shots Iconic Covers: Steve Stone

Back in May, shots interviewed Steve Stone, San Francisco-based chairman and ECD of creative shop Heat, in the issue's Creative Profile. With a career spanning over 30 fruitful years and an inspiring backstory, the feature makes for an interesting read about how the agency was formed and continues to incorporate the element of surprise into all its work for a host of top clients.

Tasked with coming up with a creative portrait to accompany the words, Stone carried through his values of conjuring fresh creative by getting into chharacter as a mechanic and posing above a classic car in convincing surroundings.

Below, to continue our feature on some of our most iconic images to have graced the cover of the magazine, we dig deeper into the story behind the shoot, discovering where it took place and what it involved as part of our shots 25th anniversary celebrations.

Tell us how you came up with the concept for your portrait series for shots 156…

I work on vintage cars, but don’t really know what I’m doing. So the idea of passion mixed with ignorance had potential for surprise and a striking visual. It wasn’t intentional to connect to “Heat” lest anyone thought that. It was just serendipity.

I knew I wanted to look like I was wrenching on an old car with vintage tools, but the real magic came when Dan Escobar [a San Francisco photographer and long-time friend of Stone’s and also the first photographer he ever hired back in 1985] said: “Hey, pick up that gas can and pretend like you’re pouring gas in the carburettor.” I said, “Okay,” as I rolled up a piece of paper to look like a cigarette.

Where were the images shot?

We had the shoot in my barn at my weekend place in the Carneros region of Sonoma. The barn was built in the 40s and is filled with old car paraphernalia, two pinball machines, a ping pong table, dart board, congas, a piano, drum kit, bongos and two Fender guitars, a letterpress from 1920, a wood-burning stove and some personal art. A loft upstairs is where I spend Friday afternoons on the computer approving work from Heat creatives.

Can you tell us anything interesting about the day? What happened and did it all run smoothly?

The day ran smoothly. It was a Friday and there was a storm coming in. Dan showed up at Noon. We pulled the car in (a rare 1969 BMW 1600 Bauer Cabriolet. These cars were primarily sold to people in left-hand drive countries in Europe. Mine has Paris license plates.) and started shooting by 2pm. We finished by 6pm and celebrated with a delicious bottle of California Cabernet.

Are you wearing overalls in the picture and where did you find the gear/was it hard to get hold of?

Yes. Easy to find via Amazon. They’re Dickies long-sleeved cotton coverall in fisher stripes at $41.62. Washed them 12 times and rolled them around in the dirt and oil before shooting. I secretly still wear them on weekends.

How did you get hold of all the other tools and props used?

Most of the vintage tools were lent to me by a friend (a special thanks to Sarah T.) whose grandfather was like MacGyver in his day. He had about 20 different screwdrivers, hammers and vices and she allowed me to use his tools. He passed away earlier in the year and I was honoured she let me use them in the shoot. The rest of the goods were things just lying around in the barn.

Is there a significance of the gasoline and you smoking? An element of danger, perhaps?

No significance to the gasoline or smoking. Just a spur of the moment suggestion by the photographer. And we noticed a lot of the portraits in your magazine incorporated fire and we wanted to play along.

Did you receive any feedback when the issue was released and tell us about that?

My mom loved it. But wanted to make sure I wasn’t really smoking. I seemed to have gained a little more street cred with some of the younger, more tattooed people who work for me.

How well do you think the image fit with the interview and feature?

I think it fit well. The freedom to do whatever we wanted was scary, but a nice break. You guys do a nice job with interviews and the quality of your publication is such that people will always want to create extraordinary images for you. Keep it up.

Are you a keen mechanic in real life? You look like you knew what you were doing and were quite at home in the image series…

No, not at all. I’m comfortable around cars, but driving them is where the real passion is. I can change oil and transmission fluid, even bleed the brakes on a ’57 Beetle, but that’s about it. I work with three different mechanics and two of them now own really nice boats, so that should answer it.