In September we traveled to China for two weeks of shooting for DDB Shanghai. We spent the first three days recceing various locations and the sheer size of this city is quite astonishing. Everything is stacked so closely together. Here we see residential blocks twenty stories tall over looking a military training ground complete with sports stadium and airliner.
November 19th, 2012 by Nick Meek
Last August we shot the the largest ever print campaign in the history of DDB for the global launch of the 21st Century Beetle. The campaign took its inspiration from Julian Koenig’s iconic Think Small campaign of 1959 ( ranked as the best advertising campaign of the 20th century by Advertising Age ) Koenig used massive amounts of white empty space on his page and the folks at DDB UK wanted to echo the same sensibility for their new campaign… but with a more human touch. Jeremy Craigen and Grant Parker saw an image of mine (Chevelle ) where I bleached out the background whilst keeping my subject solid and up front. This served as a great foundation for the photographic style of the campaign.
In total we shot twenty one print executions in sunny Los Angeles.
Art Director, Grant Parker
Executive Creative Director , Jeremy Craigen
Production by Produceit
November 16th, 2012 by Nick Meek
First Point, Malibu California. The setting for The Endless Summer and home to many a soul surfer.
This is the first in a series of work that will examine the surfers landscape as an art form as opposed to simply documenting a sport.
November 14th, 2012 by Nick Meek
It’s so great to be chosen as ‘ad of the week’ by Lürzers ! I feel like this blog is all about the Beetle campaigns at the moment though.
Having just finished nine ads in China and another forty pictures in Los angeles including the launch campaign for the new cabriolet there are plenty more to come………
AD’s Grant Parker, David
Mackersey
ECD, Jeremy Craigen
Agency, Adam and Eve / DDB
November 12th, 2012 by Nick Meek
On the 20th September 2012, Space Shuttle Endeavour took the last slow steps towards her final resting place, The California Science Centre, Inglewood, Los Angeles.
It was ironic to observe this amazing vessel that once orbited our Earth at thousands of miles per hour, now slowly being towed down Crenshaw Boulevard slower than walking pace.
There will be an edition of just 10 40″ prints.
October 31st, 2012 by Nick Meek
Last week saw the awards party for the launch of the Creative Review Photography Annual 2012. We’re super happy to be selected in their advertising section !
This image was part of a massive 21 image campaign we shot to launch the new VW Beetle for DDB UK.
To get this unusual angle we employed the use of a remote control helicopter. Together, the pilot and I flew the machine into position high above our multi-storey car park in downtown L.A.
To make life interesting we only had 4 cars available to us so it was all hands on deck. We got the chopper in position, fired off a few frames….. then the crew ran into the cars and performed an incredibly swift and well rehearsed manoeuvre.
Being careful to keep the chopper in exactly the same position we then shot a few more frames…. it made for a very simple retouch.
I really want to work more with that toy !
Art Direction by Grant Parker
ECD Jeremy Craigen
Production by Produceit L.A
Retouching Steve Layer1retouching
October 31st, 2012 by Nick Meek
We were in Switzerland shooting personal work a little while ago when Publicis Zurich called. Luckily I was able to pop straight round for a chat.
The resulting campaign turned into a great adventure around the Grisons area of Switzerland and ticked off something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while.
As a keen ski mountaineer I have a real love for the mountains so when we had a chance to be heli dropped on the summit of Piz Palu (4000m) I was super excited.
It snowed quite heavily the night before the shoot so it was impossible for anyone to climb the mountain the next day. This meant that for our shot we had the summit all to ourselves.
We jumped out of the chopper, roped up, crampons on, ice axe in hand and set out across the snowy ridge.
Art Director, Conny Jaeger
Creative Director, Roger Ruegger
Produced by KT Produktion
Retouching; Steve Rochford at Layer1retouching.com
October 30th, 2012 by Nick Meek
Here are three of my favourite pictures from a brochure that I shot to accompany our launch campaign for the 21st Century Beetle. Art directed by Lisa Kirchner, Retouching Stephen at layer1retouching.com
October 23rd, 2012 by Nick Meek
Another two images in this years Association of photographers awards.
Jacked was shot during a personal work trip to Nevada USA and Lac Emersson is part of an ongoing project documenting the French mountain landscape.
October 23rd, 2012 by Nick Meek
It’s great to come home from a month of shooting commissions in the U.S and have work accepted by the AOP. Very Happy.
October 23rd, 2012 by Nick Meek