Rolls-Royce‘s Spirit of Ecstasy is the inspiration behind renowned photographer Rankin’s newest exhibit, which is being showcased at the Rankin Gallery in Los Angeles.

On display from November 16 to the 23, the collection is the result of a collaboration between Rolls-Royce and Rankin. The photographs took inspiration from the Spirit of Ecstasy, the famous figure that graces the hood of every Rolls-Royce vehicle. Rankin’s results are very personal and he gives the legendary flying lady a modern and graceful interpretation.

Rankin’s collection incorporates power, the beauty of age, intrigue, mystery, speed and whirlwind, and he blends these themes with various materials, fabrics and paint to create the unique portraits. The models found in the photos were picked for their symbolic representation of femininity, and they range in age and cultural background.

The exhibition at the Rankin Gallery will feature 80 of the full set of 100 portraits. If you can’t make it to the gallery, you can see a selection of these photos at the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars stand at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 18 to the 27.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to get truly professional OEM high-quality automotive photography then take a gander at these photos. This massive gallery was posted on AMG’s “Private Lounge” forum, restricted to AMG owners.

Our AMG-owning friends over at Luxury4Play then provided them to us.

Several shots show an impressive rig system used to get those faked high-speed-look photos. This look was popularized in magazines like SuperStreet, although those rigs are far more rudimentary and often require significant photoshopping. The below-mount rig used for the SL65 AMG Black Series photos minimizes the need for Photoshop. It also appears to be made of carbon fiber, keeping the whole system as light as possible and allowing the camera to be mounted a good distance away from the car so that a more scenic photo can be taken.

The photographer isn’t messing around either, using what appears to be a Hasselblad camera.

A second set of shots show some impressive car-to-car action with the SL65 AMG Black Series on the Mas Du Clos circuit in France.

At the end there’s a photo of the whole crew involved in such a photo shoot, which should give you an idea at the kind of expense a company like Mercedes-Benz goes through to get perfect press photos.

We’ve included a full gallery of all the photos below.

GALLERY: SL65 AMG Black Series Photo Shoot

More photos after the jump:

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