Figuring out where to shoot a car for a review is simultaneously the most challenging and rewarding part of Machines With Souls. This week, BMW of North America saw fit to grace my garage with a 2025 BMW M4 CS (it’s really good). I always like to give cars like this a bit of wow, so strap into 543 horsepower with me (nearly as much as an F10 M5), and travel to Times Square.
Not in it. On top of it.
How do you have a photo shoot with a car in Times Square?
If I’m honest with you, I’m not sure I’d be a photographer without the invention of the digital camera. I can’t imagine how much film I’d go through learning what ISO and focal length were. Maybe I cheated, but it worked.
In the same fashion, I’m not sure how I’d find all these spots without Google Maps. Observe…
Every heart is a spot I’d like to visit, or have been to, since I’ve started to shoot cars. In this case, we’ll focus on the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Did you know you could park on the top of that building? I had no idea.
Google Maps gives me more than just potential places – it provides street views so that I can see exactly what the spot will look like before I arrive. Well, most of the time – in this case, we’ll have to wing it. I’d have no idea what I’d find, or if I’d be allowed to even go up there.
Know when to go
Normally, I like shooting in the early mornings on weekends. Traffic is light, and the chances of the area I’m going to being empty are higher. But the paramount reason is because of Golden Hour.
However, that would matter less during this shoot. It’s a random Saturday in March, so traffic should be lighter regardless of the time. And because I’m going to light paint, I want more night time, not less. The city gets darker sooner too, due to the sun going behind the buildings.
But the wild card is getting to the lot itself. I’ve been to the Port Authority thousands of times – in a bus. This M4 CS has Pilot Super Sport tires and a rock hard suspension, so one wrong move with a pot hole in the city, and it’s game over. March is perhaps the worse time for hungry pot holes too – winter has done its damage, and it’s not yet warm enough to fix them all.
Think it doesn’t happen? Two weeks before, I got a flat on a Land Rover Discovery – and that was a heavy duty SUV.
Elf on the shelf
“I passed through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.”
That’s what Elf did. I’d drive through the Tunnel instead of walk. Pick the right tube, not the left, because the PA ramp is right there as soon as you arrive in NYC. Another modern invention, Waze, saves me from going up the wrong ramp and getting smashed in the face by a bus.
This is a paid lot ($40 please), but I expect as much, so I grab a ticket and drive through to a parking garage that’s totally enclosed. Panic sets in. Did I pick the wrong ramp? Where’s the view?
Driving all the way to the back reveals an opening. Looks like it could be it, but with a caveat – this lot is owned by the Port Authority, and you’re not allowed in. Cones blocked it off. Now, between you, me, and the entire internet, 90% of the places I shoot have some sort of “keep out” designation on them. On the rare occasion I get stopped, I’m usually allowed to continue because I’m not causing a scene – just shooting one. But doing it in Manhattan is different.
I move the cones because I’ve come this far, and then drive around to find the spot I saw on Google Maps. This is always a huge gamble – what if there’s a car already parked there, blocking the view?
Peace and quiet
It never ceases to amazes me that I can still find empty places in a city with eight million people, let alone above the busiest street in America. But this lot is totally dead. I didn’t see a soul the entire time I was there. That doesn’t mean I don’t watch my back constantly – this is still New York.
There are also cameras all over the place, so I worked as quickly as I could. The location is extremely difficult – all the big digital billboards are cause for over exposure, so it takes me much longer than I like moving the tripod all around.
By the time I finish it’s totally dark, with the only light coming from those big billboards in an eerie sort of way. Camera gear packed, cleared for take-off, and I kid you not – the police arrive. I sit in my car, preparing multiple excuses, but to my surprise they just pull away to the other side of the lot. Figuring that’s my sign, I high-tail it out of there.
A lot had to go right to get this shot
As I drive home at warp speed down the NJ Turnpike (the M4 eats miles like I eat pasta), I can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. There’s never an exact science to this, but I love the process.
No doubt Google will crawl this page, see that image above, and harvest it into its AI brain, making it easier to replicate in the future. That’s cheating I suppose, but the act of photographing a real thing is the same as Tom Cruise doing his own stunts – it’s better, and it shows.
Thanks for riding along. Where shall we shoot next?
