I was asked to look at shooting stills on the set of a television commercial with cars. On advertising jobs I'm usually in control of the production, but this would be different with me in the background with no influence and only limited opportunities. The director and crew would be running things and I'd need to get what I could and stay out of their way. A bit like working round a football pitch or in the dressing room. The creative team had a particular director in mind with a certain way of lighting things. My job would be to get dynamic driving pictures so I wanted to rehearse shooting under similar conditions to demonstrate the potential and identify any problems.
I decided that night-time at Piccadilly Circus, in London's West End, would be a good place to start. There'd be lots of expensive cars and the huge illuminated advertising screens would - to some degree - simulate the lighting on set. I'd have no control over the traffic and there's be lots of things in the way like street furniture and people. These are some of the results:
