If anyone were to ask photographer and illustrator Jorge Cardenas what his favorite subject to shoot is, he would immediately answer, “Heavy metal.” From cars to trucks, to even bigger trucks, it’s all game–the bigger, the better.
Recently, Cardenas received an assignment from International Trucks to shoot a series of beautiful and gleaming eighteen-wheeler trucks on location in Colombia. They wanted him to create strong, dynamic images that show the power of their trucks in different settings-from mountain and valleys to charcoal mines and other industrial landscapes, all of which you can find anywhere in South America.
Cardenas used his production company in Bogotá, Colombia to produce a series of amazing photographic illustrations for the client’s next ad campaign. Taking full advantage of technology and creative vision, it was decided that all the separate elements of the photographs would be shot separately.
Jorge said, “To achieve that heroic final shot, hours of preparation are necessary, and having a big truck ready on the right location for the shoot is almost impossible, so I decided to shoot some of them separately.”
To photograph the backgrounds, Cardenas used his knowledge of the area and then, tracking the sunlight with software, he picked the perfect time of day to be in each specific location, at a specific time, to get exactly the light he needed.
“The backgrounds are composites from different images taken in the same location; it was necessary to use several images in order to create an image that includes all of the elements of the location: the road, the mountains, the sky, etc., things that could not all be captured in one shot.”
The trucks were then photographed in a nearby wide-open location. This made it possible move the trucks as needed to match the lighting conditions to make the final scene look real. The creative challenge for Jorge then was to light and compose the trucks so that they and all the various elements of the backgrounds would match seamlessly in the final photographs.
Jorge’s experience in automotive photography and his singular creative vision came together in these stunning images. The trucks not only look natural in the different settings, but they also look powerful enough to drive off the page.
See more Heavy Metal by Jorge Cardenas
Miami Visual Collective 
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