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Bentley Motors
June 2014 - Bentley Motors
A real varied month this month, mostly working for the sport/luxury brand Bentley Motors. We started off in Silverstone for the UK round of the Blancpain GT3 Endurance series, where Bentley are competing with two Continental GT3 race cars, prepared and run by motorsport specialists M-Sport. Pre-qualifiying took place in torrential rain, which you may remember from last month's blog, often sets the scene for stunning images. Despite not really wanting to get my precious 600mm soaking wet, I ventured out onto the circuit in the worst of the rain, fortunately being rewarded with some really dramatic images.
The pit garage is also a great place to get some good shots, particularly during the build up to the race itself where the technicians are busily making final adjustments. As everyone is so intent in what they're doing, you can shoot away without anyone really being aware of your presence, resulting in some great 'fly on the wall' images. To finish the weekend off nicely, Bentley number 7 won the race - the first time a Bentley had scored a home motorsport win for 84 years! The company celebrated by running a full page advertisement in the Daily Telegraph using on of my shots - very satisfying!
This was quickly followed by the London-based global PR launch for the Bentley Flying Spur V8. Six groups of media from the around the world flew in to test drive the new vehicle on a route that looped from London to the New Forest and back again, taking in some of the South East's finest English countryside. Working alongside fellow photographer James Lipman, our brief was to photograph the eight cars being used from every angle prior to the launch, and provide photographic support for the journalists during the event. The resulting photography is now being used throughout the world, both online and in print, accompanying the thoughts of the various journalists that took part.
The month ended at Goodwood Festival of Speed, again working for Bentley. They used the event as an opportunity to launch the GT3 race-influenced Continental GT3R limited edition road car. This was on static display on their stand, whilst one of their GT3 race cars was driving at full speed up the hill, along with a Continental V8 piloted by Derek Bell and a trio of vintage Bentleys from the 1920s. My job was to cover the event for posterity, providing images for Bentley's PR department, Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as some material for the GT3R's own microsite.
Whilst at Goodwood I was very proud to see that I had large format images on display on the Bentley stand, the Tesla stand (from last month's shoot) and - most strikingly - on Jaguar's stand. The four shots on the pillars of Jaguar's stand had been enlarged to seven metres high, which worked out to be pretty much life-size. Even at close quarters, the images looked superb - amazing what you can get from a digital file nowadays!
- By Nick Dimbleby
- 25 Jun 2014
