Every year the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book is released with a great deal of pomp and fanfare. The often unconventional items in the Fantasy Gift Collection get a great deal of attention from the public and the media. Over the years we have had the honor to provide artwork on images of gifts ranging from ultralight aircraft resembling butterflies to high tech devices or even animals.
We have collaborated with Stewart Cohen Pictures for the last 3 years on Fantasy Gift cars: Rolls-Royce Dawn LE in 2017, a custom Infiniti Q60 in 2016, and a 700 horsepower Ford Mustang in 2015. Neiman Marcus creative director, Tim Flannery provided his flair and art direction. It’s always a pleasure to be part of the high octane, well synchronized productions that Stewart organizes. Our contribution not only included digital artwork, but also our Phase One camera systems and capture services on set.
This year the fantasy gift cars we worked on were Yours & Mine Rolls-Royce limited edition Dawns. They were inspired by two of the most glamorous locales in the world: Lake Como and Saint-Tropez. One car is Lago di Como blue and the other is Saint-Tropez Orange. Our challenge was to create the backgrounds from many stock images to reflect unique, nonexistent, fantasy destinations using Lake Como and Saint-Tropez as our inspiration. The cars were then shot here in Dallas. In any situation, lighting a car is no simple task, and Stewart had to light these cars to match the lighting of the created backgrounds. To make this even more complex, the car was only available for a short time, leaving about an hour for each position to light and shoot the car. We were working with a minimal crew, but experience and team work allowed us to pull it off.
The previous two images were quite different from the Rolls-Royce. The Infiniti Q60 was shot at the El Mirage dry lake bed in California. We built the background for that shot as well, but from photographs Stewart took during the same shoot. The Mustang was shot at the Texas Motor Speedway north of DFW. That background underwent a different kind of construction. Along with many changes that included a new sky, we had to fill the stands with spectators, and of course, add the second car.
Being part of the team on a Stewart Cohen Pictures production is usually a lot of work, but also yields great results. We end up with the content we need for a seamless transition to post production. High quality images are crucial for Mary as she and her team begin the work of bringing something that started as a concept to a final spectacular finish.
Client: Neiman Marcus
Artwork & Retouching: Imaginary Lines
Capture & Phase One Rental: Imaginary Lines
Photography: Stewart Cohen
Creative Direction: Tim Flannery