Nick Meek – Judd : Full CG

Judd with Nick Meek

A sleek black M1 forms a dark dynamic wedge that interplays with the shapes of an abstract sculpture.

Walking around the sand and aligning the massive elements with the car, the viewer can get lost in this creative exploration game. Sometimes the car forms a striking diagonal, sometimes it’s the focal point in recurring framing elements.

The desert’s like a canvas for the photographer’s eye to juxtapose the pale concrete artwork– created purely for art in this space, scoured by wind and sand – and the deep hot black angularity of the car that’s been driven to it,  a machine built with function and movement in mind.

These images show the photographer’s own interpretation of what each sculpture is trying to say, as well as how they can counterpoint the car to tell a new story.

How we did it:
This series is a collaborative experiment by photographer Nick Meek with post-production studio Recom Farmhouse. We set out to see how far it’s possible to push the boundaries of photographic realism in full CGI.We created a set with the correct natural terrain, materials and light, which the photographer could then ‘walk’ around, choosing lenses, angles and sun position, but always within the real world parameters that the photographer would have shot.The wedge-shaped BMW M1 in classic gloss black sets off the rough concrete forms. In every choice – car positioning, angles, lighting, rendering, grain, we chose to be as accurate as possible to analogue photography.Graded with meticulous care, the series is as close to the film grade as possible.Finally, we carefully scanned and graded original film borders to make a true, respectful recreation of analogue photography in 100% CGI.This is a series that’s a world away from flamboyant retouching – we have framed it as absolute photographic classicism, to show that working in CGI can embrace everything we love about photography. See the whole series on our site here.

 

Behind the scenes video:

 

Credits

Post Production Team: Recom Farmhouse London

CGI Artist: George Russell
Post Artist: Kate Brown, Aljaz Bezjak

Project Team

Photographer: Nick Meek
Creative Supervision: Kate Brown

Making Of ‘Au_XLR8R’ with Thomas Brown and the_kyza – Full CGI

Recom Farmhouse London are proud to present ‘Au_XLR8R – a Full CGI charged-up collision of leading artists in car design, CGI and photography.

Thomas Brown wanted to bring his unique vision to the world of automotive photography. He often works with a set designer to create a physical world, whether it’s a sci-fi storm for Wallpaper or explorations of volume and mass for Frame. For a car, only CGI can bring this freedom of vision.

Khyzyl Saleem‘s work (@the_kyza) is a high-octane mix of the wildest aspects of car design: evolved from the explosive creativity of gaming, founded in an in-depth knowledge of the realities which is fuelled by his bodykit business, extending those outrageous modifications to real-life cars.

Recom Farmhouse ourselves are always looking for new and energising ways to fuel the possibilities of full CGI. We asked Khyzyl if he could provide one of his models for us to work with. With this model, we would create a detailed virtual studio inspired by Thomas’s references, collaborate on the creation of a series of images in this digital set, and then grade them to perfection.

 

The Concept

Thomas’ reference roared and fizzed with energy for us to create his desert art space in an American landscape, an environment liminal in space, time and human intervention. The car would be set as a sculpture, with an elemental quality incorporating ideas of gold, particle collisions, sculpture & precision engineering.

The Car

Khyzyl chose a 1989/91 Porsche 944 Turbo KS combined with 2022/23 992 GT3 RS Variant to be the centrepiece of the installation. Thomas’s vision was a car of pure gold in colour: a glossy and perfect mirror finish, an outrageously extravagant paint job, full of interest with the complicated lighting.

 

The Studio

In Recom Farmhouse’s London studio, CGI artist Aljaz Bezjak created an outdoor studio in Blender as a setting for the car, complete with supports, rigging and power supply. The site has its own ecology and geology, with scrubby desert plants against a background of far mountains. These small ‘real world’ details are what’s vital in making the environment, grounding the exhilarating fantasy in a believable reality.

 

“Mesmerisingly beautiful interactions between particles as they collide at high speed sending them spiralling off from their trajectories. The images chart the path of a particle, chance impacts and ultimately how the influence of others can permanently change their course. ”

– Thomas Brown

The images were ‘shot’ in a very reality-based method, according to Thomas’ usual practice. He would choose a lens and ‘walk’ around the environment just as he would in a real studio, selecting viewpoints that are coherent with those limitations. The point of view could almost be that of an art tourist, taking phone pictures of this desert installation for Instagram, but with the quality that only this attention to detail can bring.

 

” A roadside monument to science, energy, engineering and human creativity.  Inspired by phenomena, physics, chemistry, innovation and teenage wonder.  The excitement of the Gold Rush, frantic exploration and pioneering in search of fortune and the future.”

– Thomas Brown

The final images are a riveting combination of reality and fantasy, on the border of night and day.
See the whole series on our site and on Behance

Photographer: Thomas Brown
Post Artist: Aljaz Bezjak / Recom Farmhouse London
Car Model: Khyzyl Saleem @the_kyza