IT WAS NEVER ABOUT CARS
LOOK MOM I DID A THING!
IT WAS ABOUT EMOTION, CULTURE & COMMUNITY
TagHeuer, Two 911s & Grandma's Bank Account
15. Juli 2025
Project: TagHeuer x Porsche x Hanna Schönwald
Very Orange Art & "Gelber Renner"
Most people’s first job doesn’t involve a luxury watch, two iconic cars or convincing their grandmother to wire them $2,000 from her retirement fund. But then again, most people don’t start their career shooting a content campaign for Tag Heuer and Hanna Schönwald.
Hanna was already deep in talks to make some very orange art for the launch of the new Tag Heuer x Porsche Carrera watch and, of course, to create a ton of high-quality social media content along the way. Our job? Execute the plan and try not to mess it up.
There wasn’t much of a budget. In fact, calling it a budget would be generous. It was more of a handshake with Tag Heuer and a “let’s just cover the basics” vibe. Fine by me. I was still technically in vocational school, which meant faking a cold… for two weeks… and praying no one at school checked Instagram.
Sometimes you get a chance, and it's up to you to identify and act on what has the potential to bring you forward.
We burned through most of the funds on gear rental. Instead of storyboarding, we decided to embrace chaos: shoot anything that moved, or didn’t, as long as it was shiny, fast had an orange second hand, or well was Hanna. Day one was spent building a homemade lightbox for macro shots of the watch. We meant to stop at midnight. We stopped at 6 AM. It was just that much fun.
Day two gave us something rarer than a McLaren with working electronics: a dry December morning in Hamburg. Freezing, but dry. Ideal, because the only thing on the schedule was two Porsche 911s doing what 911s do best: look cool and go fast. No script, no second takes—just heaters off and frostbite setting in somewhere around noon.
But the real fun began with days three and four. Thirty-six hours straight. No sleep. Hanna painting three massive canvases in one go while we filmed everything. Timelapses, close-ups, wide shots, weird angles no one will ever use, and a few moments of delirium around 4 AM. Hanna was a machine. I was just trying not to drop the camera.
Very Orange Art & "Gelber Renner"
Most people’s first job doesn’t involve a luxury watch, two iconic cars or convincing their grandmother to wire them $2,000 from her retirement fund. But then again, most people don’t start their career shooting a content campaign for Tag Heuer and Hanna Schönwald.
Hanna was already deep in talks to make some very orange art for the launch of the new Tag Heuer x Porsche Carrera watch and, of course, to create a ton of high-quality social media content along the way. Our job? Execute the plan and try not to mess it up.
There wasn’t much of a budget. In fact, calling it a budget would be generous. It was more of a handshake with Tag Heuer and a “let’s just cover the basics” vibe. Fine by me. I was still technically in vocational school, which meant faking a cold… for two weeks… and praying no one at school checked Instagram.
Sometimes you get a chance, and it's up to you to identify and act on what has the potential to bring you forward.
We burned through most of the funds on gear rental. Instead of storyboarding, we decided to embrace chaos: shoot anything that moved, or didn’t, as long as it was shiny, fast had an orange second hand, or well was Hanna. Day one was spent building a homemade lightbox for macro shots of the watch. We meant to stop at midnight. We stopped at 6 AM. It was just that much fun.
Day two gave us something rarer than a McLaren with working electronics: a dry December morning in Hamburg. Freezing, but dry. Ideal, because the only thing on the schedule was two Porsche 911s doing what 911s do best: look cool and go fast. No script, no second takes—just heaters off and frostbite setting in somewhere around noon.
But the real fun began with days three and four. Thirty-six hours straight. No sleep. Hanna painting three massive canvases in one go while we filmed everything. Timelapses, close-ups, wide shots, weird angles no one will ever use, and a few moments of delirium around 4 AM. Hanna was a machine. I was just trying not to drop the camera.
Now, here’s where the “first job” bit really hit home. A week later, confident the job was done and dusted, I flew to Florida to visit my grandma. Sent off the edits. Patted myself on the back and enjoyed the last two days of my life not knowing what big client feedback was.
Well, the mail came—and I had no laptop at the time. My grandma’s computer was from an era when opening more than one browser tab was considered reckless. Luckily, I’d left one of the hard drives in my backpack, so at least I had all the footage and the project with me. Unluckily, I now had to explain to a sweet, 81-year-old woman why her grandson needed to borrow $2,000 immediately.
Now, here’s where the “first job” bit really hit home. A week later, confident the job was done and dusted, I flew to Florida to visit my grandma. Sent off the edits. Patted myself on the back and enjoyed the last two days of my life not knowing what big client feedback was.
Well, the mail came—and I had no laptop at the time. My grandma’s computer was from an era when opening more than one browser tab was considered reckless. Luckily, I’d left one of the hard drives in my backpack, so at least I had all the footage and the project with me. Unluckily, I now had to explain to a sweet, 81-year-old woman why her grandson needed to borrow $2,000 immediately.
She came through. I bought a MacBook. I spent my “vacation” editing in the Florida sun, hopping on Teams calls, and learning how to grade skin tones using YouTube. Not ideal, but by then, I’d figured something out:
If you’re good, fast and you value results more than sleep...you can work from anywhere.
