Featured Photographer: Steffen Jahn

My good friend Steffen Jahn is a very lucky guy.  He gets to shoot some of the finest automobiles ever made, and gets paid to do it.  Talk about a dream fantasy job.  But as with all pleasures also comes a great deal of work, skill, and true craftsmanship when you’re doing productions at the level demanded by Steffen’s clients.  Last year, Steffen was invited to shoot the official photos of the, at that time, top secret BMW ZAGATO Concept Car prior to its world introduction.  The BMW Zagato Coupé is a one-off concept car made by Zagato in collaboration with BMW.  The Zagato was first introduced in Lake Como, Italy, at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on 25 May 2012.

The BMW Zagato Coupé was designed by Norihiko Harada, chief designer of the Italian designer Zagato. The long hood, the passenger compartment set back, the special double curved roof and tail truncated summarize the dynamic nature of the car, while the front a particular detail is the use of numerous small “z”, within the front grid. If the sides are reminiscent of the BMW Z4, in the back you can see unmistakable “Codatronca” design of Zagato, and a hint of a spoiler that further emphasizes the sporty look of the prototype.  Here is Norihiko Harada telling the story in his own words:

The bright red exterior paint has an iridescent effect and returns different shades. Zagato says that this effect was made by laying down a solid color base (consisting of a black layer and a metallic silver layer) and then applying six coats of red, followed by two more coats of clear protective varnish.

Enough about the car.  What about the camera?

Where’s the Camera Porn?  Here’s Steffen giving his behind the scenes walk through of the shoot.  Leaf was kind enough to loan Steffen one of their new Credo 80 digital backs.  The Credo 80 and Steffen were last sighted heading South through central France; a red streak passing telephone poles like they were picket fence posts….

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of this beautiful design concept, here are more of Steffen’s awesome photographic concepts for it:

Sources: Wikipedia, SteffenJahn.Com, Leaf Imaging, Zagato, BMW.

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