»What a beautiful car!«
An interesting aspect of the Concept Cars is pursued in the photographs of the MINI Superleggera Vision: the model combines Italian and British influences and demonstrates the coalescence of two distinct brands. A pair of very different photographers, who yet share common ground, were used to illustrate this aspect.
Irmin Eitel and Till Jenninger are both very sensitive to aesthetics, picture composition and surroundings. They become totally immerged when working and this passion is immediately evident in their photography. Whereas Irmin Eitel is lead by circumstances and emotions even more than Till Jenninger, whose emphasis is more pragmatic in this project. They had worked as a team before and thus complimented and supported each other as they approached the project from different angles. The resulting photographs have a similar visual imagery yet show a broader spectrum than one photographer alone could have achieved.
Realism is fundamental to these photographs in order to maintain the authenticity of the pictures and of the Concept Car. This is also reflected in the methodology of the two photographers, as they prefer to work without tripods, artificial lighting or bracketing.
The outcome was a combination of b/w and color images. The black-and-white pictures have strong contrasts and appear modern and very graphic (typical for MINI). They are also reminiscent of automobile pictures from the 1950s and early 1960s – and Ray K. Metzker’s images of road cruisers. On the other hand the color pictures were delicately processed to look like b/w images that could subsequently have been colorized – reflecting the current Zeitgeist. The inspiration for this approach came from Ray K. Metzker’s work and also that of Saul Leiter – two exceptional photographers of their time and whose pictures are of timeless beauty – like the MINI Roadster!
Photo Concept: Margit Drescher
Art Direction: Margit Drescher
Photography: Lily Alssen, Irmin Eitel and Till Jenninger
Post Production: zerone Düsseldorf