Blazing desert heat, cold streams, and windy mountain roads… all just part of the Falken Tire Wildpeak Off Road ad campaign I shot at the end of 2012.
Among many of the projects I was part of with Falken Tire last year one of the most fun was the Wildpeak Off Road campaign. This was a project that was planned, assembled, and shot all within a very short amount of time compared to other projects I’ve worked with Falken on. Falken’s newest tire line, Wildpeak, needed a variety of images created for upcoming ads and media in 2013. So several days were selected, along with several vehicles, to shoot many different images in different locations. I would be handling a large majority of the shooting alongside the video crew, who would be shooting for commercials at the same time.
The entire first day was spent in the desert, under the hot sun and, at times, very high winds. We had a selection of cars: Ford Raptor, Toyota FJ Cruiser, Toyota 4Runner, and the custom built Falken Jeep JK. We also had a few support vehicles with us, a Chevy Tahoe with 22’s for what would essentially be “beauty shots”, a Toyota Tacoma, our tow vehicle/rig, and a total crew of 10 people. This was not a small job by any means.
The second day was the longest by far. We were in the mountains. All. Day. But we were able to capture a ton of different images varying from water/splash photos to “climbing” photos. The video guys also did the majority of their filming the second day as well.
Day 3 was the shortest, and was cut even shorter after the first location we planned to shoot at didn’t work out.
Click below the break to read on and see over 100 images of what goes into a multi-day photoshoot of this size.
This was the night before… piling gear in the living room before I packed it all in my S2000 – yup, it all fits!
In this image is multiple Canon cameras, lenses, 580EXII’s, light stands, umbrellas, more stands, PLM’s, beauty dish, Eistein E640’s, AB800’s, motion rigs, clamps, cables, battery packs, my MacBookPro, light diffusers, gels, and a lot more items tape/etc.
Falken said “bring everything you can…” which is always the way to go if you have the space, I rather have too much than too little when I’m out in the middle of nowhere shooting and something breaks and I KNOW that I have a backup (or two) back at home.
Sitting at Falken at 6 am waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.
First gas stop of the morning. Talkin’ tires. All these vehicles had the only sets of Wildpeak tires in the United States. They were brought in just for this project
Stopping again for gas and lunch… It’s a long drive to the middle of nowhere
What’s up Inyo County!?! We’re…in…yo… county… ha
Finally arrived at our destination. Time to get the vehicles ready… and time for us to scout locations
A bit too fancy for off road. These would part of our “beauty shots” later that week.
Last photo I shot that afternoon with my phone. It’s amazing how fast your battery will die when you’re in/out of coverage areas.
Getting started for the day. It’s hot. And windy.
Cale, head of video for Falken, seeing what gear he wants for the day.
Nestor and Martin, gettin the Jeep JK set up. This is a ground-up custom build by Falken.
Discussing plans for which areas to head to, and which route is safest. The last thing we want to do is have to waste any time towing out anybody.
Falken staff photographer Jesse getting his gear set up
Me and Jesse riding in the back, in the heat, the guys in the cab were blasting their A/C
Our Tundra was the main suport vehicle that weekend – and it performed like a champ.
The first “shot” of the day was a beauty shot of the 4Runner
I looked over while shooting and Jesse was busy doing his thing, too. Getting some area shots. These are always great to have as a photographer for composites/etc. You never know when you’ll need some extra clouds for one of your photos.
Cale, hiking gear out for our next image. The Raptor on top of the dunes.
Unfortunately my main battery pack got knocked to the on position when I was packing the night before! So, we had to run power from the Tundra.
Time to drive that bad boy up the dune, too. And it wasn’t close at all.
Beauty shot of the Raptor
Jesse, lending me a hand with lighting
Nestor snapping a photo of Cale.
The running joke of that weekend became “Don’t worry John, I got it (the photo) with the iPhone”… haha, jerks.
A higher contrast, more colorful beauty shot of the Raptor.
Those clouds that day were great. Got to love when the weather cooperates.
Changing up the lighting and angles for other photos.
Cale heading down to grab more gear. Desert shooting is a great workout for your calves.
Gettin the FJ set up for the next round of photos
This wasn’t a planned shot, I just happened to like the image and snapped it while we were preparing the solo shots of the FJ.
The wide angle shots really showed how much hiking up and down the dunes we were doing that afternoon. The sand was too loose to bother trying to bring the other cars closer.
Part of the problem though was we were running four lights on such a sunny afternoon and needed generator power out there to assist us.
And don’t forget to bring your sandbags to the sand… you’ll use ’em.
You can’t tell, but in this shot the wind was blowing at 35-40 mph, blasting us as we were laying in the sand. I was in the middle shooting, Cale on my right with the second light, and Martin on my left shielding us from the wind with the umbrella. Love that umbrella, it’s served me well many times.
Had to do a silly photo after we finished that shot. We right after this shot since the wind didn’t seem to be slowing down at all.
Next project – Jump the Raptor. After a few test shots we had things lined up. This was going to be Jesse’s shot to do at a different angle. I grabbed the 400mm, my monopod, and started walking. Here’s Cale gettin set up to light the jump for Jesse who is off to the right of this image.
About 30 feet or so from Cale is Jesse lined up for his shot. The Tundra in the background in case we needed power.
Lined up and ready to go
WWEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jump number two! I’m torn with which one I prefer. I kind of like the slight tilt of the first one, but I like the evenness of the second.
Jesse, James and Cale checkin out the shots and discussing what’s next. I was radioed to walk back right after this to get prepared for the next setup.
Next up was some of the really fun stuff! We shot all the sand photos. Timing and getting the lights aimed for these was really the trickiest part…
Look.. LOOK! “Wildpeak” is perfectly visible on tire in this shot. You’re impressed… admit it. hahaha
Raptor’s turn next.
Nestor, James, and Cale watching the guys tear up the sand
HAHA! This is what happens when you stand too close!
The Ford was throwing up PLENTY of sand for these images.
The full res shots and the detail is actually pretty beautiful
The last shots of the day were of the 4Runner again. This one was my favorite of the Toyota in the sand. Not as much of a cloud being kicked up, but I really liked the feel of the shot.
Had to get a group photo at the end of the first day. This was the only time the entire crew was together the rest of the week and able to get a group shot, so I’m glad I did.
We all looked like crap that evening when we got back to the hotel. I was completely covered in sand, my hair looked grey and was also full of sand, all my pockets, my camera bag… everything.
But it was totally worth it, Day 1 was a blast.
Day 2
Geared up and ready to head out. Only about four hours of sleep I think – after thoroughly cleaning out all my gear and making sure all my batteries were charged for the next day.
Some of the guys were already up and had cleaned off their trucks
Double checking that we have everything we need. Today was going to be the longest of the three-day project
Jesse, cheesin it when he saw me takin a pic. A couple of these were for Twitter if I recall.
Gassing up the Jeep (and other vehicles which were out of frame)
Day 2 was going to be in the mountains.
Location One was going to be a bit tricky, mostly because it was BRIGHT.
Today was also going to be a very video-heavy day, which I was fine with. Falken does great work with all their videos
This was the concept for this particular shot that morning.
Jesse, showing off his stylish reflector-conical hat
Cale, getting the video shots needed for Falken. I was just hanging back, chugging bottles of water at this point. I had already been shooting maybe half and hour, sweating in the heat.
Packed up and onto the next location, dusty trails ahead
WOOO HOOOOO!!!
RAWRRRR! We were seriously just having some fun at this point before setting up the next series of shots
LOL
Jesse got SOAKED, but I’m guessing his shot was pretty awesome since he was a good 20 feet closer than I was
The next series of shots was for the actual images we needed. When I turned around I everyone else shooting, too. Jesse on stills, Cale on video, and the other guys in the crew snappin’ away themselves
Re-aligning the shot
One of my final images
The Raptor was up next. I got some really cool shots of it, too
The Raptor, side view
GRRRR!!! I totally dig this mean looking image of the Raptor jumping out of the water.
I can’t help but laugh when we point out that while my friends are sitting in an office I was standing in front of a huge truck yelling “Just stop right here!”
Packed up and moving to the next spot – for lunch!
Yep… the Ford Raptor is about to come flying down that hill!
Cale, getting video dialed in
Jesse broke out the 400mm for his camera – need a large tripod for a lens like that.
Changing up the lens choice for Cale’s camera.
I headed out to a ditch to hide and snap a couple shots with my 1D. I had to make sure to stay out of sight of both video cameras though. This wasn’t a shot we were going to try twice.
I took this right before we got back on the trails after lunch.
Time to climb!
Back in the vehicles and climbing way up into the hills for more photos
James, goofing off on the hillside.
Everyone was checking tires and adjusting pressure on all the vehicles
Back on the trail!
Setting up for our only planned rig shot of the week…
James snapping a photo of me
James sent me the photo too! Haha, You can’t really tell, but Cale and I are the the side of a pretty steep mountain. It drops off right below that tree on the left.
The final motion shot, and probably my favorite from the whole project
Back on the trails again! On to the next location
Looked like the weather was rolling in fast, too
Fortunately the sun started to break back through as we kept going.
The Jeep wasn’t designed to go too fast on the trails, so we started to fall behind everyone ahead of us.
At our final location for the day, wayyy back in the moutains at this point
Cale climbed up the side of the hill for a higher vantage point for video
Since I was on hold while the team worked on the Jeep, I climbed up to hang out and watch
Creative Director James was overseeing everything.
It took a while to figure out where Jesse had went… then I saw him way down at “street level” shooting stills… hiding in the bushes, ninja style. haha
Cale, directing the next shots
Making sure to get each angle. The team was still working so we had to try and pass more time
I thought this was funny… Jesse and Cale each shooting different directions. But really Cale was getting video of a full pass, while Jesse was only take still of the truck driving away.
These were the shots we had planned on shooting. It took a little longer to get the vehicles out of the way, but we finally got the images shot
Also used the 4Runner for the same concept
The drive out that evening was going to be a LONG trip
But hey! We saw some deer!
Tried getting a shot of me and Nestor in the Jeep JK after a long, hot, dusty day on the trails. But my phone camera just didn’t want to play nice. Haha
After the sun dropped lower, so did the temperature… and we didn’t have a heater in the Jeep!
This sums up the drive out pretty well…
Then we came across this creepy house/cabin thing in the middle of nowhere..
Scary, right?
And there was a smokehouse in the back… With hooks hanging in it, too.
One last shot before we got back on the trail. Still a long way to go to get out
We took this shot purely because there was snow on the ground. Apparently there was a running joke at Falken leading up to this trip about how “they’d get every setting to shoot in but snow”. Since there was just a tinyyy bit left on the ground we took a quick shot so they had something to show the other staff.
But let’s be real, I was freezing. I had only brought a light sweater that day and forgot my jacket at my hotel room – somehow Martin wasn’t cold at all.
One very last pit stop at the end of the dirt trails. Everyone checked tire pressure, maps, and making sure we knew were to go. We STILL had just over 90 minutes til we got back into town.
Day 3
Day 3 started at the car wash… All the vehicles were filthy after a very late night driving back the day before
Waiting in line
Time to bust out the Advil. I had a terrible headache and had these in my camera bag. At the Ripp Wedding a few months prior Kevin and Angela gave out several favors to everyone. One of them was Advil, which I threw in my bag since I knew I’d need at some point.
Heading toward Mt. Whitney
Checking out some different locations
Riding out to another spot, the crew didn’t like the first one.
We didn’t end up shooting here though and eventually moved on
Got one last shot of Mt. Whitney (middle-right). I hadn’t been out here since high school when I spent a week climbing it with my family and friends
Second location later that afternoon was Redrock
We needed a beauty shot of the Tahoe. Straight forward enough! The Falken team did a completely separate shoot the next week of the Tahoe on the street
All the guys acting like they’re having a picnic while we were setting up! hahaha
James snapped this photo of me while I was waiting on the crew to finish prepping the Tahoe. I was standing, chatting, and holding my umbrella.
The funniest thing to me was that when it came time for me to set up lights I handed the umbrella to James. He took it, carried and continued chatting with me about whatever it was we were talking about. About 20 minutes later, James says “Wow, you know these are actually great. Hey Nestor! Put ‘Umbrellas’ on our list for the next shoot. We need some that say ‘Falken’ next time”.
Haha! See, don’t knock bringing an umbrella to desert, they’re handy. I bring them on all my photoshoots.
Nestor snapped this image of me as the sun was setting and I was setting up our last image of the entire week.
One last team shot before heading out. Nestor and Cale being ridiculous and acting like they’re gangster. lol
After a very long drive back we were at Falken HQ. time to pack up my car…
Andddd I decided to just go get a hotel instead of driving home, haha. I was EXHAUSTED after a very busy trip, and a LONG day of traveling. Rented a hotel room locally, emptied almost all my gear into the room (hey, you never know, and this stuff isn’t cheap), and called it a night.
Got some new rubber for my S2000 before leaving Falken!
A great shoot with the team AND was able to get an order in for some new tires before going home from my meetings at Falken the day after the trip. What an awesome week!
They even sent me home with a bunch of new gear, too!
All in all, the entire project was a blast. I think it was a success too, judging by the variety of images we were able to capture. I’m thrilled to share all these with you since I’ve been working on them off and on the last several months.
You can see larger versions of my finished images in my portfolio, here: https://www.johnremus.com/photography/wildpeak
And keep an eye on on newsstands this summer as these images will be using in the upcoming Falken Wildpeak Tire ads you see in print!