My biggest project yet

The brief:

It all started with a call that came from Pappas Auto’s marketing unit…as the company turns to 30 they wanted a 300!! square meters billboard that properly represent their professionalism and connection to the city of Budapest. This translates to following in simple terms: a bad-a22 car, possibly a rare one on a location that will show a clear connection to the city itself. First we’ve been looking into existing pictures of mine, but (I believe luckily) none was ticking all the boxes of requirements at once. So decision has been made: „We need to shoot something on location”.

The location:

We did pick based on my previous experience and some photos I took earlier the Heroes Square, as it’s an iconic place in Budapest and gives enough space to „play” around in placing the car right and giving later the option to Pappas Auto to select the right „pose”. The trouble we had was that we had to avoid from any distraction and unwanted elements on the photo (eg. other cars, too many people etc). This is why I went with a really early morning shooting, on a Saturday.  The morning timing also had a really nice side-effect and that’s the amazing sunrise that you can experience at the Heroes Square. I did have an approx 30-45 mins time-window to do multiple photos, multiple exposures which –with stakes this high- isn’t a lot. After picking the location we just needed a car to shoot…

The subject:

We knew we wanted an AMG model as people (including me)just love them, not to mention that they do represent what is the quintessential of the Mercedes lineup. This is how we came to the conclusion that we’d like to use the AMG GT R PRO (yes you read it well, this limited series beast that is truly having a presence on it’s own). After having decided on the car probably the sweetest challenge for me was how to get the car to the location…since this was a weekend and we were really tight on schedule the only possible way was if I pick it up the day before and give it back after finished the shooting on Saturday. I still can’t believe it, they trusted me to drive and have a little time spent with this beast of a car, crazy right?!

The challenge:

As you’d expect the biggest challenge was timing. Since the raw images had to be sent to a graphic design team and Pappas to pick the right composition, than back to me to do the post-process, than back to the graphic design team to work out the text and graphic elements and than back to Pappas for final approval before it was then sent to the print company to make this huge „net” and install the billboard on one of the busiest parts of Budapest. For all this we had approx a week to accomplish, which is (If you are in this business you’ll know it’s a tough schedule) if not, than let me tell you, it’s a thigh one indeed!

Final words:

I believe given the circumstances, the time-pressure everything considered we did make an amazing work and I’m really grateful for the trust and the support I received from the leadership team and the marketing team of Pappas in this project.

I do also need to mention one friend who was there with me, thanks to who I was able to keep calm and focus on the shooting itself and who made also beautiful behind the scenes photos, kept me entertained on our way back and forth, his name is Gergő Keserű a fantastic photographer himself, thanks mate!