers understand and effectively use their digital cameras, and take creative photographs, which they can be proud of. Danie realized at the outset that, as students of basic photography acquired basic skills, they would want, and need to be trained in more advanced photographic techniques. In partnership with other professional photographers DPC developed advanced courses and practical workshops to align with these goals.

DPC Feature
Read it online live here

Interested in learning how to light and shoot car and automotive photography?
Why not join us here to enjoy over 4 hours of video tutorial classes on car photography Tim Wallace – Kelby Training Instructor

2013 Seminar Events with photographer Tim Wallace
Check out our events booking page and our main seminar page here at AmbientLife

Jaguar Car Photography at the Gaydon High Speed Proving Ground

This week we have been shooting some commercial work for our client at the high speed proving ground at Jaguar Gaydon. The work featured 15 classic Jaguar Heritage models that will make up a 5 ad campaign to be launched in early 2013 as well as material for Jaguar to be used at the Classic Car Show at the NEC later this November.
Tim - “Gaydon test track is one of my favourite places to shoot and its a facility that is shared by both Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin so in many ways its a home from home for me with us shooting work their for both Land Rover and Aston on the tracks there. Its a great facility and offers the manufacturers the chance to test their modifications and prototype cars as well as allowing engineers to record valuable data for improving current builds and developing new strategies for cars that we have yet to see on the roads. Safety is always in the forefront at the facility due to the high speeds that are reached on the main test circuit and the area has several tracks that vary from high speed testing area’s to mock dual carriage way runs and a off road circuit to help test and challenge even the toughest 4×4 off road vehicle. Our shooting there lasted all day and we were tasked with shooting these beautiful classic cars with a dynamic approach for the advertising campaign that will launch in early 2013.”

Interested in learning how to light and shoot car and automotive photography?
Why not join us here to enjoy over 4 hours of video tutorial classes on car photography Tim Wallace – Kelby Training Instructor

2013 Seminar Events with photographer Tim Wallace
Check out our events booking page and our main seminar page here at AmbientLife

2013 Seminar Tour Dates Announced

We are very pleased to announce the dates and venues for the 2013 ‘Be Inspired’ tour of seminars and live shoot Pro events to be held by Photographer Tim Wallace of AmbientLife.
Each year Tim delivers a UK tour of venues around the UK from London to Scotland and talks in depth about subjects such as work flow, commercial photography, business development, and how to improve your technique. The tour events are very soundly based on commercial photography in general and also take an in depth look at many aspects of the photography business. These tours normally take place each year and have always proved very popular.
We look forward to enjoying the tour is 2013 that will start with a ‘Pro live shoot’ event that we have organised with our client Land Rover to be given on the Land Rover proving ground at their plant in Solihull in the UK on the 8th February 2013. The talks this year that Tim has designed and written himself will be delivered throughout the UK starting in February in Edinburgh, Scotland and will cover the major cites including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, with some additional events to be announced soon in the US as well as Holland and Germany.

Tim’s Background
Photographer Tim Wallace is the driving force and creative thinking behind Ambient Life.
An award winning photographer his work is often described as both conceptual and dramatic.
Tim works internationally with many high end brands and clients such as Aston, Land Rover Jaguar and Morgan in the UK to Kenwood and Audi in the US.
His work has been published globally and has been showcased in the infamous’Victor’ Magazine, a industry Worldwide and highly acclaimed industry leading magazine. He was recently named by as one of the UK’s most creative photographers whilst in the US Scott Kelby described Tim recently as one of the Ten most influential photographers in the World today, Tim’s view is a little more straight forward, a man who’s known for his down to earth attitude, his feet are firmly on the ground and his desire to produce creative work is one that he has been driven to from a very young age when he first picked up a camera, “Photography is for me simply a creative passion, the ability to use light and form to capture in a single image what I see in my own imagination…”

He is the humble recipient of many awards including International Advertising Photographer of the Year 2010, UK Motor Industry Photographer of the Year 2010, Hasselblad Photographer of the month Oct 2010, Professional Photographer of the Year 2009 as well as receiving Distinction Awards for his work from such professional boards as the RPS. Tim’s company Ambientlife was recently honored in the Best New Business awards and won the ‘Best new Creative Business Award’ for 2011, something that we are very proud of and a testament to his dedication and drive towards our clients and his work in the field of commercial photography.

“My work is often regarded as conceptual and dramatic and to me photography is a process, you’ll never hear me mutter ‘it’ll be fine’ as that’s simply not enough for me. Life is short and I aim to make mine worth while and interesting with work that I hope reflects this.
My goal in life is to be myself always, be creative, be true and most of all improve just a little part of peoples lives with images that both entertain and sometimes invoke the feelings that I had when I shot them. I’ve won awards and I’m always of the thought that maybe they got the wrong Tim Wallace, hey I’m grateful always but never take myself or any achievements too seriously, life’s too short and people will forget you quickly.
I jumped off a cliff in Norway a few years ago in a BASE jump, why?, well because it felt right for me to do that for myself at that time, I truly believe that anything in life is possible, work hard, be an honest person, tell the people that you love just what they mean to you as often as you can, and most of all be out there shooting because sometimes that’s where amazing things can happen.”

“the journey from A to B and the chance of arriving at C”

2013 Events Schedule

The 2013 seminars are split into two separate types of event that we hope offer something for everybody, from non professional photographers looking to improve their understanding of light and photography through to the Pro talks aimed at professional and established photographers discussing such items as business, marketing, client approach and pricing within the industry

Pro Seminar Talks - ‘Be Inspired and Inspire you clients’

Amateur Seminar Talks - ‘Be Inspired and understand light’

Event Dates

Birmingham Land Rover Pro Shoot
8th February (Friday)
Land Rover Solihull Site – Land Rover Live shoot event

Edinburgh
22nd February (Friday) Pro Seminar Talk
23rd February (Saturday) Amateur Seminar Talk

London
8th March (Friday) Pro Seminar Talk
9th March (Saturday) Amateur Seminar Talk

Birmingham
22nd March (Friday) Pro Seminar Talk
23rd March (Saturday) Amateur Seminar Talk

United States
*5th – 19th April – Dates and Venues to be announced

Manchester
3rd May (Friday) Pro Seminar Talk
4th May (Saturday) Amateur Seminar Talk

Bristol
24th May (Friday) Pro Seminar Talk
25th May (Saturday) Amateur Seminar Talk

Glasgow
7th June (Friday) Pro Seminar Talk
8th June (Saturday) Amateur Seminar Talk

Holland
June – Dates and Venues to be announced Pro Seminar Talk

Germany
June – Dates and Venues to be announced Pro Seminar Talk

How to register and book a place on an event or seminar

All of our UK based seminar talks and Pro live shoot events in the UK can be booked through the main Calumet Seminar central website here where you will see all of Tim’s events and venues clearly laid out with additional details and feedback from previous attendees.

Pro Talk Ingredients

Aimed at business’s already established and possibly struggling for direction or looking to increase workload and focus more.
This seminar is NOT about car photography is about business in the Commercial World of Photography and how to give yourself the best chance of success, the business aspects and the mental state of mind required.
The class is also very much aimed at people thinking about starting as a Professional Photographer and are looking for a better idea of things they need to focus their efforts and planning on to succeed in this difficult market.
If you would like to know how Tim has managed to build his business from scratch in just 6 years to where he is now then this is the seminar for you to attend where Tim discusses business openly and frankly and how his approach to market has helped to give him the success he enjoys today as well respected name known Internationally for his work as well as the recipient of many awards including Commercial Photographer of the Year.

*Planning your business to give it the best chance to succeed in the future…
*Focus your business and understand why we need to do this and how to do this
*Tax Basics and things to consider
*Building a portfolio
*What it ‘really’ takes to be a commercial photographer in 2013
*Marketing yourself and presenting your work to the Clients
*Understanding the minefield of commercial quotes and pricing for work effectively

Amateur Talk Ingredients

Aimed squarely at those that are seeking to learn more about photography and gain a better understanding of light and other elements that turn good pictures into great pictures.
These talks are not based on just understanding digital camera equipment but more looking at the whole discipline of photograhy and more importantly setting the right frame of mind to have a
better approach to talking pictures and in turn enjoying the whole process to allow more creative ideas and work to evolve through a better understanding of light, choosing equipment and
getting rid of some old miss perceptions about photography and what can and can’t be done.

*Camera owner or Photographer?
*Equipment, a look at what you need and what you don’t
*Approaching photography with an open mind
*Light and how to understand it better to improve look and feel of your work
*Lighting basics on minimal equipment
*Processing your files
*Presenting your work
*How to create new inspired work yourself

“Being out there is where things happen,
so do something worth remembering”

Welcome to new client Spellbound

This week we would like to welcome Spellbound as a new client to Ambient Life. The company based just outside London that are passionate about cars and provide a specialised business for the restoration and race preparation of models such as Ferrari and Jaguar. Spellbound Cars is a union of individuals all passionate about iconic cars and the pursuit of excellence. Experience, passion and a great drive to deliver the highest level of service is at the heart of a very unique workshop. The workshop is equipped with high-tech machinery and facilities, enabling restoration or repairs of all levels to be completed in-house. The Spellbound Cars team has wealth of experience in both the building of cars, and from behind the wheel, both on road and track.
They understand what is required to prepare a car to withstand the specific demands of every discipline whether fast touring on Alpine passes, or competing in hillclimbs, sprints, track days, historic championship racing, or even challenges such as the Nordshleife Marathon and the Spa Six Hours and of course Goodwood.