Following a successful relaunch, Palladium – maker of the iconic Pampa boot – have introduced its new Winter 2009 collection, featuring premium grade leather and rich low nap suede, along with a new image campaign with photography by Peter Sutherland. In addition to new Winter product, Palladium released Oil of LA, part 4 of an ongoing short form documentary series entitled Uneven Terrain. In this series, Palladium explores hidden and abandoned urban places in search of unique stories.

Exploring a city known for its cars and stars, Palladium went in search of Los Angeles’ hidden oil secrets, uncovering hollow buildings and flower painted towers with hidden oil wells where you’d least expect them. Palladium found the elusive drills that pump miles underground to pockets of oil in Beverly Hills and that line the entire city. Three billion dollars worth of oil comes out of Los Angeles every year and you can barely see evidence of this. Oil of LA features Nate Harrington, an LA based DJ, photographer and creator of the ‘zine Constantly Pregnant. Harrington, who also works at the selectively curated Family Bookstore on Fairfax Avenue, put his boots on and went exploring, to find the structures that produce the oil that keeps LA moving.

VIRTUE Worldwide, the creative and branding agency of VICE, created the Exploration campaign for Palladium Boots. Sutherland, whose work employs some of the techniques of traditional documentary photography to capture the hidden beauty of ordinary objects and everyday situations, documented the explorations of the VIRTUE documentary film crew, as they traveled across the country. “VIRTUE shares our belief that brand communication has to happen these days through compelling story telling and not just catchy slogans,” says Barney Waters, VP of Marketing for Palladium Boots.

Oil of LA, along with three other explorations will be available to view online throughout the Fall/Winter 2009 season. Oil of LA can be viewed here.