I first became aware of Urs Buhlman at a photography seminar in Sydney a few decades ago. He was making a presentation on car photography. In addition to using large-format film, using filters was a key element of his technique, specifically lots of graduated neutral density filters. Into the digital era, I became aware of his moody and partly-desaturated (at least to my eyes) coastal landscapes. I interviewed Urs at his home near Merimbula on the NSW south coast late in 2025…
It was all quiet and Urs asked, “Aren’t you going to say something?” The agency team were stunned! His new rep turned and said. “Urs, why didn’t you tell me that you shoot cars?” And he replied. “How do I know I can shoot cars, this is just lighting… why are you differentiating?” Thirty seconds before, he had just placed his stunning 4x5-inch transparencies on the agency’s lightbox. Six days prior to this, Urs had just started with an agent who had connections to the advertising agency handling the Subaru account. Cars ad campaigns are big accounts, and the agency was a bit uncertain about using him. He said, “Give me an Outback and I will see you in four or five days”. So he took the car up to the Seal Rocks area on the NSW mid-north coast and created the photographs which subsequently took everybody by surprise.
