Volvo meetup @ Fotohügel Dernbach/Westerwald
15.10.202535 Volvos – a press car – a Volvo photographer – three contemporary witnesses – a photo hill.
Don't we all know one or two Volvo press photos? For many of us, seeing the former dream car in the brochure again is a piece of childhood. Some of the advertising photos for Volvo were taken by Thomas Dirk Heere in the 1990s and 2010s. The photographer, who worked freelance for Volvo among others, liked to use the so-called photo hill in Dernbach in the Westerwald as a location.
Many former and current locations of Volvo advertising photos are searched for, found, and published by Guido Fijen (Instagram @volvophotolocations) on his homepage and Instagram page.
This is how Martin became aware of the photo hill in the Westerwald in the spring of 2025. Three to four times a year, he organizes private Volvo meetings with up to 40 cars at special locations in Germany, often with a Volvo connection. The photo hill seemed like the perfect venue for this.
After contacting the municipality of Dernbach/Westerwald and inspecting the condition of the photo hill on site, he received permission to restore the photo hill to the condition it was in when it was used in the 2010s.
After some preparation in advance, things really got going a week before the meeting: a handful of Volvo enthusiasts from his group arrived in Dernbach and restored the photo hill to its former condition as best they could: the access road was cleared, the approximately 25-meter-long wall was painted on both sides, and the trees peeking out of the asphalt were removed. Only the horizon, which had since become overgrown with trees 4 to 5 meters high, could not be restored to its former state.
But that was exactly what made the photo hill so special back then: a horizon without any “distracting objects,” and all the trees on the sides were also cut short so that no reflections were visible in the cars.
Among the approximately 35 participating vehicles is a yellow Volvo 855 T5-R. But not just any yellow 855 T5-R – THE yellow 855 T5-R that was photographed there as a press car by Thomas Dirk Heere in 1994/1995.
The plan for the day is primarily to photograph the participating vehicles in a similar way to the 850 in 1994/1995, the S60 in 2000, and the XC90 in 2002. SKANDIX is providing banners for this purpose, to transform the background into a kind of “blue screen.”
But there is also a supporting program: The meeting point in the morning is about 2 km away from the photo hill, where the participants gather. Most of them are between 18 and 35 years old, but what they all have in common is their love for the details of their cars. These range from the 240 to the new V90 CC. Most of them arrived on Friday, as they have a long journey to make. Most participants travel from Germany – from Munich to Flensburg, but there are also a few participants from the Netherlands and Sweden.
The plan for the day includes not only the obligatory “Klönen,” or petrol talk, but also a large part of the day is spent taking photos on the photo hill and going on a drive.
The drive takes place at noon through the Westerwald, about an hour before all participants arrive at the photo hill. Waiting there are Thomas Dirk Heere, former photographer for Volvo, Gert Prochnow, former technical director of the photo studio in Dernbach, and a model who also worked at the photo studio at the time but spontaneously stepped in as a model for the photos of the XC90.
Guido Fijen, operator of the Volvo Photo Locations website, also traveled from Stockholm for this day. All four told the approximately 50 participants present on the photo hill about the times back then and the conditions, and you could imagine how they worked here back then without drones and studio photography. The stories were entertaining and exciting – the backdrop was rounded off by the press car from that time on the horizon of the photo hill, the yellow Volvo 855 T5-R, and another participant's vehicle – a Volvo S60, as the first S60 was also photographed here at that time. Further original photos were shown by Thomas Dirk Heere and participants were able to ask questions.
At the end of a long and exciting day, not only were more than 1,000 photos taken, but many stories were told, impressions exchanged, friendships made, and liters of fuel consumed. The day ended with dinner at a nearby restaurant, where the conversations continued.
Most of the participants then left again on Sunday.
But what is so special about the photo hill?
The photo hill, Gert Prochnow explained, was once built as a sledding hill for children. Later repurposed and paved, it was unique at the time because vehicles of all classes could be photographed there with as little external influence as possible, i.e., in a particularly natural setting. The photo hill was used from the mid-1990s until around the early 2010s. During this time, vehicles for at least a dozen car manufacturers were photographed there as the photo hill became increasingly well known. Then it was replaced by digital photography. Today, the photo hill is gradually falling into disrepair, has become overgrown and is not accessible to the public.
It was the 12th Volvo meet that Martin had organized of this kind, but by far the most unique.
For more Volvo photos taken on the photo hill, please visit the website:
Dernbach Photo Hill in Dernbach
Impressions and more photos can also be found on Martin's Instagram page @13xc70.
Photos: Ralph Durst @volvo240classic
