Images by Chris Hanoch and the Author
If there’s one thing most people don’t understand, it’s the amount of work that goes into capturing a truly quality image. And this is true whether we’re talking about paint-on-canvas or photography – in order to capture a true legacy-quality image takes time. And it’s time well spent, in my opinion.
Recently, Chris Hanock of Hanoch Photography, a professional photographer who spends his days capturing images for Lockheed Martin, expressed interest in photographing my DeLorean. His technique was very different from most photographers, as he practiced painting by light. Eager to learn about painting by light, I agreed. His two main requests were to photograph in as close to absolute darkness as possible and a nice backdrop, if we could find one. How does one see anything in absolute darkness, I wondered, but I knew the perfect place, just up the road from my house, and set it up with the property owner.
The process involves a very long camera exposure, a computer with photo editing software, and somebody moving a light around and over the car, occasionally highlighting certain details. The person moves just fast enough that they are barely seen by the camera, but the light being massaged across the surface of the car is enough to “burn” the “film” to make an impression. It also involves illuminating areas of the car for a little while such as the interior, the underside, the wheel wells, and so on. The camera captures each shot, each illuminated as needed. Later, the photographer takes each photo and stitches them together into one. So an illuminated interior might be blende with a darker exterior body, so the windows are glowing – and maybe illuminated wheel wells are stitched to that image so the result is a darker body with a glowing set of wheel wells and windows. The result can be an obvious night shot with a well-lit subject, or a very noir outline of the subject, or a very shot-in-studio look. It’s remarkable. While some pictures look like they were shot in a studio, with nothing around the car, the reality is the garage was behind the car the entire time. One rule to this kind of imagery is to not move the camera. Not even a sneeze.
All in, we spent about 4-hours getting various angles and shots, and playing with different lighting. Among the images, you’ll find two timelapse videos which illustrate how most of the shoot went, in fast forward. You’ll see streaks of light, that is the light being moved over the and around the car to illuminate it for the “film.” I hope you like some of the results and might think about having something done for your special car or space or whatever. When these are printed on metal, they absolutely pop. Check out some of Chris’s other works on his website here.
