The Savage Land Pictures

Number Fourteen

2013-06-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

In super slow motion Aerialist Lindsey Fleck and Kyle Vest perform to the Josh Money remix of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight Sonata"

Josh Money's Moonlight $onota remix is available here:
http://www.beatport.com/release/carve...

Video produced by:
Jesse James Allen
© 2013 Savage Land Pictures

Night of the Spider

2013-06-07T23:36:00.001-07:00

This story will start on an airplane traveling across the country; There I sat in my seat reading an absolutely fascinating book by fellow photographer Eric Curry . Eric is no ordinary photographer, he is a master of Light-painting and in his book Painting with Light: Lighting & Photoshop Techniques for Photographers he goes in depth on how a simple set of flashlights and a DSLR can be used to create some stunning imagery.

Though I had dabbled in Light-painting I had never tried his approach of stitching images together of different light passes, so by the time the landing gears dropped in San Francisco I knew my future would at some point involve an Exotic automobile and a flashlight.

Weeks later I was chatting with Flickr photographer Jason Sha'ul from "Trend Setter Developments"and explained some of the theory of Eric's book, Jason thought it sounded like a great challenge and worked though some contacts to find us the right automobile.

The right automobile just happened to be a Ferrari 458 Spider that Jason was able to obtain through a contact. The vehicle was delivered and I showed up with a small arsenal of lighting. Being that it is not everyday one gets a hold of a 2012 Ferrari at the location of their choice I was not taking any chances. I brought everything from LED lights to a 1000 watt strobe and powercell. The first shots were very standard, traditional dual strobe shots that would be common to any magazine:

But as the sun set and the storm clouds crept along I simply put away the heavy artillery and brought out an LED lighting array on a monopod. This simple setup actually kicked out a good amount of light and as I painted Jason fired the first shot:

The image as you can see was quite impressive, so as they say "it was on like Donkey Kong" as we started to really explore the potential of light and long exposures. In the shot above I simply held up the light on a pole and walked clockwise around the car behind the camera with the light angled down, you can see the path in on the ground.

To achieve these type of shots I had the light extended all the way up on the monopod, splashing light on each panel from a 45 degree downward angle. One of us would simply open the camera shutters and the other start the motions around the car. In the shot above I took some time walking behind the camera lighting the side of the car and then ran behind it to create the streak.

Depending on how much sky and background we wanted we would vary the shutter speed around 8 to 30 seconds or more. A shorter shutter speed meant only the car was really visible (as in the first shot at the top of this page "Awakened") , a longer shutter time let clouds (illuminated by a nearby town) creep into the photo as seen above.

In the shot of the back of the Ferrari I lit the car primarily from the right side. From a distance of about 3 feet above I simply turned the light on the pole with my wrist to eliminate heavy streaks (seen only in the right side bumper), this effect gave a more balanced look.

In the dash shot below I rigged the camera in place with a Magic Arm to a tripod and then Jason and I passed the LED on a monopod across the back of the 458 to highlight the interior.

And then of course as we figured more out ways to bend light, things got dramatic, this was way too much fun. The shot below was a merged image of several passes from back to front of the light pole flying overhead. In many of the shots the light streak reflections crossed the hood but by using Eric Curry's technique I masked out all passes in post except the lower passes across the left/right sides.

Several hours later between dying batteries, a never ending supply of Mosquito's who chewed us to bits and a bit of drizzle from the clouds above, we both felt it was time to call it. Overall the experience was every bit as amazing as Eric's book said it would be. For both Jason and I the shoot left us inspired and a feeling of a greater potential for creativity in the months ahead.

Aside from the cool car and bright lights side to this story I must restate the importance of learning and working with fellow photographers. Even if you think you know how something works, there is room to grow by both learning and teaching; in the end, the results are not only instantly gratifying but often leave you walking away from the project a more diverse artist than when you arrived.

All images © 2013 Savage Land Pictures & Trend Setter Developments.

Just waiting for you

2013-06-05T22:21:00.001-07:00

Just waiting for you, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

The Ferrari 458 Spyder

Awakened

2013-06-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

Awakened, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

The beautiful Ferrari 458 Spyder. This image was light painted with a led lighting array.

More to come on this series.

This was a good day

2013-06-03T07:03:00.001-07:00

This was a good day, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

So this is how my evening started on Sunday. After shooting all day with a great model, I got to hang out all evening with this Italian beauty. You gotta post pictures like this so on those hard days you can remember the great ones and "keep on keeping on".

More pics from this soon..

Featured

2013-05-24T13:09:00.002-07:00

Recently some of the things I have been doing have made some notable presence on the web.
The story about my experience tracking down the super car collection at the "Swap Shop" has caught the interest of the dePont Registry http://autofluence.com/media/photos/multi-million-dollar-swap-shop-car-collection/

as well as an Italian Automotive Blog Site "Auto Blog" http://www.autoblog.it/post/162293/in-florida-una-mostra-di-supercar-nascosta-allinterno-di-un-mercato

Shifting gears a bit Full Sail University recently ran an a story about me and my picks for the 5 best sounding video games: http://www.fullsailblog.com/what-are-the-best-sounding-video- I will be giving a lecture about sound for video games on Tuesday May 28th at Full Sail here in Orlando.

Seek and Destroy

2013-05-22T22:10:00.001-07:00

Seek and Destroy, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

Flying in from corner two Patrick Goodin glides in for an amazing round in qualifying at the WDRIFT America event in Orlando

Sarah Burgess

2013-05-20T21:48:00.001-07:00

Sarah Burgess Drift1, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

This is part of a series of Drift racing shots I shot on Sunday May 19th during the WDrift America event. Here Sarah Burgess did an amazing drift from corner three. The sounds from this Mustang were awesome.

More to come from this event...stay tuned

Hot Import Nights heats up Orlando

2013-05-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Way back before "The Fast and The Furious 1" brought the import tuner scene into the mainstream limelight there was a more legitimate side of the Import Tuner Scene, a side that consisted of three major car shows : The Tokyo Auto Salon, SEMA and Hot Import Nights. Hot Import Nights was and still is unique in that of the three in that it has always been about the tuner culture, more so than automotive companies trying to entice future customers. Hot Import Nights is more-or-less, part rave party and part car show; that odd combination is perhaps what makes it so fantastic. This formula has kept Hot Import Nights successful for over a decade now. The latest round of Hot Import Nights came to Orlando Florida this past weekend and I have to say it was like stepping back in time just a little bit.

In 2002 while I filming Apotheosis (a documentary about the rising import scene) I attended Hot Import Nights LA, probably during H.I.N.'s highest point. There were so many cars that the entire convention center and the court yard were filled to capacity. Nearby dozens of tuners were endlessly circling the streets waiting for a vacancy on the show floor. I also remember a two hour wait to get in to the convention center and a line that stretched as far as the eye could see. Every Japanese car you could ever want to see was at that show and many of them modified mechanically and visually to the highest levels. To this day I can still remember how amazing that show was and how hyped I was after filming there.

Arriving at the Central Florida Raceway on Saturday I once again found myself in a line of cars waiting to get in. I was encouraged to see a large turn out. The sides of the road filled with questionably parked cars including everything from the popular Scion FR-S, to Hellaflush Civics.

Once through the parking gate I unloaded my camera and lights and right away started the hunt. Half the fun of these shows is to see what automotive goodness is hanging out in the parking lot.

My wanderings lead me onto the access road to the drift track as drivers prepped and tuned for Sundays W Drift America event.

From there I made my way down the main stretch to take in the main entries. Hidden in the modern tuning goodness was a great set of vintage Mazda RX4's in the mix.

Of course from there there was everything from decked out Genesis Coupes

to a wonderfully modified reincarnation of the CRX (CRZ)

Of course there were many examples of the ever popular 350Z both in the show and on the track.

Hot Import Nights would not be complete without the Go Go Dancers.

The Godzilla family tree was looking as menacing as ever.

As the sun set and lights fired up the real charm of Hot Import Nights comes into effect. The coolness factor of a car show goes up noticeably under the night sky, especially on a race track. Perhaps it's that subconscious connection between car culture and late night cruising and racing that makes one feel at home.

Speaking of feeling at home, if you have been following my blog for a while you know that I have pretty much been focused on coverage of the exotic car scene down here in the Sunshine State. So one may ask after shooting so many flavors of Bugatti Veyron how does one get excited about a JDM racer? Well let me put it this way, I'm not biased (I love all automobiles) and I got my start in the tuner scene.

... I can look at any tuner displaying at Hot Import Nights and know what it's like to make a car part of your persona. I quickly remember all the weekends turning a wrench on my MR2 Turbo in the garage, the endless hours of detailing and prepping for a show.

Tuner cars are fun as hell and beyond that through the years I have met some super cool people in and through the tuner scene. Though the scene has changed a bunch through the years I still see people with the same passion for cars that existed a decade ago (likely since the dawn of the automobile). I left this show totally pumped, and impressed with the enthusiasm of it's crowd.

Hey, if Hot Import Nights can still make me feel this way after all these years about the Japanese tuner scene then I say it's organizers are doing a great job. That's all I got to say. Thanks for reading, I'll shut up now and just leave you with some more images from the show.

Cheers,
Jesse James Allen
AKA - Savage Land Pictures

Lutz Performance Supra

2013-05-19T00:23:00.001-07:00

Lutz Performance Supra, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

A little sneak peek of my upcoming set of Hot Import Nights pics from Orlando. A full story about the event here on Savagelandpictures.com on the way as well...stay tuned :)

Spyker C8 Convertible

2013-05-17T20:14:00.001-07:00

Spyker C8 Convertible, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

From the St Pete Festivals of Speed.

MC12 at the Ritz

2013-05-15T22:59:00.001-07:00

MC12 at the Ritz, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

This is a restored shot of a Maserati MC12 that I shot a few years back (Thanks to the goodness of RAW files). Too beautiful to keep in the archives.

Topless MC12

2013-05-15T22:55:00.001-07:00

Topless MC12, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

Another restored shot from The Festivals of Speed 2007. The MC12 is such a sweet machine, too cool to hide forever on my hard drives.

Accomplishments

2013-05-11T19:20:00.001-07:00

Accomplishments, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

What do these three things have in common? They are all things I have or helped create.

Starting from right to left:

The "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14" is the 45th video game I have done sound design for. Everything from the sound of a vintage wooden clubs in the "Legends of the Majors" mode, to water trickling down streams, birds chirping in the trees; all of those sounds were created and hooked up by myself and fellow sound designer Rob Warren. The game trailer can be seen here: www.ign.com/videos/2013/01/07/tiger-woods-pga-tour-14-leg...

"The Festivals of Speed" a beautiful coffee table book created for the organizer of the of the popular Florida exotic car venue. This is packed full of some of the very best images I have shot covering the show from 2007-2013. Automotive friends I have shown this to really liked it, the print quality is amazing.

My "EA Sports 2013 developer plaque" I helped produce 7 video games last year from an audio standpoint.
I wrote about all the projects on my blog post here: www.savagelandpictures.com/2013/01/what-i-accomplished-in...
Each year EA gives it's employees a commemorative plaque that represents what you worked on in the past year. Even though the year says 2013 the games were developed in 2012.

Gila Monster

2013-05-07T21:57:00.001-07:00

Gila Monster, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

These little guys are pretty cool though they have a very bad reputation. Yes they are venomous however bio-med scientists are starting to find some good uses for it's venom in various treatments including drug creation for diabetes and mental illnesses. Who knows perhaps the monster is more of a friend than we originally thought.

Ferrari F430 16M

2013-05-06T21:51:00.001-07:00

Ferrari F430 16M, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

This is the special edition F430 16M Scuderia to celebrate Ferrari's 16th F1 Championship.

16M Scuderia, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

Night photos from west Florida

2013-05-05T15:51:00.001-07:00

Moon over the pier, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

The photo above is the St Petersburg Fishing Pier or as long time residents of Florida may say the last remaining parts of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The area was created and named a State park following a shipping tragedy in May of 1980 that took the lives of 40 people when a shipping freighter collided and collapsed much of the bridge. An old news clip of the disaster can be seen here http://youtu.be/0IHQIv-kdzs

Today the massive fishing pier is a very popular spot for locals to unwind and enjoy some tranquility at the edge of the bay.
I shot these first 3 shots with my Mamiya RB67 Pro on the first quarter of the pier. Thought not evident in these shots there were actually a good number of people fishing that night but most were at the far end.

Once at the far end I took this shot of the new Sunshine Skyway Bridge and got super lucky when an airplane likely heading toward Tampa international flew by.

The shot above is from the Tampa airport; if you look close you can see the blur of the tram flying down the track. I have always liked airports, perhaps because it's the starting point of many great adventures.

Astral Dreamer and Keelah Se'lai

2013-04-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

This piece is more-or-less a one synth challenge except for the drums all I used to compose this piece was the HG Fortune Astral Dreamer.

This is HG's newest creation and above all the wonderful functionality the sounds on this VST synth are just just fantastic, smooth, dramatic and full of motion. A lot of what makes the sounds sound so lush is HG's Harmonics sharpers that can be assigned to open and close off many assignable parameters but I found the LFO tie in to Harmonics to be my favorite.

On my sound cloud song "Keelah Se'lai" I'm adding in the patch data into the comments if anyone is interested in how it was put together.

I am a big fan of HG's synths mostly because I'm a huge sci-fi fan and these patches just make it so inviting to do tracks like this. For this track I went after a feel that was very cinematic yet remained very electronic (as Daft Punk did with Tron) of course being a huge "Mass Effect" fan it has a Jack Wall influence, thus how I decided on a title...so I suppose that makes this fan art ?

As for the drums, they were done with a classic Reaktor patch called Newscool that I have adored for years, a few epic drum hits for drama as well as a basic kick\snare\HH from my old friend Battery 3.

I hope you enjoy the music!

Cheers,

- Jesse

Photo Bomber

2013-04-26T06:24:00.001-07:00

Photo Bomber, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

This was taken at the Tico War-bird airshow in east Florida. As amazing as this pilot is it was hard to capture the drama in a shot without a context.

I thought of the series of this performance this shot really sold the insanity of what was truly going on. Sometimes in photography it is more important to capture the moment than to capture the subject.

Half Life Inspired Gravity Gun

2013-04-21T01:03:00.001-07:00

Inspired by both Valve’s Half Life series and Volpin (Harrison Krix) real life replica; this is my take on the gravity gun. This gun was never meant to be a spot on replica but rather an interpretation. The prop is made out of PVC, Foam, parts of old airsoft guns, spare electronic parts and about 200 LED lights powered by a 12 volt battery inside the core of the gun. I put the NECA Portal gun in this video as a scale reference.

The prop was made for my girlfriend who wanted to go as Alyx Vance last Halloween from the upcoming Half Life 3. I decided to give it a go as my first serious undertaking building a prop weapon. It was a lot of fun to put together.

Anyway I hope you enjoy my take on the Half Life weapon of choice.

Devon GTX

2013-04-17T21:41:00.001-07:00

Devon GTX, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

From what I understand there are only a handful of these Devon GTX supercars in existence. This is based on the Dodge Viper platform. Truly a stunning exotic to see in real life.

On display at the 2013 St Petersburg Festivals of Speed
festivalsofspeed.com/

The Whale Tale

2013-04-16T17:59:00.001-07:00

The Whale Tale, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

This beautiful Porsche 911 race car was on display at the 2013 St Petersburg Festival of Speed

Photographed by Jesse James Allen.
©2013 Savage Land Pictures

My Best Car Story...Ever

2013-04-15T06:40:00.002-07:00

Who hasn't dreamed of driving a Supercar? One can only imagine how amazing it must feel to drive a car that is like nothing else on the road. It would be so cool to have all that power and that race car type handling. It would be so fun to turn heads and see peoples reactions as you drove by. Must be nice, but a dream non-the-less that only those who are very successful or privileged get to experience...however sometimes that once-in-a-lifetime dream-come-true happens to one of us average folks. Little did I know the morning of April 7th that that dream was about to come true for me.

I was covering the St Petersburg Festival of Speed this past Sunday for the event organizer, shooting cars doing my thing. I have been covering the Festivals of Speed as an event photographer since 2007.

As I started to shoot the back side of the Spyker LM85 I feel this tap on my shoulder. The woman started asking me how well I liked the Spyker and being that I had shot it at the show many years in a row I said that the LM85 was truly a standout even among a sea of exotic cars. It turned out she had bought it for her husband for their anniversary and had quite a tale about purchasing the vehicle and how great of a company Spyker was to deal with (Including flying the couple to France for a track day at Le Mans). According to her there were only about 24 of these limited edition LM85’s were available to the public.

Her husband came over after about 15 minutes and started asking me questions about working as a photographer for the festival and I mentioned that I had liked the LM85 so much that I had a poster of it hanging in my home (The photo below) ; around that time the event organizer asked me to photograph the awards ceremony so I handed the couple my card and went to work.

After the show ended I was heading back to my car when my cell phone rang. The voice said “Hey Jesse would you like to drive my car?” in which I replied “ummmm……I can’t say no to that, I’ll be there in 10 minutes”. A fellow photographer friend of mine helped me get my gear back to my new Honda that I drove to the show, then I made a B-line to the Spyker like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time.

Once at the car the owner was chatting with some of the event official’s and then said “You ready to go?”Part of me thought I should just be a passenger because that is a lot of money (about a quarter million) followed by the thought “How often does this opportunity happen in one’s life?” so I simply said “absolutely”

Crawling into the cockpit was certainly an awe moment, the interior is somewhere between a 40’s airplane and high fashion upholstery. I have shot a lot of Exotics through the years, the interior of the LM85 is unquestionably the most stunning. I sat there for a second staring at the gauge cluster as my photographer friend came by and snapped some pics. My friend asked how did I feel and I stated “In a minute I’m positive my alarm clock is going to go off and I’m going to be pissed” My friend pitched my arm and stated this was no dream. So I pulled down the vertical door. The owner presented a silver disc that allowed the car to be started. I flipped up the ignition switch on the dash and hit “engine start” it sounded amazing! Like a chorus of roaring tigers with a beautiful harmonic overtone.

I put the linked shifter into first and crawled across Vinoy Park and out onto the street. Going through St Pete I could help but notice people looking and giving me the thumbs up. Honestly I was happy enough right there but the owner said “Well let’s take her out onto 375”

The on ramp to the highway was nearly a religious experience and the Spyker blasted to 60 in 3nd gear faster than I could say “Good lord!" There were surprisingly few cars on the road and those that were there got out of the way. The owner stated most people do get out of the way because they want to see it.

The owner was showing me the best lines to take the first few curves of the road, the steering on the LM85 is damn near telepathic, it felt video game flawless. Quite honestly switching to video game mentality helped me focus on the driving experience more than the worry of liability….it was like the best game of Forza I would ever play.

Nearing the edge of St. Pete he had me get off the ramp and circle around. There was an SUV full of college kids that were losing their mind next to us at the light. The owner said “Here is your on ramp...you should see what this can do” as the light changed I hit the gas full throttle and oh …my…. god the sounds and sensation of speed was like nothing I had ever experienced on four wheels. By the top of the ramp the speedo said 115.

On the way back to downtown it really started to hit me that this wasn't some dream. I was outside myself…seriously the biggest emotional high ever. The Spyker is not a car you drive it is something you experience and it is an experience that will leave you with a sense of humbleness and awe intertwined by intrigue and excitement The LM85 is a masterpiece of visual design embraced by the pure essence of a world class track car.

Taking the Spyker down to 35 MPH was no sweat for the oversized breaks. The curb side shouts of enthusiasm as we passed the outdoor restaurant patios were so cool.

The owner asked if I had a good time and I said “I seriously can’t thank you enough, this was beyond words amazing”. As we pulled to a stop at the event security my photographer friend snapped the picture above, I had that smile all night long...I still do when I think about this.

The owner said as cool as the Spyker is to drive it brings him the most happiness getting a chance to share an experience with a true automotive enthusiast. I shook his hand and stepped out from under the vertical door …that was quite possibly the best fifteen minutes I have ever had behind the wheel.

The moral of the story:
"I drove to an Exotic car show in a Honda and left driving a Spyker Supercar…never underestimate the potential of a single day of your life."

____________________________________________

Special thanks to Jason Sha'ul the photos of me used in this story.

Apotheosis

2013-04-11T07:25:00.001-07:00

Ten years ago following the success of “MR2DIE4 (1998)” and “MR2DIE4 the Extreme Machines (2000)” I opted to start another automotive documentary to include a broader scope of Japanese car types. I could sense something big was going to happen to the Japanese Tuning scene so I traveled to even more cities than the previous film.

At the time I had released my MR2 films they were one of the few American documentaries covering Japanese cars, the majority of other videos on the market at the time were from Japan (non-translated); However in 2001 Universal Studio’s released “The Fast and the Furious” and within months brought the Japanese Tuner scene into the limelight. The market then became flooded with videos about underground street racing (largely profiling Japanese tuners). Being that “Apotheosis” was self-funded/ self-produced I found myself in a race to get to market on an overly ambitious project. The film took three years to make as I wanted it to be way more than just another Tuner/Street Racer film but rather a time capsule of the era.

Apotheosis was released in 2003 and achieved moderate success , the film did eventually break-even but I opted against making another as my career was focused on making video games (Including doing some sound design on EA’s Need for Speed Underground)

As with my other films I also composed the soundtrack; however this was the first soundtrack I created not only with Midi hardware but my very first virtual synthesizers as that technology was becoming more available.

I had a lot of fun working on this documentary mostly due to the wonderful people I met while making it. I decided to post this up to preserve the era for future generations as well as to show a more positive twist on tuners of that time.

- Jesse

MR2DIE4 The Extreme Machines

2013-04-06T22:11:00.001-07:00

This is an independent documentary film I made 13 years ago about the Toyota MR2 sports car. Filmed from San Francisco to Birmingham Alabama in ten months from 1999-2000; this film was meant to be a time capsule of that era.

This version was the one slightly revised for the South East Toyota MR2 owner's club event of 2002 (Extra content). The version uploaded to you tube is straight from the original digital master however there was no such thing as High Definition video at the time so 640 resolution is the tops.

The reason I made the film back then was that I ran the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Toyota MR2 owners club back in the late 90's. I had absolutely loved my blue 1992 Toyota MR2 I had acquired a couple years prior to the making. At the time I was working for a post-production company and in 1998 made a fake Toyota MR2 commercial called "Dream On" the tiny video went somewhat viral in the MR2 community back in the dial up days (56K). Later that year I shot a half hour documentary in Colorado called "MR2DIE4" that I sold on VHS tapes via the web. The video did well enough to fund this project and being that I was so fanatic about the MR2 I traveled to many MR2 events around the country to track down the MR2's that were popular at the time.

After this video was released I received a good amount of support, though there were certainly many who thought the video should have been way more about engine and performance specs. The style of the project was certainly impressionistic more about the feeling of owning the MR2 in this era more than anything else.

I still fondly remember making this film and all the great people I met. Overall this film set the stage for many things I would do later in life such as doing sound design for "Nascar" and "Need for Speed Underground" as well as the commercial automotive photography I do today.

It was requested by the MR2 owners club that I make this available online as a historical piece. I hope MR2 owners of today and tomorrow enjoy this film .