The Dapper Chapper Takeovers: Nissan Qashqai X Nas Abraham
As The Dapper Chapper continues to grow you’ll begin to notice a number of takeovers across our channels in the coming months from different gentleman in the industry we respect. This month friend of The Dapper Chapper and very talented multi-media visual artist @NasAbraham, was sent to the beautiful city of Vienna for our collaboration with Nissan U.K.
Nas talks us through the trip; creatively shooting the Qashqai in Vienna was an exciting challenge. I began my experience just after I had touched down in Vienna, when some incredibly friendly Austrians escorted me to the conference room in the airline’s hotel. I was then treated to some light Viennese nibbles (Apple Strudel, of course) before being briefed on some of the Nissan Qashqai’s main features and Austria’s road rules.
After the briefing, we were given the opportunity to test out the Qashqai outside of the airline’s hotel. As I left the building, I had been met with a light harmonious humming sound in the air. About twelve Qashqai’s had been masterfully arranged in rows across the parking lot, all facing the exact same direction, with each of their engines running simultaneously emitting the harmonious sound.
Itching to shoot, I took a few shots of the Qashqai’s main features with a backdrop of a super modern glass office building. I was then paired up with Ben from twentryfirstcenturygent.com to explore the beautiful city of Vienna in search of the perfect shooting locations.
Having being accustomed to an automatic car back home in London, I was a bit nervous about jumping to a manual, much less with the gear stick situated on the opposite side of the car, while driving on the opposite side of the road, however the nerves quickly transformed into enjoyment when I was met by some of the welcoming features of the car. The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the leather seats were, they provided excellent lower lumbar support whilst maintaining a comfortable sitting position, something I personally find extremely important difficult to come by in car seats.
Secondly, the spaciousness of the car was very surprising, I had an abundance of legroom and the added glass roof effectively removed the car’s ceiling which emphasised the sense of spaciousness. I also made use of the Bose sound system embedded into the car by carefully curating a playlist suited to driving through the city and countryside– got to get those creative juices flowing! Driving the Qashqai was an experience in itself. I immediately noticed how easy the car easy the car was to pick up, everything was refreshingly responsive, fluid and blissfully smooth to operate, an overall pleasure to drive through the Viennese roads!
After navigating through some of the Viennese roads we stopped off at some conventional sites that were pre-programmed into our on-board navigational system with great Viennese architectural backdrops, shooting amongst the busy crowds with quizzical onlookers intrigued by our actions.
While the architecture and cityscapes looked stunning, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity between the European city and my own (London). I knew Vienna had way more unique sites to offer then what we were seeing, so I decided to move a bit further out of the the Austrian city, in search of something which I thought screamed “Austria”, so Ben and I agreed to get up bright and early the next morning before our flight to see what we could find.
In the evening, we drove to the luxurious DC Tower where we would be staying for the night. Myself and the members of the trip all assembled to view a final detailed presentation of the Qashqai, demonstrating how Nissan have responded to customer feedback and critique on their previous models and made changes based on those comments. The presentation had me enchanted by the flawless use of impactful graphical projections displayed on three encapsulating walls around the seating area.
The evening was topped off with a luxurious three-course dinner of hearty Viennese dishes, a gorgeous view atop the DC Tower overlooking the Vienna cityscape and of course, great company.
The next morning, we set out bright and early to find some areas that displayed the essence of Austria and we found just that. A derelict construction site, to a rural overpass, a far-stretching wheat field and a the outside of a giant industrial factory. These were the shots I was looking for, and the Qashqui’s striking electric blue color against Viennese backdrops made for wonderful images full of Austrian heart and authenticity.
A few hours later, I returned the car and hopped on the plane back to sunny London with Viennese snacks in my back, a memory card full of achievements and a big smile on my face.
For more information on the car visit: Nissan.co.uk