Sette domande a Michael Rausch

Michael Rausch è un noto fotografo californiano, specializzato in automobili.  (www.michaelrausch.com)

1) cosa ti piace in un’automobile, cosa ti attrae ? 

The sculpture, design of the car or truck. The fact is that a person or group of people create that shape to try to evoke an emotion. Each one is unique as a commercial work of art and my challenge is to show the beauty of that design. it is showing art on wheels with the wheels being part of the art too.

2)  che tipo di relazione c’è tra un’auto e la luce ? luce naturale o luce in studio ? 

The car shape is designed with light in mind. Light gives the car it’s emotion, style, sexiness, it’s impact on your soul/psyche.

I very much enjoy the challenge of lighting a car in the studio. It give such a clean and precise look. However, despite the potential problems from weather, you can get a beautiful serendipity of light on location that doesn’t occur in the studio. You have to be ready to take advantage of these moments since it can add greatly to the emotion of the photo.

3) l’auto e i colori. ci sono colori piu’ difficili di altri? 

Absolutely, some colors can be very difficult if not shot in the right light. Darker metallic colors can go dark to black without some sort of direct light. Even the lighter metallic colors can appear flat without direct light. Darker colors pose a different challenge in that they are more reflective the darker they are. More like a giant mirror reflecting their surroundings.

4)  auto statica o auto in movimento ? quale preferisci come fotografo? 

I want to cheat a little and say both, which is true for differing reasons, but really this is a tough question. My first instinct is to say driving car since this is what a car is made for and does well.. it makes for potentially a very emotional shot. That said a static shot in beautiful light can be moving and emotional too. Shooting a static car gives you the opportunity to bring out all the sculpture of the car lines.

5) cosa pensi della post-produzione, cosa c’è ancora di tuo in una foto , con un livello cos’ avanzato di post-produzione ? 

I very much enjoy post production…when I am able to use it to enhance and define the vision I have for my shots. There can be a tendency to over retouch to make everything perfect which can drain much of the emotion from the shot but the talk lately has been to keep the photo looking very natural. I like this thought. CGI has changed how some shoots are done but the approach is very much the same as it is when you have the car present in the location.

6)   il 3d sara’ la fine del fotografo ? 

I will say no, though it may be the photographer more in a role of being a 3D lighting director. But then again I go back to the previous question with the answer that most clients are wanting a natural look and this is done much better, and faster, with real photography. The “happy accidents” that happen in real light and location are very hard to duplicate realistically in 3D. CGI has already made us be both photographer for the scene and lighting director for the car in that scene to create the final image.

7)  un ricordo particolare da un set 

Cape Town for Peugeot 4007 is a good example of how surprising location shoots can be. We set up the shot before dawn on top of a mountain east of Cape Town, SA. Just after setting up we were completely covered by a cloud. The thought was that our shot was finished. We had planned on shooting all day so there was hope for later. Just then the sun came up over the mountain behind us. When we turned around, the cloud was lowering and cleared around the truck. The light was so perfect we just ran to the camera and started to shoot. Fifteen minutes later we looked at the images and knew they would never be better, they were beautiful. Always be prepared to look for the unexpected. As far as other locations I would like to shoot the list is endless. It is always thrilling to find new locations.