The Falken Tire 2012 Promo Girls poster is near release and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share some of the Behind the Scenes photos from the project.
I had an incredible opportunity at the end of last year to work directly with Falken on this. I was contacted and asked about possibly tackling this large scale – and very important – photoshoot for the company. After everything was made official we started the planning phase for a quickly-approaching shoot date.

The ultimate goal for the project was to create their 2012 Promo Model Poster with all six girls. We took the girls away from the track/race scene for something different, stylish and sexy. After budget discussion, location selection, and dates solidified it was time to really crack down and get things moving. Our shoot was right after Thanksgiving and there was plenty to get working on.
I was required to bring two assistants – it would be better to have too much help than not enough for a project of this size. And I’m sure all of you are thinking “Yeah, cuz it would be terrible to hang out on set with a bunch of models all day”. But I needed two experienced people on hand that I knew would be great. I brought TJ down from San Francisco. He has 10 years experience with lighting and set work and who has also helped me on multiple shoots over the last few years and understands my style and how I shoot. David came up from Orange County as my other assistant. I met David working on weddings and he has an incredible knowledge of photography and wealth of experience to bring to this setting.

Our shoot day started early.. EARLY. A 430am call time is never fun, but it’s part of the job. Overall the entire day went great. There were a few hiccups along the way as could always be expected, but we still made sure to get everything taken care of that we hoped to complete. I was able to create a ton of amazing images with all the models. And both myself and my team had an awesome time working with Falken and their crew. The models, Julie Galindo, Mayra Tinajero, Olivia Korte, Melanie Tillbrook, Brittney Leigh, and Randyl Dawn were all awesome. And thank you all for putting up with me having trouble with your names all day… having six new models with a new hairstyle/outfit every time I saw them throughout the day definitely screwed with my head. Haha!

Ok, so… on to the photos! I’ll stop rambling and simply post captions…

Pre-shoot-day prep. Going through some of the gear with TJ.

One thing we have a lot of at home is cars. So, I used the Cayenne instead of my little S2000. TJ snapped this while we were loading up. Still had to go pick up additional rental gear, too.

Packed up and ready to head out. When we were at the mansion the next morning I commented about an Escalade parked in the garage saying “I guess you have to have a baller car for a location like this….” Falken’s Art Director just looked at me and said “You showed up in a Porsche.”
Touche.

Stopped by the shoot location briefly to see where the sun was setting and get and idea of light/fog layer at that time of day. It was gorgeous with the yellowed vineyard, and there was no noticeable marine layer to worry about.

Look how comfy that bed looks! And I only get to sleep there for about four hours – IF I fall asleep fast enough.
What was funny was hearing the models talk about how tall the beds were and how they had to jump up onto them. TJ and I just looked at each other and realized “Oh, yeah… they (the models) are like a foot shorter than we are…” haha!

430am Call Time… yuck

Starting to unload the gear

All the girls doing a quick test to make sure there is enough space in the location we want the final image.

Sunrise in Malibu

For $50 million you can have this view every morning…

I keep telling my roommate we need a driveway like this. The Lambo, Rolls, Ferrari and all the other cars we have here at home would look AWESOME parked by this house.

TJ starting to get lights set up

Hair and Makeup!

This pool was incredible

The pool changes colors throughout the day with it’s colored lighting.

TJ and I have most of the lights set up. Now just time to wait on some models to be ready for light tests

TJ, hiding from the sun as we wait on the girls.

Assisting on my shoots means you will, at some point, be required to be a stand-in so I can see if I like the location while the model is with the MUA’s.

Me, on the job! I stole about a half dozen shots from Mayra that she posted on Facebook. I never had photos of me working!

Me shooting with Randyl – who looked incredible in this Hawaii/flower themed suit

Working with Olivia. She had huge energy that she brought to her exercise/fitness style photos.

I’d switch off occasionally with the video guys so they could get footage for their reels. Plus I could get quick BTS photo, too!
Those umbrellas were an afterthought on my part. I have several that I keep in my car for shoots. We almost didn’t bring them; good thing we did though because it was HOT out that afternoon.

Mayra rockin flowers in her hair with her green bikini

Howard Leight, owner of the house and of Howard Leight hearing products, flew in that afternoon on his helicopter.

Haha! It destroyed part of the dried vineyard!

David Esquire, of Esquire Photography…. and part time model for John Remus Photography. hahaha!

David, again my stand-in… and big fan of Monster Energy

Me and Brittney staying out of the sun while we wait on make up.

Walking down this was pretty much certain death it felt like. David and James didn’t even bother trying to come down all the way.

Sadly this photo gives no perspective on how steep an angle we were at

Me and TJ getting set up at the garage again for additional images

Me, working hard! Haha. Tough life, huh?

Shooting the beautiful Julie Galindo

Boom, wrapped. Seven minutes with each model for these images.

Next up was Olivia! David was on “don’t let this huge PLM blow over in the wind” duty…

Sometimes it’s still easier to jump up and adjust setting myself.

I don’t remember what I was laughing about, but each of my shoots with Olivia had laughter

Had to get a quick group shot with the house in the background!

An end to a very long, and extremely successful day for John Remus Photography!
Huge thank you to David Esquire and TJ Lauters who were my rockin assistants all day running around takin care of things when I was busy shooting and dealing with stuff.

My crew with the remaining guys from the Falken crew as we were packing up that night and getting ready to head out.

I had an amazing time working with Falken and being part of such a huge project with them. I’m looking forward to seeing the final results of the poster, too!
Falken Tire was amazing enough to give me creative freedom to edit the individual photos of the girls how I saw fit – which I’m very excited to show you all soon! The final poster should be amazing. I finished probably 90% of it and Falken did the last touches on it. For those of you at Supercross this weekend in Anaheim you’ll get to see the printed product when you go meet the models for autographs!

Check back soon and I should be able to share the finished photos of the 17 different shoots I did with all the models through the entire day!

Check out more of the Falken girls on their website here: https://www.falkentire.com/wegetyougoing/Models

Oh, and the night after the shoot was the massive wind storm that destroy a bunch of stuff in Socal… this was my yard the next morning. That’s my car under part of the tree!