Usually we work as carphotographers on location and in studio for famous international car brands, but this time we wanted to photograph a calendar of a somewhat different kind and teamed up with the advertising agency Die Stürmer and Albert Bauer Companies, Munich. The result: IKONE 911.

The underlying idea was to visualize all generations of the iconic Porsche 911. From the very first series of 911s, still named 901, to the recently launched latest model 992 – each series in between was lensed by us at the FGV Schmidle Studio.

Each vehicle was photographed in the studio, but staged individually. That’s what made the project so interesting. For the studio and support in selecting the Porsche models, we found the perfect partner in Markus and Oliver Schmidle from FGV Schmidle, who had just the right playground forus s at their 700 square-meter, high-tech studio in the center of Munich. Assistant Lorenz Mehrlich actively supported us in realizing the motifs.

To some extent, the visualization required planning far in advance: For the 993E motif, neon typeface needed to be rendered in CGI and then projected onto the background in the studio, only to make the reflections in the paint look as realistic as possible. And for the motif of the 996 GT3 RS, the CGI specialists from Albert Bauer Companies flexed their skills: Since the real car just wasn’t available, we simply rendered the entire vehicle.

But that’s not all; We had the rare opportunity to walk around the individual vehicles with their owners and spontaneously find the “perfect” perspective and come up with the right way to stage the cars.

Florian Stürmer and his team from Die Stürmer started to select and design the calendar. Particular importance was attached to the variety and rhythm of the motifs shown in it, as well as to a reserved, reduced layout. A special highlight of the calendar are its post cards, for which not only the motifs included were used but several others.

The finished artwork of the calendar was then done by Albert Bauer Companies, for which 2D artist Michael Fröhle was also responsible for creative post production and the masterly look & feel. In cooperation with Albert Bauer Companies and Vogl Printing House, we decided in favor of natural paper – again, a rather unusual choice for high-gloss transportation motifs.

To present the project in the appropriate setting, everyone involved whipped out the champagne. At an all-night event, we presented the finished motifs in large-format prints at the 700 square-meter FGV Studio alongside the original vehicles from the calendar. Each of the 150 guests received one of the exclusive calendars – not available in stores, by the way.

The Calendar was nominated for the Gregor Award 2020!