TOSHI OKU
FINE TUNED MACHINES FOR TOP PERFORMANCE
Commercial photographer Toshi Oku has perfected the art of bringing luxurious automobiles to life through photography and video. His work perfectly showcases the engineering and design prowess of some of the most renowned car manufacturers in the world. When offered the chance to photograph the Koenigsegg Agera RS during an attempt to break the land speed record, Toshi jumped at the offer. His camera of choice? The Hasselblad H6D-100c.
The Agera RS can accelerate from 0-249mph in just 24 seconds, topping out at an average speed of 277.87 mph, making it one of the fastest production automobiles in the world. The record attempt took place on an 11-mile stretch of highway in the Nevada Desert and Toshi’s task was to simply “capture something incredible”.
SHUTTER SPEED: 1/350 SEC
APERTURE: F/8
FOCAL LENGTH: 35MM (HCD 35-90)
ISO:64
As an experienced photographer who specialises in photographing landscapes and motor vehicles, Toshi was in his element. The Agera RS is designed specifically to optimise its power and downforce ratio when moving in a straight line. To cope with huge pressures it encounters when driving at speeds in excess of 200 mph, the shape of this car has a unique front splitter, air vents and rear wing. These critical features allow air to move around the Agera RS with maximum efficiency while preventing the front of the car from raising as it picks up speed. But they also help to make the car a beautiful photographic subject.
Toshi used both the HCD 4-5.6/35-90mm and the HCD 4/28 mounted on the Hasselblad H6D-100c on this project. Explaining why those lenses were ideal, Toshi said: “The ability to have a zoom lens that hits all the sweet spots was great. Also, the HCD 28mm is such an amazing lens. It’s sharp and having a wide-angle like that is very nice to shoot a project like this."
I wanted to approach this as more of a fine art project than a commercial car shoot. Having a wide-angle lens gave me more freedom in composition. With the detail you get from the H6D-100c, I can shoot my images as an entire frame but also crop and recompose images later without worrying about a loss in quality.
Each and every sensor that goes into a Hasselblad H6D-100c body is individually calibrated and tested to ensure it delivers optimal image quality, making it the perfect camera to capture detailed products, like the expertly crafted Koenigsegg Agera RS. Reflecting on the experience of working with Koenigsegg, Toshi said, “I feel the real similarity was myself as a photographer and a camera, and the driver and this car; they have to work perfectly together like fine-tuned machinery.”
SHUTTER SPEED: 1/500 SEC
APERTURE: F/11
FOCAL LENGTH: 28MM (HCD 28)
ISO:100
READ MORE ABOUT TOSHI OKU HERE.
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