David Cooper sheds light on the Detroit Autoshow

David Cooper - Chief Photographer

2011 NAIAS - The North American International Auto Show a major international show held every year in Motor City - Detroit. This is one of my favorite jobs and one of the most grueling. It is a two day marathon of back to back press conferences held all day long at the mammoth Cobo Hall on the waterfront in downtown Detroit.
Shooting actually is the easy party. Deciding where to go and when to stopn shooting and go and file. I was providing pictures for Wheels (the Saturday paper version  and the online version Wheels.ca,) and the Star Business section for stories that day, and future features.
Shoot, edit, caption, file, watch the time and race back to the show floor for the next press conference. 

The Scene setter. As soon as I arrived in Windsor I made a picture of the Detroit skyline with the giant GM Renaissance Center dominating the view.

The Scene setter PART TWO. As the sun sets I made a further picture of the Detroit skyline at dusk. Scene setters can be used at the top of the story to help locate the story for the reader. 

The 2011 Audi R8 GT awaits inspection on the first  media day at The North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall. What a gorgeous car on of my all time favourites.

 Thomas G. Stephens General Motors vice chairman, global product operations holds the Trophy for the North American Car of the Year the 2011 Chevrolet Volt on the first  media day at The North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall. This rarely makes a decent picture. Bad light very tight crowded area but this actually works. 

Ford held it's show in Cobo Hall as usual but added three ramps for the cars to come down onto the stage during the first  media day at The North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall. Best production at the show this year.

William Clay Ford Jr talks to the media behind the new Ford Focus Electric car during the first  media day at The North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall.

A Mayan stands in the Kia display in front of a Kia Optima turbo during the first  media day at The North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall. Not really sure what this was all about. When I asked him what he was doing all he would say is "I am a Mayan"

Ed Piotrowski  the editor of Consumer Guide Automotive, is lit by the rising sun projected onto the audience during the Toyota Prius press conference making an interesting image. 

Musician Pete Wentz talks during introduces The World Debut of the Honda Civic Concepts to be built in Alliston Ontario.

Akio Toyoda President of Toyota makes a joke about it being easier to get out of a production Toyota than one of their racing cars. (that's him in the background climbing out thru the window) The audience after a brief pause laughed when they realized he was telling a joke.

World Debut of the Mini Paceman Concept get the thumbs up from a helpful model.

Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Peter Rawlinson, shows off it's Aluminum bodied Tesla model S.

Dan Akerson, Chairman and CEO General Motors with the Sonic sedan during Chevrolet press conference. It is very handy to shoot the executives name and title as they are introduced. usually just for the cutline info. Sometimes in makes a picture.

The Audi booth with it's dramatic canopy made an interesting picture with the 14mm.

Peter Gorrie tries out the seat of the  Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell. It was completely black inside the car. If you look closely you will see a flash sitting on the dash on the passenger side to light him. Great colour for a car picture!

The Ferrari 458 Italia - beautiful car and etc.

Ford showed off it's all electric and hybrid  electric cars and light truck.  On the left is the 2012 Ford Focus Electric and in the foreground right is the Ford Fast Charging at Home charging station intended for home use. This is shot with the 14mm for depth of focus and to make the charger more prominent. 

The  2012 Ford Focus Electric cool lines on the floor and curved wall work with the 14mm.

Ford wasn't showing off a new parking option, although it would be great for Toronto. Ford showed the 2012 C-Max 7 passenger minivan on the wall so that you could see where they were going to seat 7 people.

 A Ford driver pilots a Transit Connect Electric light truck around the elevated demonstration track. Had a ride in this truck. Very interesting vehicle would make a great photo van.

Just managed to escape Detroit alive after being attacked by Bibendum! 

The Ford badge on the front of my 2011 Fusion is still just legible after driving home from The North American International Auto Show in a snow storm.

 

 

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