Oh hi again, it’s Ollie the app-controlled robot. You may remember him from the Ollie Social Takeover that was taken soley with an iPhone… this time, Ollie gets some love from a proper camera. Sphero, the company that makes Ollie, may sound familiar if you’re a Star Wars fan, for they are the same brains behind the remarkable (and adorable) BB-8 droid. Yep, that droid. You can say Ollie is BB-8’s vivacious speedy older brother. Seeing this little thing bolt to 14mph is surreal, and then it can pop into hundreds of trick combos… A seriously cool robot that only makes me more proud to be behind the camera for this revolutionary company.
On the technical side, as you can see from the BTS section below, nearly all of the shots were taken in a small studio lightbox… nothing too high tech. It was important to shoot at a high f/stop to ensure that Ollie was in sharp focus from front to rear. The majority of the images were composited, however each scenario has unique elements such as snow (white ground reflections), jungle (mud), puddle (water) and a city (light trails). All of these elements are reflected into each Ollie, tying them into their scene better. Fortunately the art direction requested LOTS of action and full permission to go over the top. So, I was able to get a little crazy and dirty, with a huge emphasis on post-processing. Throw the typical studio photography book out the window, O Captain! My Captain!
Mega thanks to the fine creative people at Sphero for the gig, and the plethora of Ollies + accessories. They dominate my shelf space now!.. some a little dirtier than others. Also, since the project was so immense, I trusted my buddies Will Keown and Jeff Creech to a few images, and they did an amazing job! As you can imagine, with the breakthrough success of BB-8, the company Sphero is just beginning to flex their innovative muscle. I can’t wait to see what else makes it in front of my camera!