Jaguar UK – Campaign work for Heritage

AmbientLife Commercial Automotive Car Photographer Tim Wallace recently worked with our client Jaguar at their centre in Gaydon, UK to shoot the 2015 Jaguar Heritage Campaign. Tim has been working with Jaguar and their Marketing Agency Epsilon on the campaign utilising Tim’s strong dramatic approach to his car photography. The brief was to produce a series of high quality images that will be used in online and print media advertising over 2015 within Jaguar as well and some of the work that we produced has already been used for the Jaguar displays at the Classic Car Motor Show that was recently held at the NEC in Birmingham.

Jaguar Land Rover joined our client list back in 2009 and since then we have worked closely with them on both Land Rover related projects as well as shooting work with Jaguar, mainly on their ‘Heritage’ side of the business. We have produced and shot work at their dedicated design centre at Gaydon with Land Rover, as well as on the Gaydon test track proving ground that both Jaguar and Land Rover share along with Aston martin. We are very familiar with the protocols and processes involved in using these facilities both effectively and within the required safety parameters and have built a great rapport and mutual professional relationship up also with the facilities staff and the core business test drivers that we often work closely with.

Tim – “We did the campaign shoot with Jaguar UK for their ‘Heritage’ division of the business over a two separate shoots both over multiple days The first concentrating on the range of cars themselves in both motion and static shots and then a separate session where we were shooting lit scenes of the cars in the Jaguar Heritage workshops as well as shooting the parts photography for the campaign.
It was good to be on familiar ground working at the test track in Gaydon and at the Jaguar facilities there. I have spent a lot of time here over the years at Gaydon and the proving ground, a facility that Aston Martin also share with Jaguar as well as the Land Rover element of Jaguar Land Rover as a Company. One of my main reasons to choose to shoot the ‘dynamic motion’ work and stills / range shots at the test track facility is that away from the main high speed test circuit there is a area that is titled the ‘low emissions’ test straights and these are very similar in appearance to a normal dual carriageway and with this it meant that we had the ability to shoot from a specially modified Range Rover along both sides of that test area without being disturbed and in complete safety. Shooting the motion work and using a car to car shooting technique as I did in this instance can be a very quick and efficient way to work however there are many issues that need to be considered and all the safety aspects come into play because when you are hanging out of the back of a chase vehicle at speeds up to 65mph you very clearly need to have confidence in not only your own safety equipment but also in the person that is driving you. I am very lucky that whenever I shoot in this way at the facility I always use Jaguar, Land Rover, or Aston Martin professional drivers / instructor staff that are not only the very best but also experienced in working with photographers and film crews and thus totally appreciate what is required and what I am looking for. The speed that we shoot at is very much dependant on weather, road surface and light levels as well as the proximity of trees and shrubs in relation to the actual shoot road area, as these give us that all important sense on ‘motion’ and in the case of the Jaguar work most of it was shot at shutter speeds as low as 15th sec, this does take some time to master when you consider that not only are you in a moving vehicle but also hand holding that camera body to achieve those all important ‘hero’ style shots. ”

Tim – “Many people I speak to think that working as a photographer within the car industry simply means turning up at amazing locations with sports cars and shooting dramatic work, true this is very much a perception that I can not deny is fact based at times when we have ‘hero shoots’ of some models, however on the other side of the coin a lot of time is also spent working on other items that are just as important within the car industry such as parts and service. The main idea behind this recent shoot with Jaguar was to create some additional parts based work to run on from pervious parts work that I had shot historically for Jaguar and the images will be used both in direct advertising as well as online media. Parts to some people may be a little boring but to me its a great opportunity to push whats achievable by simply using good create flair and great lighting techniques that I have built up over the years working in the car industry.”

Welcome to new client ‘Covet’

This month saw our first work take place for new client ‘Covet’ who are a new exciting business that is in its launch stages and is based in the UK
Covet specialises in body styling modifications for Range Rover and it is anticipated that the brand will launch fully onto the UK and Worldwide market in early 2015

AmbientLife photographer Tim Wallace has been working with Covert and its designer over the last month and last week Tim spent some time on location in Scotland shooting some of the initial modification products that Covet will be offering to the UK market in 2015. We look forward to supporting Covet and working with them closely in the future to project their branding and products within the UK motor industry and wish them every success with their launch.

New ‘Personal Work’ website is launched

From the age of 7 photographer Tim Wallace of AmbientLife has been obsessed with photography and this week saw the launch of a new website dedicated to Tim’s ‘personal work’. The site features a cross section of some of the work that Tim has shot purely for himself over the last few years on his travels and through his love of photography. At a very early age he first learned to print and develop film, totally inspired by the magic of watching the emerging image appear from under that warm flowing liquid of the developer. His dedication to his craft and his love of photography has taken him on a journey through both his work and his own personal view of the world through his lens.

The Dedicated ‘Personal Work’ website Can be viewed here

Tim – “For me photography has not so much been a career but an obsession over my lifetime, its the foundation of who I am and all that has driven me over the many years that I have been shooting. It is no secret to many that I still love to shoot film even now and for me that is a joy that I can immerse myself into away from my normal day to day commercial work which is firmly grounded within the modern digital era that we can now enjoy. My Personal shooting is not only restricted to film but also I shoot a lot of work these days using my Fuji XPro1, favouring the 14mm f2.8 lens and most recently the new 10mm – 24mm that I find very versatile for the type of work that I like to capture.
This sort of photography for me is almost like getting back to basics, its about the process of thought through to capture to achieve what you want to create through your lens and record that image in the camera as you see it through our own emotions.

I have kept every single camera that I ever shot on from a film perspective over the years, each has their little quirks and joys, each has in many ways a personality and as such they bring their own dimension to a photograph, the lens properties of older camera’s are different to the more perfectly engineered lenses that we enjoy today but in many ways thats something that I really love. The older 50mm f4 Carl Zeiss lens that I shoot with sometimes on the Hasselblad film bodies is a lens that has a softness to its edges, a pleasing effect when used wide open.”

“I can still remember my very first picture that I ever took, it was a scene from a roof top looking across to a dockyard across the roof tops and aerials of the houses in front of me. I shot it on a Nikon F that belonged to my grand father and was not too sure on the exposure so when I developed the film I decided to heat that up slightly and extend the development time. I remember the negative being very ‘thin’ (under exposed) and the grain was significant but I spent an few hours in the darkroom printing various copies at different sizes and variants and from then on I was hooked totally. I was in love with the fact that I was able to capture the world, or at leads a brief moment of it and keep that forever. Many times when I was younger I was shooting on Nikons and even today I still use Nikon camera’s in my commercial work such as the D4 along side my Hasselblad H4 for medium format digital work, back then my trusty Nikon F was without a light meter that worked so I used to have to guess the exposure on many occasions, this taught me to appreciate the changes in light and how that impacts not only on a scene from an exposure point of view but also how that mixture of exposure and light intensity from the direction of the light in relation to the camera can impact so greatly on the contrast and tonality of a image captured.
It was not long before I was really trying to teach myself who i could mix the light properties in the everyday world with techniques I was discovering with the development stage of the film process. The possibilities seemed endless and it was then i think that I started to gain an understanding of light and how we can use this to create the images that we aim for in our minds when shooting”

“Photography for me a journey rather than a destination and my love of film affair with film will carry on for the rest of my life along with my passion for some of the iconic camera’s that act act as the gateways between that we see in front of us and what we capture with the light through our lens. For many years my personal statement towards photography has always been that ‘out there shooting is where things happen’, and this will always be how I view my life, my future, the world, and how I can represent my view of that world through my lens”

New ‘Pro Book’ launched for Q2

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 Q2 2013 version of the book is now live.

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

Land Rover Pro Live Shoot Event – England

The location was the Land Rover ‘proving ground and test track within the massive Land Rover factory complex in Solihull England. The weather was very British…, and the event was the 2013 Land Rover Pro Live Shoot Seminar Event with Commercial Car Photographer Tim Wallace.
The event itself brought photographers in from far and wide including Denmark, the Netherlands and even one dedicated chap who flew all the way from Melbourne Australia just to attend this one day event with Tim. The event was designed by Tim to give the audience a real feel for what is involved on a professional commercial car shoot, and followed the entire shooting process through from car placement and light positioning to finished photography with full support from Profoto UK and also Nikon UK. The day was spent looking at 2 very different setups using multiple Pro lights working together and also looking at problems that car photographers face whilst on location and how to work to find solutions to these using position and lighting. The vehicles donated kindly by our client Land Rover for the event were the new Range Rover Evoque and the legendary Land Rover G4.

Tim- “Many photographers find ‘live shoots’ in front of a large audience a little daunting for obvious reasons but in my view its really the best way to help people understand not only whats involved technically but also creatively. To try and do this in a class room would be a little I think like trying to explain how to drive to somebody who has never even seen a car…
I’m very fortunate that I have wonderful support on hand from people such as Profoto who are happy to supply both equipment and support staff on the day so that the photographers attending also get an opportunity to try out some of the latest equipment and gain further user based knowledge. I really enjoyed the Land Rover event and it was a resounding success given the very positive feedback that it received.”

Following huge demand since previous years ‘industry first’ live shoot car photography seminars by photographer Tim Wallace the event was sold out quite early on this year however we are now in talks with Calumet and Land Rover to hold additional events to continue to cope with the demand.

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.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

As 2012 grows to a near and Christmas approaches we would like to take the opportunity to wish all our clients and our colleagues a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and fruitful New Year.
2012 has been a very eventful year for Ambientlife and has seen our company complete projects and commercial shoots around the globe as well as Tim continuing his work in delivering seminars in the UK, Europe and the US. We have seen great success from the training video’s that Tim recorded in the US earlier this year as a guest of Scott Kelby and Kelby Training and there are plans to return to the US in early 2013 to record some further classes to add to the catalogue of work available online for people to view. 2012 also saw Tim continue his work with some of our long established clients such as Aston and Jaguar as we strove forward to support these clients with their media requirements such as the exciting new ‘Aston Legend’ book that Tim is currently working on and is expected to be published world wide in 2013, and work for Jaguar to support their needs at international trade shows and motor events.

Tim – “Its been an amazing year that all started off really in the US with the launch of the video work we recored for Kelby, never one to be completely comfortable in front of a camera and more at home behind it I think, but this work has received great reviews across the globe and I am very touched and pleased that so many people have written to me since their release in February to say that these classes have really helped them understand light and look at photography in a different and new way, very well worth while and satisfying.
Its been a busy year with our automotive car work as always and we have had the addition of some pretty big projects that have stretched us at times but its all been a great learning curve in life and one that has lead us to meet some amazing people and visit some remarkable locations and places around the globe. Probably one of my biggest challenges this year has been to start work on the ‘Aston Legends’ book. I remember the first production meeting for this at Aston and at the time it was described to me as like ‘eating an elephant’ one mouth full at a time…lol
There is a huge amount of work to do as you simply don’t realise just what goes into filling a 400 page book until you actually sit down and start to plan it out but I am glad to say that we estimate that we are over 50% of the way through now and its very exciting indeed and I look forward greatly to see the completed book available and on the book store shelves, personally this is a life time goal for me and one thats been very satisfying indeed.
The year ended commercially for us in California shooting various work throughout the area and visiting some truly amazing locations such as Death Valley, LA, and Yosemite National Park. Throughout all our work it would not be possible to achieve the work that I do without the support of those that we work with and most of all my life and business partner Jess who simply is the most supportive and amazing person in her own right with her brilliant behind the scenes work on logistics and locations as well as bring the glue behind the scenes that helps keep everything together and me on the straight and narrow.
The year end is almost here and myself and Jess have taken some time out to be at our home in Switzerland to enjoy this festive period with friends and family not to mention catch up some skiing in the Alps where I hope to survive another year…!
I would like to personally wish all the people that we have met this year a very merry Christmas and a very peaceful and happy New Year as we look forward to many more adventures and challenges ahead of us.”

Land Rover work goes live

Land Rover test all their new vehicles at the infamous Gaydon Proving ground that they share with Jaguar and Aston Martin and recently commercial car photographer Tim Wallace completed a shoot out on the track for our client, Land Rover, to feature the new 2012 Range Rover and Freelander models for use in their global marketing and online material which has now gone live.

The ‘proving ground’ is a test facility that these manufacturers share and proved to be the ideal backdrop in Tim creating the marketing photography required for this Land Rover Project. To get these dramatic shots Tim spent a great deal of the day shooting tethered from the back of a Range Rover whilst being driven by one Land Rovers most experienced senior drivers. With any work such as this their is a very large amount of safety measures and shooting in this way is something that Tim has become very accustomed to over the years with his experience within the motor industry producing work for clients such as Land Rover, Aston Martin and Morgan. The day started with a group planning meeting at the centre’s control tower to work out what was required and talk through positioning and speeds, following this Tim was securely anchored into the rear of the Range Rover using a series of harnesses and safety ropes allowing him to shoot from the back of the vehicle with it totally open to the elements and offering a good shooting platform.

The work that Tim produced for Land Rover will be working its way through their marketing projects in 2012 – 2013 and will help to raise the profile of the Land Rover Experience that the company offers as well as hopefully inspire new customers with its drama and atmosphere.

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”

Land Rover 2 day Pro Seminar is a great success

This week we held the Land Rover ‘live shoot’ seminar event at the Solihull led by UK automotive and commercial advertising photographer Tim Wallace of Ambient Life.
This event is the largest that Calumet are involved with in the UK and it took place at the Land Rover plant in Solihull in a dedicated shooting area that is used by the Land Rover Experience team. The event was aimed at a select group of mainly professional photographers as they were led through a 2 day course consisting of a ‘live shoot’ with Tim on the first day and then a day in the class room to discuss techniques, workflow and post capture routines.

Calumet, Profoto, and Epson provided full product and staff support during the two days and were on hand throughout to assist Tim and help ensure the the attending photographers had the best possible experience. Tim’s ‘live shoot’ seminars started a few years ago after being asked by Jaguar to perform an ‘industry first’ shoot on stage at their Castle Bromwich headquarters.

Land Rover Project Media