Awesome Vinyl...

Saw this on the Driftworks front page blog, (http://www.driftworks.com/) and I am hugely impressed with the quality of the graphics and vinyl wrapping that this car gets! So I had to share it :D 


Enjoy it & be inspired!



Cararts S-13. from Alexander Kuzmichev on Vimeo.


Awesome, especially considering the car doesn't look like much before the wrapping takes place, love it! 


Oh and Happy Halloween everyone!

Maestro Knows

There are blogs out there that I keep coming back to, some of them have content that I simply find interesting or amusing to read and check out, where as others deeply influence and inspire me, they have an effect on the way I deal with things in my own life and help me think through moments that happen to me and those close around me...


One of those blogs and its creators that I hold in such high regard is Levi Maestro from his blog Maestro Knows.


This guy is all over the internet, so I'm guessing that some if not all of you will have heard of him at some point during your travels on the web, if not then get acquainted and prepare to be impressed by a normal person doing what he does best.


His main site can be found at http://maestroknows.com/ from there you can find his reach extends across youtube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook, as well as appearing on thousands of blogs maintained by people just like me.


The man is an inspiration to me, especially with some of his recent work, sharing with his fans how he has come to be what he is, and how he has never stopped believing in what is possible when you put your mind and energy into it. I love it, and I try and live by what I learn from his thoughts and videos.


So anyway the reason I've taken till now to write about him, is because his new video is just amazing, and I couldn't keep it to myself anymore, so everyone must see it! It's art as far as I'm concerned!


So sit back and enjoy Levi Maestro...



KILLING it SOFTLY from levi maestro on Vimeo.

DSLRs leading the way...

It is amazing what you can do now a days to share stuff with others, filming, editing and broadcasting has become so much simpler as time has gone on, and as I said in a previous blog post this month, thanks to the creation of digital SLRs that allow for HD video, well the range of footage and video productions just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

I found some videos on Vimeo a few weeks back by a man called Tim Hahne, who is a director / film maker and producer from Germany, and the editor behind the short films I want to share with you guys today!

His vimeo page about him can be found here

And the company he represents is called Stereoscreen, and their website can be found here

As I'm pretty sure I've said before somewhere on this blog, the Germans have some real talent for film production! And this is honestly no exception.

I was recently over at the Nurburgring in June of this year, and I went to the new museum that they have built at the site, which is fantastic by the way! and well worth the visit! One of the things that really interested me about that museum was the hype they encouraged concerning the Nurburgring 24HR Race, the video they play you there concerning this is awesome, and in full 3d as well, very cool :D 

So I was looking around on Vimeo for some more exciting footage of the Nurburgring 24HR race series, and I stumbled across this by Tim Hahne and the company Stereoscreen. 

24 HOURS IN 19500 FRAMES from tim hahne on Vimeo.


A STEREOSCREEN production

ON BIG SCREEN AS FINALIST IN THE CANADIAN SPORT FILM FESTIVAL - SAT 02 OCT. TORONTO

It was just my brother and me travelling to the Nürburgring with two Canon 5d´s, four lenses and a tripod on the backseat. Intention was to capture the atmosphere, the tension and the incredible challenge for teams and drivers. Back home, the two of us did all the editing, sound design, color correction and artwork. Tracked graphics were done with the help of a friend. 

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR NICE COMMENTS! WE APPRECIATE IT!

Filmed with Canon 5D MKII. Very slight color correction with Magic Bullet. Congratulations to the Schnitzer BMW Team! Watch this film also on stereoscreen.de/​24h.

Here´s a track list:

The whole thing starts with "Hoppipolla!" by Sigur Ros. Then phenomenal Hecq with "Dayout". I also used "Holler" and "FdK". Hecq is incredible good to cut on and does a lot of sounddesign - check out his page... Cinematic Orchestra leads into the night with "Reel Life". I used also Architect with "Fast Lane" and "Pissed in the Morning". Télépopmusik with mellow "Don´t look back" for the night. Ben Folds Five "Brick" at 6 A.M. Last track is Gonzales with "The Tourist". Guess that´s it as far as I remember...


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Absolutely amazing!!! I find it even more impressive when I learn that it was all done on a 5d Mk2 DSLR! I mean seriously that is just awesome :)


I love the way it was edited and the way the emotion of the teams and the drivers is captured, its easily on par with the video that you are shown at the Nurburgring museum about the 24HR race and I can totally understand why it did so well at the Canadian sport film festival! 


So once I found this, I started looking through Tim Hahne other videos, and I found a fantastic short advert style production he had put together for the Mercedes SLS.

BREAKING LAWS from tim hahne on Vimeo.


A STEREOSCREEN PRODUCTION

The Mercedes SLS. An industrial park. A hard-working cop. Shitty sunglasses. Ingredients for a fake commercial we did on a very, very hot Saturday with a Canon 5D and one bottle of water for catering.

Shot with Canon 5D MK II. 

Director: Tim Hahne
Camera: Thomas Nösner
Idea: Patrick Hahne
Music: Daniel Michaud


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Again produced with a Canon 5D Mk2! and I love it! I'd say its better than the official advert for that amazing looking car! 


But then I found something else of his which just blew my mind, something that just shows this guy has some real creativity! And a real willingness to get you involved in whatever he puts together, I am seriously impressed and inspired! 


The video I'm hyping up is about New York, and I won't ruin it before you get comfy and enjoy it, but it is inspired by the sounds of a street musician alongside scenes from the bustling metropolis! 


So sit back, go to vimeo to watch it in its full HD glory, turn the sound up, and enjoy :D 



THE BEAT OF NEW YORK from tim hahne on Vimeo.


THE BEAT OF NEW YORK - A STEREOSCREEN PRODUCTION

stereoscreen.de
vimeo.com/​stereoscreen
thomasnoesner.com
facebook.com/​stereoscreen
filmannex.com/​timhahne

Thomas Noesner, our DoP, was in New York for a shoot of the new Mercedes R-Class. Right after the job, he took his camera and strolled through the busting streets of „The City“. While screening the pictures of a drummer in the tube station, I had the idea of creating a „remix“ of the recorded drum sequence to use it as a soundtrack for the film. That´s when our sounddesigner Toussaint came into play... We composed a track around the drum beat of this guy. Watch and listen to the beat of New York!


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Mind blowingly good!!!! I love it, and I didn't even want to go to New York before, but since seeing that incredible film and showing me a slice of what I'm missing.... I want to go now :) 


As I've said before, I love Vimeo and other internet based publication sites for gems such as this, and I feel these people that spend the time to come up with the ideas, shoot the footage and then edit it all together so perfectly deserve every bit of recognition they can get!


Thanks for looking! 

The Two Mr2s

I thought I would go back to one of my first little photo shoots I did, actually with a Sony DSC-T10 point & shoot camera :) 

I used to own a Toyota Mr2 Turbo, absolutely loved that car to bits, a lot of blood sweat and tears went into that car over the years, and I have many shoots to share with you of that car on this blog in the future, but for now here is some pictures from one of the first proper shoots I did of it back in 2007 alongside my mums Mr2 N/A.

I had the chance to use a friend of the family house as a location for this little photo shoot, and as both of the Mr2s were there, I thought it'd be rude not to take advantage of that opportunity.

For a point and shoot camera the Sony DSC-T10 did used to delivered impressive results at the time, and I'm pretty sure some of these pictures were used as desktop backgrounds by me and members of my family for a while :D 

Anyway I should probably explain whose is whose out of these 2 cars... well the orange one is my mums 1993 Toyota Mr2 Mk2 Rev2 N/A auto... quite a mouthful :P a good fun car that is still driving many miles even today! 

And therefore mine was the Caribbean blue 1994 Mr2 Mk2 Rev3 Turbo, at the time of this photo it was pretty much standard, but still quite a handful.

So there you have it, one of the first shoots I ever had a go at it, and as a result of doing this I knew that taking pictures of cars is exactly what I wanted to do... they may not be the best pictures in the world, but they were the start of something and that definitely counts for something :)

I have done many more shoots of these 2 beauties, but never again did they meet like this... I'll explain more about them when I share some more recent shoots and pictures of these 2 Mr2s.

The Digital Revolution

Well I've managed to make a bit of a mess of myself... dropped some warehouse racking on my foot which has resulted in broken bones, lots of blood, and confinement to my room for a couple of weeks :( damn it! 


Taken this time to swap around some of my camera gear, sell off old stuff and get some new glass and a new camera body :) But anyway this blog isn't about me! (well not all of it hehe), its about inspiration, and about sharing some great finds with other people!


So in that spirit, and with a title taken from a discussion some people were having within his comment section on Vimeo, I present to you a member of the Digital Revolution :) 


A man by the name of Anders Bäckman, who I believe is from Sweden, and whose main website can be found here: http://www.stilism.se/


So I should probably now explain what I mean by the Digital Revolution, well DSLRS which can record film have opened up a whole new way for people to express themselves, people such as myself who before wouldn't have really touched film are now playing around using amazing glass to produce fantastic short films and videos! I love it! I honestly think its just going to get more and more popular, no longer is expressing ourselves something that only the "elite" can pursue, its now open to all and you can express yourself in millions of different ways... just like this blog really... and like I said just now, I love that :D


So anyway I should probably talk about Anders Bäckman a bit more :)


This was the first video of his that caught my attention, and even though its not on a DSLR its still fantastic and I was really impressed by his editing.



Gotland Ring from Anders Bäckman on Vimeo.

A weekend on a fantastic swedish racetrack. 
Shot with a Canon HF10 and no accessories.


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But it isn't his car stuff that really caught my attention, as exciting as that it, it was actually this other film he had on his Vimeo account that made me sit back & simply go WOW! 


Now be prepared to love this, its just a really really lovely presentation of this guys life and I just find it heart warming and inspiring! Enjoy!


My summer from Anders Bäckman on Vimeo.

Made for my family and friends. 
I love you guys!

Shot with Canon EOS 500D / Digital Rebel T1i / Kiss X3 Digital.


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Now I absolutely love that video for a few reasons, firstly because it just shows what can be achieved with the new range of DSLR that allow us to express ourselves in whole new ways, and secondly because I just love the fact he spent the time to put all that together and share it, I don't know what it is about that I really love exactly, but I think its just the togetherness of the whole thing. 


Thanks for checking it out and I hope it brightened up your day :) 

Some DUB Love.

I was doing my usual of searching through Vimeo for inspiration, when I stumbled upon a collection of videos by a group called "Wagenwerks".


Most of their videos seem to be based around VWs & Audis and other German manufactured cars. The videos themselves are very sleek, the editing and choice of music is gorgeous and really draws you in to the story of each vid they make.


The one that really caught my attention out of the set of videos shown on their vimeo page is this trailer for a huge VW & Audi meet. 


As usual I've included all details from the vids vimeo page below the embedded video.



Worthersee Tour 2009 Teaser from wagenwerks on Vimeo.

Once again, we went back to Worthersee for the most epic VW/Audi show in the world.
Here is the teaser for our full-length DVD release of the show.
The DVD is available here: wagenwerks.net/​dvd/​wc2009dvd.html

Last year's 2008 Tour is available here as a DVD or a Digital copy: wagenwerks.net/​dvd/​

Join us on Facebook for updates! facebook.com/​wagenwerks

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A lot of their work appears to be trailers for DVDs and Digital copies that you buy directly from them, which is awesome really as it shows that what they are doing is being appreciated and sought after, I always love to see that! 


But then I found a few short clips concentrating on selective cars, such as this one below, which shows off a VW Jetta, not my usual kind of car to drool over, but I love the editing on this one! Especially after finding out that they do their steady-cam type shots on roller blades! Very cool! 


Brandon Nero's '04 Jetta GLI from wagenwerks on Vimeo.

Here is a short we did detailing Brandon's '04 Jetta GLI.
The song is "Bad Girl" by Girls Love Shoes. Thanks to them for letting us use the song!
Check them out here: myspace.com/​girlsloveshoesband

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Its not only German exotica on their Vimeo page though, one of their more recent videos shows off a trailer to do with the Gold Rush Rally. Here is a bit of blurb about the event taken straight from the main website at http://www.goldrushrally.com/

GoldRush Rally is a trendsetting celebration and one of the fastest growing social events & lifestyle brands. This exciting event is a mixture of an exotic & supercar rally, nightlife parties, celebrities, DJ's, and 100 VIP participants. The route is officially set and all special events are starting to get in gear for what is expected to be the most exciting 5 days and 5 nights for many yet experienced by few. gR2KX goes down the west coast as it hits Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and finalizes in Las Vegas for what we would easily call one of the best nights of your life. "It's not a rally, it's a lifestyle" 


Sounds pretty awesome to me! 


Anyway here is the trailer for this years event.



goldRush Rally 2KX Trailer from wagenwerks on Vimeo.

The Official Trailer for our coverage of 2010's goldRush Rally, June 8th-13th.

facebook.com/​wagenwerks
facebook.com/​goldrushrally

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I love finding stuff like this, something a bit different and still extremely creative and well produced, and thanks to Vimeo and other such internet based video sites, its all easily found! Enjoy! 

Something a bit different...

Last week my brother was over & he was telling me all about this amazing advert for a winter fashion/clothing collection, the company who put together the advert is "Zimtstern".


So anyway I'm always open to watching great videos, no matter the subject, and I can always appreciate good editing, so I thought I would check it out!




I was seriously impressed by this, I kept thinking afterwards, how did they do it? It just looks so smooth, and even though it doesn't appear to be the worlds most intricate video or involve the most technical of processes it still impresses me loads! 


So luckily, on youtube I also found the making of the video! Which answered pretty much all my questions on the subject, and showed me how much effort and passion the creative team put in to making this video happen! Awesome stuff :D




Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did! 

JAE 2010

Wasn't sure how I was going to find something worthy of a new blog post after that last lot of amazing videos I shared with you all. 


But, I thought it was about time I spoke about this years JAE.


To start you off with the pictures, here is one of my favourite Japanese cars of all time, and a true beast from the east!

So time to explain a little about JAE, the Japanese Automobile Extravaganza (JAE for short), is a Japanese car show held over a weekend, and takes place once a year.

The show brings some really special cars together, including this Veilside kitted wide body R32 GTR.

The show itself is a static show, and is considered by most clubs to be a good end to the active show season by chilling out in a field, having a few drinks and firing up the BBQs. No real planned events occur during the show, its simply a good place to chill out and talk car with like minded people, and most clubs have developed friendships within them that rival the most long lasting friendship.

Fensport Celica, a Gen 7 Toyota Celica with a Celica GT4 3sgte and AWD system, amazing!

Car clubs from all over the Uk & Europe come to JAE, and it's a great place to catch up with old friends and put faces to names from club forums.

This year saw the event take place once more at Wickstead Park in Kettering, from the 10th of September until the 12th. 


The large venue had once again plenty of facilities to cater for the show, and its participants. Including new facilities put in place since last years show. 

Having only recently got my 50D back after warranty work took place, and after recently switching to a mac for all my processing work, I thought it was time for a change of style to my post processing, maybe go after a different look...


So, I have taken a different approach to the editing & processing of my photos, everyones minds eye changes how it perceives things, so I can only say that these pictures and their processing reflects my current state of mind, wow deep huh :D

Gone are the de saturated almost dark photos of before, replaced by what you see before you now :) 

The sky was definitely on my side that day! I love it when a sky is full of clouds when I do a car shoot, because I can then add to the detail, add to what I saw when I was taking the picture and hopefully show you exactly why I took it! 

I try and capture as much detail as I can when getting the photo I want, and that doesn't just mean the main subject, by that I mean that just because you've got a nice car it doesn't mean the photo will work, you need to bring everything together, everything needs to be right and interesting at the same time. It's all about the detail.

I still had a little hunt for peoples mascots on their car, just like the year before, there definitely weren't so many on display this year, but these are some of my favourites.

I once again found Sonic sat on top of the same Mitsubishi 3000GT as last year.

Now I've spent a lot of time recently preparing myself for my next car... researching and picking the best example I can possibly get. Seeing as it is going to be a member of the family of Nissan Skylines, also means I spend a lot of time photographing the various models and finding out what I like and don't like about them.

I am also lucky to have some good friends in the Skyline Owners Club, thanks to my trip earlier this year to Spa and the Nurburgring with them.

Firstly there is my friend Marks stunning 1200bhp wide bodied R32 GTR. Which is simply incredible.

There is also my friend Steves R32 GTR, which he has recently got hold of, and I was lucky enough to be taken out in this during the event, the speed and traction that these GTR's have is simply astounding, absolute monsters! 
This one is a car with a long racing heritage of its own, and is running around 550bhp, and I am happy to say that it will carry on being used for what it was built for seeing as Steve plans on tracking it!

Awesome cars :D I simply love them! 
Anyway even though my attention was towards these fantastic cars, there was plenty of other gorgeous metal on display during this years event, including some cars from other friends. 


Including this stunning UK Subaru Impreza owned by my friend Simon, which is running around 300bhp.

But there really was plenty of other impressive machines on display during the show, the show may not have been as big as in previous years, and at previous show grounds, but the quality of the content was definitely there! 

Some more of my favourites are here on display below.

Also definitely worth mentioning this next car I took photos of, from what I overheard whilst taking the time to shoot it, it would appear this is a one off custom project, to create what appears to be a modern version Nissan Stagea, incredible! 

A few other cars stood out to me a lot during this years JAE, I absolutely loved the colour on the following Honda Civic, it is just so different to the normal colours you see at car shows, and I definitely encourage it! Who says cars must be primary colours, time for some old school change :)

This next Mazda MX5 actually made me laugh, it was a bit of a state and that is I think what the owner was going for, but I really really liked what he had done with his front splitter, it was different and colourful! 

It looks like stickers? Or wall paper of some kind? I still love it though, very different! Talking about different, I also found this...

This Subaru Impreza looked lovely and standard from the outside, but I am so glad I poked my head in to see if anything was going on on the interior, this is one of my favourite shots I got too, something completely different to the usual carbon fibre trip people usually do on the interior. 

Very very cool :D

Was also nice to see what I imagine will be the first of many Honda CR-Zs at future JAE shows. This one was fully kitted with a Mugen kit, and looked rather impressive.

As I said earlier, it is all about the details with these cars to me, so time for some detailed and up close shots of various things that stood out to me during the show.

This next car is actually one of my favourites from the entire show, now I'm not usually a fan of Mitsubishi Evos, I think they are impressive machines, but as for photographing them I am not always keen to do so.

But this one... well its just stunning, I think its a combination of the colour and the carbon fibre! I love it! It shows I can't paint them all with the same brush and dismiss them all :D

I also managed to find my old car there too, I do miss my old MR2 Turbo, but I am happy it is with someone who is enjoying it and taking really good care of it!

I'll finish off with two cars that I found parked up all by themselves in a field at the show, and I thought it would be rude not to give them a bit of attention and get some shots! 

First off is this fantastic colour coded Honda Civic.

I especially liked the yellow Volk racing TE37s on that one, different and very cool in my mind. :)

The last car, and the second car I found parked up by itself in this field, is this stunning Toyota Supra! Absolutely gorgeous.

Well I hope you have enjoyed looking through my photos from this years JAE. I had great taking them, editing them and sharing them! Thank you for looking, and it also looks like JAE has found a central UK place to set its roots once more! 

Looking forward to next year! :D 

All my photos were taken in RAW format and edited and processed using Aperture 3.



The rest of the photos from JAE 2010 that I took, can be found on my Flickr set here: JAE 2010 Flickr Set


Or they can be view and bought from my main website @ www.danfegentphotography.com