We all love photos of elegant, shiny and beautifully illuminated cars with beguiling shapes and colors. But there is also another side, namely the lower side. And we rarely see it, at most on the lifting platform in the workshop.
15 vehicles from below
Two artists have set out to photograph the underside of vehicles in an aesthetic way for once.
Graphic design professor Sven Völker and photographer Kay Michalak lifted 15 cars around 3 meters high and photographed them from below.
Elaborate photography technique
That sounds easier than it was, because of course the recording technology should not be visible in the finished photographs and the applicable safety regulations also had to be observed (no standing under suspended loads). And so the pictures had to be compiled from six to eight shots taken from different positions. Time-consuming!
No wonder the two artists have been working on this project for four years and have already compiled the results in a self-published book.
The viewer is amazed at how difficult it is to recognize a car from below, although of course there are details everywhere that can lead you on the right (or wrong) track. It is also interesting to compare the floor assemblies of different vehicle types and eras!
A Bugatti? No, but a book
So far, the two artists have recorded a diversified portfolio of post-war automobiles, including a Citroën 2 CV 6 from 1968, a Jaguar E-Type from 1970, a Mini Cooper MK VI from 1993, a VW Käfer 1200 L from 1981, a Porsche 911 T from 1968, a VW Karmann Ghia from 1974, a Renault 4 from 1985, a Smart for two from 2002, a VW Golf I from 1983, a Ford 17M P7B from 1972, a Volvo 940 from 1993, an MG A 1600 from 1960, a Mercedes-Benz 230 CE from 1984, a Trabant from 1961 and a Wartburg 311 from 1958.
The really exotic vehicles are still missing from the collection, but Sven Völker is not ruling out the possibility of hanging a Bugatti on the hook ...
The book "Auto Reverse" can be ordered/purchased here.
