Many of the most memorable automotive shoots we’ve commissioned for Wallpaper* over the years have been the work of photographer Benedict Redgrove. Combining his love of all things automotive – the more eccentric and exotic the better – with architectural photography and extensive, innovative post-production work, Redgrove has also shot for many of the major manufacturers, from Aston Martin and McLaren through to Polestar and Roborace’s self-driving car.
Over two decades’ worth of assignments have been brought together in this new book, which not only presents the striking finished images, but goes behind the scenes to explore the meticulous physical set-ups and lighting rigs that Redgrove has developed to shoot cars in both physical and virtual environments.
Auto Photo Manual follows the pattern taken with Redgrove's earlier publishing venture, The NASA Project (featured in our 2017 article), as it chronicles how an obsessive interest can be parlayed into art.
As the title suggests, Auto Photo Manual is both a portfolio and a how-to book, a behind-the-scenes look into the evolution of the world of car photography. At the same time, the machines themselves become more complex and elaborate, demanding more and more from the photographer as they attempt to bridge the worlds of art and science.
Redgrove has proved more than adept at balancing these demands. He sometimes chooses to shoot all-white cars, all the better to explore their form language and juxtapose it with architectural backdrops, be they real, CGI or a post-production blend of the two.
One of his early Wallpaper* commissions, a shoot at the now-defunct Bertone design studio in Turin, is shown here, a rare occasion where car and location could be perfectly dovetailed in camera. Shoots for Giugiaro and Pininfarina are also included, making up some of the definitive images of these legendary names.
Finding, or creating, a location is as much of an art as lighting, composition and post-production, and all this painstaking background work is chronicled in the book. Redgrove is also explicit about the role of neurodivergence on his approach, and how it affects the way he approaches a shoot.
‘I wanted to make a book that shows the work and projects in their entirety,’ Redgrove explains. ‘Often, I create a large body of work, but due to space or budget, only a few images are shown in magazines or campaigns. This way, I can release the full sets and talk about the how, why, when, and where of the images, which I often get asked about.’
A must-have for automotive enthusiasts, photography fans and art directors of all stripes, Auto Photo Manual is a beautiful and essential visual guide to the art of car design, the craft of photography, the importance of composition and the creative processes that bring it all to life.
Auto Photo Manual is available to back on Kickstarter.com
Auto-Photo-Manual.com, BenedictRedgrove.com, @BenedictRedgrove
