The man in black once sang "I've been everywhere" and how true it is with our on-going travels for McDonald's. In previous posts we've recounted our tales of far off lands including our neighbor to the North, the exotic far East, and the land down under to name a few. After the latest globe trotting adventure for the golden arches, we certainly added a few pins to the map as we worked our way through Europe and the UK. There is something special about travel and its uncanny ability to freeze time. Night becomes day and day becomes night with the time zone changes and immediate insertion into another culture and way of life.
With our first stop in Hamburg, Germany, we kicked off the tour in full force and set the pace for the rest of our time abroad. The shoot days were occupied with a nice mix of working from a designated shot list as well as gathering spontaneous, impromptu moments that have become one of our signature trademarks. In lieu of air travel from Hamburg to Munich, we opted for the EIS high speed rail service to reach our second city destination. The train has long been a favorite way to reach point B and it allowed us to see the countryside that only rail travel allows for. Munich was incredibly beautiful and busy with all of the Oktoberfest revelers in full traditional Bavarian dress. We even managed to take time out one evening to put back a beer stein or two, experiencing the festivities first hand. How is that for mixing work and play? It's not everyday your shoot ends with an evening of entertainment with Oktoberfest as the backdrop.
The next leg of the journey landed us in the heart of Catalunya - Barcelona, Spain. We had one shoot day here near the Plaza de Catalunya, which sits at the top of the famous Las Ramblas. The city of Barcelona is rich with culture, art everywhere, and threads of history as intertwined as the spaghetti of narrow streets themselves. Although our time was limited in this city we captured a myriad of great imagery and met a lot of wonderful Catalunyans in the process.
The flight from Spain to Manchester went quickly and once again we found ourselves in another culture, another landscape. The focus point for our first day in the UK was the home of the Beatles - Liverpool. Often the subjects we profile are everyday people stopping in for a beverage or a bite to eat that can spare five minutes of their time to be a part of our shoot. We always meet interesting people from all walks of life and with the added personalities of our local production assistants we walk away with great stories and a slew of memories from each destination. The UK adventure began in the northwest and brought us south to our second shoot city in Wales and back up to the greater London area for our final day of the photo shoot. All in all, not a bad way to spend nearly two weeks on tour, creating another visual library of still and motion assets for McDonald's.
Enjoy a few of our favorite still images from the Euro tour and look for the upcoming video reveal down the road.
