dc chavez – the BLOG

Here is a recent project I did for Rhys Millen Racing- a promotional poster that would be signed and handed out at each race. I had two days to gather assets, create the poster and send to the printer so it could make it to the first race.

I ran down to Rhys’ shop and took some quick headshots to incorporate into the poster. I used a hero image of the car from the recent El Toro shoot. Coincidentally, it was the last frame shot of the day, after team photos as the car was about to be loaded onto the rig. The light kept getting better and better as time went on, but try explaining that to a crew of people that had been working on the car for at least 14 hours a day for a month straight. Yeah, they wanted to get home and fast… Combined all that together with an image of some of the burned up rubber on the runway to add some character and VIOLA- poster…

Lots of projects that have been going on, so I will make my best attempt to slowly sprinkle them onto the blog… New video in the works too! More to come..

Just got done producing a new ad for Motoworks. They wanted to show the diversity of applications in their product line. This is the third ad I have put together for them- trying to keep a consistent look and feel among all of them. All of the photography in this ad is mine from the photoshoots a while back. We wanted someone to turn the page and know right away they were looking at a Motoworks ad. Here is the most recent ad:

I have attached a copy of what their advertising USED to look like:

This is my take on the same ad. Keep in mind there is the same amount of information on the ad that I produced:

Before there was no main focal point- my eye didn’t know where to go looking at the ad. I tried to create a hierarchy with this ad- start by looking at the title, the product, then the magazine testimonials and finally the main text. The client was really happy with the way it turned out- not to mention I saved them money in the process!

The other ad I produced for them was based around their race team and its success on the track. They wanted to showcase the riders and their accomplishments for the season. Here is how it came out:

For more info check out Motoworks.com

So a couple of weeks ago my girlfriend and I coordinated a shoot so I can expand my photographic portfolio a bit. We called some of her girlfriends and then proceeded to transform my living room into a studio. After a bit of test lighting we started snapping away. Pretty low-key shoot, but I am very happy with the way the images turned out- see below. More images to come:

This is one of the shots from a shoot I did the other day for Motoworks. They wanted to show what each of the different exhaust systems look like when installed on the bike. They had been loading up the bikes onto a trailer, driving 30 or so minutes to a studio to get photos taken. Not only that but, they were being charged $1600 for the day. I proposed we set up a mini-studio in the back corner of one of the warehouses as a way to save money. I went to Samys Camera and bought the Profoto 600W Compact Kit for them to have on-site. Wow- its an amazing what two little lights can do!

In one day I shot 6 bikes with a total of at least 3 exhausts per bike and 5 angles per exhaust. It was a lot of work, but we got it all done in one day. The client was really excited about how smoothly everything went. They were pretty amazed what someone can do with a couple of lights and how it looks like a “real studio” shot.

I went back the next day and snagged a couple of shots for their other brand called Roadhouse. I needed the image for a new ad that I designed for them- advertising their new “Lightning Duals.”

This is the beginning of trying to update this brand… Motoworks purchased Roadhouse not too long ago and are finally starting to wrap their head around everything. Now its time to get creative and to update everything- I am going to get started on their website redesign pretty soon.

All-in-all everything went pretty smoothly and the client was STOKED! Always great to genuinely help out good people (the owners of Roadhouse) and make some money at the same time.