LAND SCAPE by David LaChapelle (2/2) | Phase One

Watch David LaChapelle in action!

We go behind the scenes on the SHOOT of "Refineries", the second part of David LaChapelle's project, titled "LAND SCAPE." In this video, we join David LaChapelle on location in dried out lakebed, where he shared the technique behind the day and night photographs of the oil refinery models.

"My goal is to get people's attention! It's very difficult to get people's attention long enough to look at an image and then understand what it means." - David LaChapelle

"A dry lakebed is a great place to shoot. It has an incredible span. It is the closest thing we have to a Sahara within reach. I'm thrilled with what we did last time but I would like to see this one in daylight as well because I think it would look completely different not using any of the LED lights on it, just blue sky. We will overpower the sun with flash and darken the sky a bit, just to give it a very rich blue background, but the feeling is daytime. It's very beautiful when it is
lit up and we want to get it on the desert floor so I can get a little bit more off the sides.

Previously with the gas station I was giving a lot of room because we were shooting the jungle on Maui and for these since we are in a desert location, we are cropping into it because when you see these images of refineries, they seem to go on forever, and by cropping into it, it gives that illusion that this futuristic little city could go on forever by not showing the ends of it. Here I chose the option to have a little bit of the sides because we are in this big dry lakebed and maybe get some of the mountains in the background.

I'm very much into the technique of photography. I spent 12 years in the darkroom, 6 years printing black and white, 6 years printing color of my work when I first started out. For me it is the opposite of a snapshot. These are very much considered in terms of the thought and work that goes into it.

Now we will go to evening. We will turn on all the lights, and we will get that twilight evening kind of glow. Two completely different looks because it also looks beautiful in daylight with sun and bright blue sky but at night they come alive. Little LEDs all over are going to glow and get that feeling of a refinery at night and it looks like a crazy city.

Everything from the Phase One camera systems to Capture One Pro,
it's all about the flow of how these things get made and get finished and look the way they do. That's why I leave imperfections in, so you can see the humanity and see that these are not digitally created or CGI. These are photographs, I'm a photographer and it would be boring for me to spend my life on a computer sort of illustrating, that is not my thing. I'm sort of indebted to Phase One and Capture One Pro because it is a very important part of what I do and how I can do it. I wouldn't use it if it wasn't the best. I just can't afford to.

I'm thrilled. I had a pretty good idea that they were going to be really great seeing them come to life in the studio, and I think it really helps to be in a dry lakebed. To be on a mountain where we have been shooting them as opposed to in a studio set. It just bring these variables you can't recreate."

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Watch part 1:
   • LAND SCAPE by David LaChapelle (1/2) ...