Those of you that know me well, know that I will never turn down a request from any of my life long friends, so when my friend of 15 years asked if I would edit a video of some footage that he shot of his awesome Audi A6, I did what I always do, I gave it my best effort. Matt had recently purchased a gimbal stabilizer for his cell phone and shot some video of his car along with our other dear friend Amir. But there wasn't enough good raw footage to make a decent video and I just felt an undeniable urge to get my ass out to California and shoot a proper video for him.
This was no small undertaking, it involved loading my Prius C with all my gear and driving from El Paso, Texas to La Quinta, California, a trip of 1400 miles round trip, 10 hours each way. With driving taking up 2 days, it left me only 2 days to scout locations and shoot as much raw footage as possible.
The Coachella Valley offers stunning views in every direction you gaze. The San Jacinto mountains are breathtaking, Joshua Tree National Monument is only 30 minutes away and is famous for it's colorful Southwest fauna, picturesque Box Canyon is found on the road from Joshua Tree to Salton Sea. I ended up shooting at all of the aforementioned locations and threw in a few shots of highway 74, which winds it's way up and down the mountains into and out of Palm Desert.
Matt's Audi is a 2016 A6 3.0T Supercharged, with customization by Boden Autohaus. The 21 inch amber toned, forged wheels are by Vossen and the air suspension system is supplied by a hard line AccuAir system. The end result is a gorgeous European luxury import that turns heads every where it goes.
The focus of the shoot was video, not photos, but naturally, I'd flip my camera out of video mode and snap a few shots. I hope you enjoy the video and photos of this marvelous automobile.
Cameras and gear used on this production:
Sony RX1RII
Sony A7RII
Sony AX33
Sony Action Cam AS100 and AZ1VR
Sony RX100 IV
Beholder MS-1 3 axis gimbal
CAME Steadi Cam Rig
2016 Audi A6 3.0T on the road leading into Joshua Tree National Monument.
Photo location: Hwy 74 scenic view, Palm Desert, Ca.
The air suspension system allows the car to be raised and lowered by remote control or smart phone app. The wheels recess into the wheel well and seemingly disappear.
Mother nature lent a helping hand with a stunning sunrise on day two of the shoot.
One of the ideas I had for a scene in the video was to feature a classy and sexy female model to accentuate and match the stunning lines and curves of the Audi. We ended up only using two short video clips of the model in the final video edit, however, you'll be able to see more of her when I post the behind the scenes/making of video coming in a couple weeks. Stay tuned. (Model: Patrica Cromwell https://www.instagram.com/trishabean12/)
The crew: (L to R) Amir Afsar (FastLaneLaw.com), model Patricia Cromwell, car owner Matt Rifkin (GoSolarwithMatt.com) and photographer Felix Mena (me).
Special thanks to Matt for these behind the scene photos.
The sunrise sequence and time lapse required a 4am wake up plus a 45 minute drive out to the Salton Sea location. But the effort was well worth it as the sunrise was one of the most spectacular I have ever seen.
Photography can be extremely rewarding and I feel fortunate to be able to capture and share.
Some of the best shots of the video were captured with my DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus drone. However, in the future, I will employ Matt's new DJI Mavic which has a ton of new, useful features.
View of the shoot from inside the car.
The sky was sort of blown out and dull at sunset during the model shoot but I had no choice but to make the best of it. Most of these shots did not make the final cut in the video.
Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you enjoyed the video. You can see more of these shots and some additional video clips from this shoot on my Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/djfelixg/
