An couple in Houston, TX had given thought of selling their beloved Audi R8 and wanted to have a few photos of the car as a keepsake. This is where photographer Theo Civitello comes in. Theo was given a very limited time with the car, about 30 minutes, restricted to the owner’s neighborhood to do a shoot.
Choosing the most picturesque setting that he could find with the time allotted, Theo decided on an empty lot nearby which still had the foundation of an old house sitting on it. Cautiously backing the R8 up the driveway, Theo eased it onto the grassy empty lot, parking with the sun peeking up just behind the car.
Theo refrained from using any flash for the exterior shots, as black cars are the bane of off-camera-lighting existence, and opted instead for natural light, with a circular polarizing lens affixed. While grass is indeed a strange place to feature a supercar like the Audi R8, I thought it was a nice contrast, reflecting the softer side of the car, much like the recent press on it as the “drivable supercar”.
It was surprising in driving the R8, for the little amount of time that Theo did, that it drove as easily as its little brother, the A4. Sure, there was the visceral burbling of the V8 directly behind the driver’s head and the precise “click-click” up-shifts from the metal gated shifter, but one can’t help but be utterly impressed at how easy the Audi R8 is to drive. Keeping the RPM’s down, the R8 is happy to tool around rather easily, without the huss and fuss much attributed to other cars of this caliber.
More of this set can be found on Theo’s site here.
