Shooting the Bentley GTC
You can hear it before you see it, the deep burble of that big V8 rumbling away somewhere down the road, the Bentley GTC is on its way! Having previously shot the GT Speed I was very excited to see what the curvy beauty looked like with her top off. I was not disappointed!
As the convertible edged around the corner a few hundred feet away from me, I could not help but grin as Paul gave the accelerator a little poke and in an instant, the Bentley was a few hundred feet closer! As Paul parked it up, I did what I always do when we have a car to shoot and I stood back and studied it for a few minutes.
The GTC looked very striking; this particular car was a deep black that gave it an almost menacing feel, which was only broken by the dashes of chrome down the sides. The white leather interior cut a stark contrast to the outside of the car and gave the whole package a feeling of class and refinement. After drooling a little too long, it was time to get in and get the car out to our first location.
Moody, Menacing, Masterpiece!
I instantly knew that images of this car would look good edited into a moody Black and White so with an equally moody industrial looking background, we were on to a winner straight away. I have always loved the big curvy hips of the Bentley Continentals, they look like it’s winding up to pounce on its prey! By losing the roof it all adds to the drama, accentuating the big arch above the rear wheels.
After grabbing a healthy mix of static and panning shots, we took the car for a spin around the City Centre on the hunt for alternative locations. You can really tell that you’re in a £200k car, not just by the jealous looks of the pedestrians either, the interior was amazing. The seats hugged you like a classy armchair whilst the big lumps of carbon fibre across the dash reminded you that you were in something that would tear your face off if you stamped on the accelerator.
The next day, we were on for a ridiculously early start to catch the right kind of light. However, even at a heart-crushing 4.45am – the sound of that 4.0litre V8 soon had the smile back on my face. There are always some pretty standard shots that I like to grab early on, front and rear three-quarters, side on, full frontal etc. But the GTC added another dimension, notably that ‘C’ part. One of the best parts of this car, from a photography point of view, was the fact that we could strip the fancy folding roof off and get unlimited access to that beautiful interior.
Converted!
I must admit, I’m not really a fan of convertibles, but in the Bentley, it just seemed to make sense. This car has everything that you could ask for. On our final evening with it, we took the car to a suitably classy country location with the added bonus of some farmyard machinery to compare it to. On a sunny summers evening and an engine noise to die for, there is no way that you would put even the most luxurious of cloth roofs up!
We shot the car in several different spots and the versatility of this car really shone through. It looked great in front beautiful rural buildings and looked mean when placed in the dark and moody sheds, is this the car for all occasions? After grabbing a few detail shots and a couple panning shots, it was time to take the car back.
I was already pretty pleased with the shots of the Bentley, but on the way back we decided to stop and grab one last ‘hero’ image. I love long exposure photography and knew the light trails below the bridge would add to the drama of what is already a very dramatic car! Setting the camera to a 30 second exposure, I released the shutter and stood back and let the camera do the work. In those last few seconds, staring at the GTC, I knew that much like the Speed, I was going to miss this car…
Author & Photographer: Ross Jukes
