Neiman Marcus releases a yearly Christmas catalogue with Fantasy Gifts that billionaires covet and bucket list dreamers eagerly explore.
For this job, we were out in the desert of California on a dry lake bed in El Mirage, which presented us with many production challenges on its own.
For 2017 Neiman Marrcus wanted to feature the 2017 Infiniti Q60. Using the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 as the base, the Q60 Neiman Marcus has gold paint (officially called “Solar Mica”) accented by carbon fiber fender vents, fog-light finishers, mirror caps, and rear spoiler. Inside are Gallery White leather-appointed seats and Silver Optic Fiber interior trim.
So along with our gear, and this amazing car at our disposal, we headed out to the Mojave Desert to shoot it. Teaming up with the digital capture company ImaginaryLines, and lighting specialist Kip Corley and Trever Gens, we came up with an approach that allowed us to achieve our concept.
Right away, we knew that this was going to be a job that would have heavy compositing and retouching elements. We also knew that we needed to shoot on a Phase One IQ3 so that we could have the ultimate latitude in our files when building the final image. The first day we were there was a location scout day where we locked in our placement where the car would be staged. While we were there we set up our camera angle and shot background plates so that we could have a nice sunset to work with.
The next day as production starts and the car arrives, we scrambled to get it in place and try to drive it as little as possible on the desert floor so that the tires don’t get sandy and un-usable. We set the car in our previously scouted and marked spot and spent most of the day shooting part and pieces of the car. Locking off the camera, we shot every door, wheel, and mirror using white and black foam core to shape the highlights. Even though the final image was heavily composited it was still important to shoot it in El Mirage so we could have some reflections of the mountains in the background.
Below are the final images used in the 2017 Neiman Marcus Christmas Promotional Catalogue.
