Porsche 550 Replica ©Sean Hayes

I love photographing cars. Shiny metallic and sensuous – and they don’t come more curvaceous than the Porsche 550 Spyder. A beautiful feat of engineering and design. Only 90 were built in the 1950’s and one was recently auctioned off in Florida for 3.69 million dollars. Of the 90 models produced, one that never made it to an auction room was the one owned by James Dean. Yes that one. Dean made the car famous by writing ‘Little Bastard’ on its tail and killing himself while behind the wheel on a Californian highway. The version photographed here is a replica of that famous car. I shot the replica last year at Autoworld – a fantastic museum in Brussels, housing over 250 vintage cars and vehicles. As an advertising art director, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of Europe’s top car photographers for various automobile brands over the years. I’ve always admired their passion and meticulous attention to detail.  A true labour of love. During the long days and nights on shoots, I would observe how they set up and lit the cars: I paid attention. I learnt a couple of things about how light dances across metallic surfaces and how the incremental movement of a camera or light source can change everything. The photographs posted here are, hopefully, proof that I did indeed pay attention to my photographic mentors. Some people express surprise when informed that I shot this series with an iPhone and that I had limited freedom with lighting. Everything is possible if you understand light. Hope you like them – and should you like one of them enough to want a pristine print on your wall, please write to me at shonski50@me.com and we’ll chat about print sizes, prices and shipping arrangements. Thank you for your visit.

Porsche 550 Replica ©Sean Hayes

Porsche 550 Replica ©Sean Hayes

Porsche 550 Replica ©Sean Hayes

Porsche 550 Replica ©Sean Hayes