LRO Photo-shoot

In response to a request from John Carroll on Land Rover Owner International magazines forum for a standard, post-facelift Freelander 1 to feature in a LRO buying guide I found myself pulling up outside a very ordinary looking industrial unit on the outskirts of Derby city centre this morning. I was greeted by John Colley the photographer who after a brief chat helped me to wipe off the road grime the Freelander had accumulated on the drive to Derby thanks to the torrential rain we’d had that morning, luckily I’d given the car a good wash the day before so it took little more than a wipe over with a chamois leather to reveal the shiny paintwork below.

A few minutes later John Carroll arrived and after introductions we got down to the business of positioning the Freelander in the studio. Once the roller shutter door was rolled up it revealed a large clean white space with rounded corners into which the Freelander was driven and positioned in readiness for the photography to begin. While John (the photographer) started setting up the lighting John Carroll and I had a chat about my Freelander and Land Rovers in general with him making notes for the forth coming feature on buying a Freelander.

The actual photography took around two and a half hours to complete with various shots to complete and different lighting angles to set up and the whole thing was a great insight into the work involved in producing high quality images for publication.

Following the ‘shoot’ we all walked around the corner to the local cafe for a bite to eat and chat where we all put the world to rights over a coffee and jacket potato! I’d like to thank both John for inviting me along and giving me an insight into what goes on behind the scenes of a magazine article and also to John the photographer for making me feel welcome and talking camera ‘stuff’.

Should you ever get the chance to go on one of these ‘shoots’ take it, it’s certainly an eye-opener as to what goes on behind the scenes.

Don’t forget to look out for the Freelander buying guide in a future editon of Land Rover Owner International magazine.