‘Aussie rules’ BMW G-Series photography
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:31 am
‘Aussie rules’ BMW G-Series photography
Thursday, November 29, 2006 - World of BMW - worldofbmw.com
BMW's new G Series motorcycles are some of the most exciting machines ever produced by the company. The versatile 650cc single-cylinder trio certainly support BMW Motorrad's new young, sporty and dynamic philosophy.
As such, when it came to producing the brochure images that would help communicate these product attributes, they needed a photographer that could convey the fun, exciting nature of the Xcountry, Xchallenge and Xmoto machines.
Australian photographer Paul Barshon was the man selected to bring the G-Series to life in pictures. Paul has had a fascination with photography since a very early age. As a teenager he studied photography in Melbourne before he started shooting for commercial and corporate clients.
In 2000 Paul left Australia for London where he found his photography took another step forward.
"I found no constraints in how far I could take my photography," explained Paul. "I worked for five years photographing MotoGP. During this time I discovered how much I enjoyed photographing motorcycles, but it wasn't just the bikes - it was also the people and the passion always present in this world."
The G-Series photo shoot wasn't Paul's first work with BMW Motorrad. His previous BMW shoots include the R 1200 S and K 1200 S sports bikes. For the three new motorcycles BMW Motorrad wanted some strong, hard, action pictures to show how much fun these bikes are to ride. With a considerable amount of experience photographing the world's leading MotoGP stars in action, this is something Paul knew a lot about.
"I'd worked with BMW Motorrad's advertising agency Feuer on previous shoots," Paul explained. "So when they approached me about doing the pictures of the new G-Series I already had a great insight into how I would like the photographs to look."
The brochure shoots didn't take place until the end of October and despite using locations around Barcelona the weather concerned Paul. "October is quite late for a brochure shoot," confirmed Paul. "However we were extremely lucky to have sunshine for almost the entire time."
Paul chose the Barcelona area due to the abundance of locations. A new business district provided some incredible architecture to photograph the bikes in front of. Of course not all the bikes suited this urban theme - the Xchallenge really needed a wilder, more rugged setting so Paul chose the Gironella Enduro Park an hour north of the city as the location.
With such fantastic images it is easy to think a photo shoot like this one is a relatively simple process. But as Paul explained the results are down to a lot of preparation.
"There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes," he confirmed. "The hard work starts with sketches showing our ideas and hundreds of photographs of possible locations followed by many hours of work searching for the right environment.
"But if the preparation is done correctly then the pictures will come out looking fantastic and the G-Series shoot was no exception. The locations were fantastic, the direction was incredible and crucially we also had fun while we worked."
It certainly seems that 'fun' is a theme that surrounds the G-Series at all times.
Thursday, November 29, 2006 - World of BMW - worldofbmw.com
BMW's new G Series motorcycles are some of the most exciting machines ever produced by the company. The versatile 650cc single-cylinder trio certainly support BMW Motorrad's new young, sporty and dynamic philosophy.
As such, when it came to producing the brochure images that would help communicate these product attributes, they needed a photographer that could convey the fun, exciting nature of the Xcountry, Xchallenge and Xmoto machines.
Australian photographer Paul Barshon was the man selected to bring the G-Series to life in pictures. Paul has had a fascination with photography since a very early age. As a teenager he studied photography in Melbourne before he started shooting for commercial and corporate clients.
In 2000 Paul left Australia for London where he found his photography took another step forward.
"I found no constraints in how far I could take my photography," explained Paul. "I worked for five years photographing MotoGP. During this time I discovered how much I enjoyed photographing motorcycles, but it wasn't just the bikes - it was also the people and the passion always present in this world."
The G-Series photo shoot wasn't Paul's first work with BMW Motorrad. His previous BMW shoots include the R 1200 S and K 1200 S sports bikes. For the three new motorcycles BMW Motorrad wanted some strong, hard, action pictures to show how much fun these bikes are to ride. With a considerable amount of experience photographing the world's leading MotoGP stars in action, this is something Paul knew a lot about.
"I'd worked with BMW Motorrad's advertising agency Feuer on previous shoots," Paul explained. "So when they approached me about doing the pictures of the new G-Series I already had a great insight into how I would like the photographs to look."
The brochure shoots didn't take place until the end of October and despite using locations around Barcelona the weather concerned Paul. "October is quite late for a brochure shoot," confirmed Paul. "However we were extremely lucky to have sunshine for almost the entire time."
Paul chose the Barcelona area due to the abundance of locations. A new business district provided some incredible architecture to photograph the bikes in front of. Of course not all the bikes suited this urban theme - the Xchallenge really needed a wilder, more rugged setting so Paul chose the Gironella Enduro Park an hour north of the city as the location.
With such fantastic images it is easy to think a photo shoot like this one is a relatively simple process. But as Paul explained the results are down to a lot of preparation.
"There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes," he confirmed. "The hard work starts with sketches showing our ideas and hundreds of photographs of possible locations followed by many hours of work searching for the right environment.
"But if the preparation is done correctly then the pictures will come out looking fantastic and the G-Series shoot was no exception. The locations were fantastic, the direction was incredible and crucially we also had fun while we worked."
It certainly seems that 'fun' is a theme that surrounds the G-Series at all times.