This project exemplifies that you never know where the next commission will come from. The 80s TV stuff garnered interest from the nostalgia crowd, which was unsurprising. The nostalgia market is huge. But at the start of this year a snowboarding/bike enthusiast contacted me wanting to have some posters made depicting a snowboarder or biker flying over a car.

I discussed the possibility of photographing him snowboarding (a subject I would love to shoot) in order to make it more customised and personal but we decided that could be a project in itself for another time. He was happy for me to use a generic or stock shot of a snowboarder. But then we had to choose the kind of car he wanted in the shot. He specified something sporty (naturally) and coloured blue or red to contrast against the snow.

So I trawled eBay looking for something and soon found this 1/18 scale 1977 Lotus Esprit Turbo, blue with red and white stripes, on auction. I felt it would look great in a snow setting. I checked with the client and he approved so I bought it. (I didn’t bill the client for it since I plan to sell this model again myself).

Polystyrene foam doubled for snow, while some rocks from the garden had some flour sieved onto them. The background plate was from one of my Iceland trips. I personally wanted to have more snow flying off the vehicle but the client didn’t want the car to be too obscured. Fair enough.

On one of the shots I also used a flying biker that I photographed at a stunt show a while back, although I think the snowboarder works better in the wintery setting. I also made a couple of static shots of the car in the snow just because it’s a great looking car.

Not wanting to play my own trumpet, and you won’t be able to tell from these web sized images, but they look great on the wall at 120x80cm (minus the black bars, of course), a reminder to us all to print our work whenever we can, especially large. It will enhance your appreciation of it no end.