WE! shoot it, is the creative Duo Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon.

Thomas and Michael got to know each other in 2010, when Thomas had already made a name for himself as a transportation photographer and Michael, at the beginning of his career joined the team as co-photographer. Instead of becoming concurrents they quickly started to become friends, colleagues and working partners.

They quickly made themselves a name as a duo, specialised in transportation photography as well as film and CGI, working on projects for clients such as BMW, BMW China, Audi, Seat, Suzuki, Hyundai, KIA, Volkswagen, Volkswagen China and more. As well as editorial publishers like RAMP, Fuel and Territory. They are based in Frankfurt and Munich Germany, but love to work all over the world. 

In this Spotlight, they show their latest work in still and motion to present their all new portfolio. You should also check out their brand new website to see more!

The Duo is proud to announce that they are represented in France by Wanda Print from now on! Also since the beginning of the year, they can be booked in the U.S: via Automatic Content.

WE! SHOOT IT, Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon, present their work ‘CX-Ray’, that makes fashion and transportation melt, plus a new website.

A high fashion model from Miami, a car like from another planet, a completely down-to-earth location and good styling: these are the ingredients creative duo Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon had to present their new personal work ‘CX-Ray’ on Production Paradise.

“We just didn’t want to go down the same old beaten transportation track, but instead let the creative juices flow,” the two photographers tell Production Paradise. Of course, the two petrolheads need a car for the mission. The 1970s station wagon ‘from outer space’ in the form of a Citroen CX Break is precisely the right antagonist for male model Ray and the outfits styled by Melina Johannsen, with everything from a balloon silk tracksuit to sensitive vintage fashion or even a fine Cavalli jacket.

The two proudly announce that they are represented in the US by Jay Rodan.

In light of current events, the two have completely redesigned their website. You’ve got to see for yourself what all is new!

WE! shoot it, is the international working photographers-duo Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon. 

Right at the start of the new decade, they showed us their new personal project calendar 'ICON 911'. The underlying idea was to visualise all generations of the iconic Porsche 911. From the very first series of 911s, still named 901, to the recently launched latest model 992 – each series in between was lensed by the duo.

Each vehicle was photographed in the studio, but staged individually. That’s what made the project so interesting. But that’s not all; Michael and Thomas had the rare opportunity to walk around the individual vehicles with their owners and spontaneously find the “perfect” perspective and come up with the right way to stage the cars. For their outstanding personal project Thomas and Michael just recently have been nominated for the International Gregor Calendar Award 2020.

For Smart social media, the two staged the Smart ForFour with electric drivechain. In a couple of pictures but also cinemagraphs they pointed out the electric theme by putting some flickering icons in the motifs, shot right on location by using a special lighting tool to project them!

This year, the WE! Shoot It duo Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon, who have made a name for themselves in European car photography, have travelled the United States on three separate occasions.

The duo photographed a spread with singer/songwriter Nik Chamberlain and his Porsche 911 SC with the fitting title 'California Dreamin' in Aliso Village, Los Angeles. The perfect pairing of the location's rough look and a Porsche SC marked by numerous racing missions, with this spread the two photographers demonstrated once again that they master the discipline of automotive photography in all its intricate facets.

The shoot for the new Infiniti QX80 took place in Downtown Los Angeles. “Above all, we wanted to get a natural perspective of the QX80 in an urban surrounding. This kind of photography is perfect for LA, since large-scale shoots like this take place daily and locals can be integrated into the motifs quite well - all leading to photos with an unaffected atmosphere.”

And back in sunny California, WE! Shoot It staged a bright yellow Mustang in urban and suburban terrain. After all this, the pair can’t wait to get back to the States again!

WE! Shoot It was founded by experienced photographer Thomas von Salomon and newcomer Michael Compensis. Over recent years, the pair have made themselves a name in contemporary transportation photography, working for international clients.

Featured in this Spotlight is latest work for MINI and the limited edition 'Delany' shot in an industrial location in Munich. The agency was Serviceplan, while post-production was handled by Posch Photomedia. As well as the campaingn, WE! Shoot It produced cinemagraphs for social media.

The Shanghai studio shoot of the all-new Volkswagen T-Roc for the Chinese market was commissioned by Dentsū.

And, after many years of monochrome cars, the duo finally get to show off some poppy colours in this Spotlight!

With two whole spreads, the Transportation-Pros of WE! shoot it - Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon - don’t have to hide in the new Spotlight Cars!

For Hyundai, the pair recently staged the all new compact SUV Kona Electric in CGI. Backplates and HDR-Domes were shot in Frankfurt and Lisbon, and completed with material from their huge CGI archive. In CGI, they were supported by NPIXO, who also took care of post-production. They thank Jörn, Arthur, Igor, Jojo and Alex for their great 3D and 2D work!

Just a few weeks prior to this, the creative-duo went to sunny Turin in Italy to shoot the new Audi Q2 in powerful 'Korallorange' for a portfolio spread. For post-production they trusted the team at Wagnerchic in Stuttgart, who gave the spread not only the last cut but also the perfect look.

Munich and Frankfurt based creative duo WE-Shoot-It - Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon - are well known for their perfect car photography.

In December 2017, just a couple of days before the Vierschanzentournee and ahaed of the Winter Olympics, Audi Magazine chose the pair to shoot a story about ski-jumper Severin Freund, who was unable to take part in either event. The three travelled in the all new Audi Q7 E-tron through the wintery Bavarian Alps, starting at the Audi Arena in Oberstdorf and finishing in Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Just prior to this production, Michael and Thomas had been in Turin to shoot the new Audi Q2 in summery orange tones, even though the temperatures in northern Italy weren’t much warmer than the Bavarian Alps!

The VW Amarok is a real all-rounder of the Volkswagen Group and as such, just the right object for the new personal spread by WE! Shoot It duo Thomas von Salomon and Michael Compensis.

With the 'Country' special model, the two embarked on a virtual ride through rough terrain. But while the car was staged using CGI in collaboration with NPIXO, it did indeed get quite rough for the two photographers. During the backplate shoot using their own sphere-camera in Tenerife and in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps, they climbed up volcanoes, drove through jungle, and stood in icy-cold mountain stream water. Using a drone, they overflew alpine passes supported by Max von Eicken. The result is a personal spread which could not be any more varied.

For their on-going personal project 'Falling Waters', Thomas and Michael also used a drone - but in a very different way. Instead of hanging a camera on the drone, they installed a very strong light source and with a static mounted camera created some very artificial light paintings in nature.

The last days of summer are near so a wintery refreshment is just right. WE! Shoot creative duo Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon didn't leave anything out in their wintry transport spread.

The new bright red Jaguar F-Pace plows through the wintery snow-capped Alps. The backplates were already created in spring in southern Bavaria and Austria, some with a drone, while the spheres were also delivered by the duo thanks to a 360° sphere camera. Despite the -20° temperatures and the frozen diesel, the multi-day backplate shoot at 2,750m altitude went smoothly.

For the third vehicle from the Hyundai I30 family, the pair - who had already shot the Waggon and Hatchback - also filmed the trailer in addition to the studio stills: a job quite welcomed by the two automotive pros as being true to their slogan "anything visual".

A few days later, the team flew to Berlin to stage the brand new KIA Stinger together with Paul van Dyk for Innocean Worldwide. For a couple of days the creative duo and the star DJ went through the streets of the German capital with the new Coupé - a perfect match!

For nearly 10 years, the WE! shoot it photographers Thomas von Salomon and Michael Compensis have been creative partners of magazines Ramp and Rampstyle. Both are now published in English as they begin to tackle the international market.

For a special edition for the Geneva Motorshow, the Ramp team chose Michael and Thomas to shoot the brand new Seat Ibiza in Barcelona in a very graphic and artistic way. Illustrations were done by new WE! shoot it member, illustrator and storyboard artist Thomas Hardtmann. The result is a colourful advertorial spread showing how alive and very kicking the car truly is!

Shortly after, they realized a vivid shoot with a very editorial look in cooperation with Fiat Abarth, showing the lively side of the Abarth 595 amongst Frankfurt’s nightlife. The spread will be featured in Ramp.

For the new issue of Rampstyle appearing on 14th June, the pair also shot the brand new Range Rover Velar in a very sophisticated studio spread. The magazine's aim was to showcase the iconic design highlights of the car - a 'dream job' for both design-savvy photographers.

For Frankfurt agency Huth &Wenzel, Thomas von Salomon and Michael Compensis - aka WE!-Shoot-It - realised the European campaign and sales literature for the relaunch  of the new Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, in close cooperation with Npixo.

Michael worked on lighting the indoor shots with the specialists at Npixo, while Thomas travelled to Slovenia, Croatia and Italy to visualise all the outdoor shots. The cars were also shot on location and Thomas completed spheres and backplates to create even more motifs. Npixo handled post-production, while Rabbicorn Film Hamburg were the main production company.

"The feedback was great - 'Best shots ever done for Suzuki!' - so many thanks to the whole team: David, Mio and Christian, Carsten and Finn, and especially Rene and Michael, Artur, Jörn and Jojo! It was a pleasure working with you all!"

For WE! 2016 began with the new Hyundai H350 tipper and platform vans. A total of four photos were comissioned by INOCEAN Worldwide. AD: Markus Renner. Account: Patricia Hörst for the South Korean automaker. January was not spent shooting the vans under the South African sun, but instead at around freezing-point where they will actually be driven - on construction sites and industrial areas. Photography was done by Thomas von Salomon and Michael Compensis. Post-production by WE!-member Jesse Posch, in coordination with the agency and both photographers. 

In collabaration with Npixo, Dreieich, Michael and Thomas produced a pro-bono CGI series with the Mercedes SLS AMG. Backplates and spheres  were shot in southern France and Argentina. Afterwards, the team packed their bags to go to China for Volkswagen. More about that in the next feature.

Thomas von Salomon/we-shoot-it.com realised motifs for the new Kia Sportage four-wheel-drive. Acency: Innocean Frankfurt. Creative Director: Uwe Linthe and Thorsten Noak. Post-production: Mainworks Frankfurt.

In cooperation with Stefan Lampe/Hamburg, Thomas also began some personal work - an early teaser of which is featurd in this Showcase.

Thomas von Salomon and Michael Compensis (we-shoot-it.com) recently completed an advertising production for Audi Tradition together with Munich-based agency Stefanundlars. Classic cars shot in a non-classic way, partly on location in Ingolstadt and partly combined with CGI. The post-production was handled by we-shoot-it.com member Andreas Neuerer/delta E.

In cooperation with German design centre Qoros Cars, Thomas and Michael shot three studio images of moving cars which were combined with light rigging and location shots from Germany and China. Post-production was also done by Andreas/delta E/we-shoot-it.com.

Thomas von Salomon and his friend and co-photographer Michael Compensis recently joined we-shoot-it.com, a platform that brings together photography, CGI, post-production, video and more.

Together they worked on a series of BMW classics for a calendar project, due to go on sale at the end of October. More information can be found online at we-shoot-it.com.

For German magazine Ramp they shot Blackbean motorcycles, a small custom bike manufacture based in Munich. Post-production by Sebastian Mann / we-shoot-it.com.

Thomas and his team (Michael Compensis, Max von Eicken, Luise Aedner and Jesse Posch for Postproduction) produced all of the studio shots for the new BMW 1 out of the Munich Sirius Studio last autumn (Agency: Serviceplan Hamburg).

After that, Thomas and his team went on location to do some personal work, developing a technic to integrate typography or pictures into a photo directly.

Here are the first results from these new tools!