The Montreal Auto Salon is a bit of an interesting to show. You never really know what to expect. Some years, they get it just right, some years they muck it up. Luckily, this year, they got it right. Some of the DSG media team headed over to the auto show with 2 goals in mind. Take shots of their favourite cars at the show, and try something new with their shots. Whether it be effects, lighting angles or edit, the DSG photographers had to give something a shot.
As you can see by the shots below, we were super glad we gave our team this challenge and boy did they rise to it.
From DSG Photographer Michael Monaco
For the Montreal Auto Show photoshoot I decided on a heavily marketed approach, focussing on identifying brands. The framing of the images are very similar to the way a company would go about the process of presenting their product. Using a combination of wide lenses (Canon 24-70mm f.28, Sigma 35mm f1.4) with large apertures and shallow depth of field along with a Macro lens for images depicting more detail, I was able to attain the desired effect and convey the “marketability” of the cars. The edit is really where the images became my own drawing the eye to brands and the aesthetics of the cars more so than the human interaction between the show-goers and the cars. The intention was ultimately to show how these cars are treated, that they are expected not only to perform mechanically, with speed and efficiency but also aesthetically.
I feel like the direction the show was taking me was toward this “market” feeling, like they were trying to genuinely sell these cars. so I really tried to get this advertising effect, something I don’t usually do. The pictures feel a little more flashy this way but also more classic and pristine, which is I think a big part of what those cars are meant to represent
