It's all about the wheels

March 30, 2024

We’re only just at the start of the classic car season but the combination of a sunny day and a coffee and cars gathering at a garage nearby was too good an opportunity to pass up. I went along with my camera and a single prime lens, but with few preconceptions about what approach I might take.

My eyes were immediately drawn to this scarlet Chevrolet Camero which was catching the sun down one side. I’ve never really felt the desire to own an American classic car, but you can’t deny they’re photogenic!

From there I found myself focusing mostly on wheels - looking down into cars, or using the windows to frame them, as I did with this Mini Cooper.

I rarely photograph modern cars at these events, but the light falling into this Aston Martin was too good to ignore!

A gorgeous, race-ready Jaguar - simply gorgeous!

If only they made cars with dashboards this stylish today…

Photos taken 30 March 2024

Maltese motoring

December 20, 2023

We attend many car shows during a British summer time, but even then the number and variety of cars we get to see is often governed by the whims of the weather. During our recent holiday we heard about a Sunday morning gathering of classic cars in St Paul’s Bay so we grabbed the opportunity to enjoy some interesting motoring, Malteses style, with the promise of lots of sunshine.

The light was beautiful - contrasty sunshine but without quite the same harshness as you have in mid-summer. There are definite benefits from holidaying in November! Even better, there wasn’t a patch of rust among the cars - another bonus with a hot, dry climate.

One of the little details that caught my eye.

A trio of steering wheels

Scarlet fever - sometimes photos naturally fit together because of a shared colour scheme.

A classic car show favourite - the Ford Mustang

I spent a little time shooting in black and white too, looking out for people as they milled around the cars.

Photos taken 19 November 2023

Racing back in time

December 6, 2023

The Goodwood Racing Revival is one of my favourite events of the year - the perfect combination of classic cars, interesting characters and period costumes, all focused around the wonderful Goodwood circuit. Sadly this year I could only attend one day so it was a case of squeezing as much into that day as I possibly could.

The day began with a leisurely stroll around the pits, looking for beautiful morning light (of which there was little, unfortunately!) and some of the interesting characters. It was very quiet when we arrived, which gave me lots of clear views along the rows of cars, but things soon got busier.

Mechanics at work…

The lane that runs alongside the paddock is often a great spot for photos while the cars line up to go out on track. I wish I’d had more time to spend here this year, but I rather like the warm autumnal sunshine over this scene.

The afternoon was spent watching the qualifying and racing on track, down at the first corner, Madgwick. Click on any image to see it enlarged.

There were occasional sideways moments, as cars caught the grass and kicked up a cloud of dust or locked up a wheel.

Photos taken 8 September 2023

Weekend motoring

November 2, 2023

Over the years my collection of old cameras has grown and, with the best will in the world, I can’t use them all simultaneously. Every so often I dig one of them out and take it for a spin and it either reminds me why I’d put it away in the cupboard or I remember why I love it so much. Back in September it was the turn of my Olympus Trip 35 and this camera definitely fell into the latter category!

The Trip is a camera with limitations - a fixed 40mm f2.8 lens and only two shutter speeds - 1/40 or 1/200 of a second. However, I love having restrictions on my photography as that forces me to be more creative so it’s really the perfect camera for me. Pair it with a 400 speed film and you’ve got a compact and light camera which can shoot pretty much anywhere - on this occasion it was a weekend of car shows.

We started off at the JD Classics showroom near Chelmsford where they had a gathering for anyone who wanted to come and nose around their workshop. I wasn’t sure how well my little Trip would cope indoors, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got my developed negatives back.

The following day we were up early for another classic car show - this time at Tewin in Hertfordshire. The sun was out and we had an amazing array of vehicles to admire - what more could I ask for?!

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

Photos taken 23 & 24 September 2023

Goodwood Festival of Speed

October 13, 2023

My effort to catch up with my photo backlog continues, this time with a selection of images from our visit to the Goodwood Festival of Speed back in July. For some reason I struggled to feel inspired during our one day there but I came away with a few photos I like, from the central Porsche themed sculpture to today’s F1 cars and a classic Porsche.

Photos taken 13 July 2023

Anything but unexceptional

October 4, 2023

A couple of days after our jaunt to Harpenden we were on the road to another classic car show, but one with a difference. The Festival of the Unexceptional is the show for the sort of cars we all grew up with - everyday vehicles which wouldn’t have turned heads at the time. These days they tend to be the last survivors of their type - the cars that no one thought to care for at the time because they were so ordinary.

Photos taken 29 July 2023

Classics on the Common

October 2, 2023

My photographic strategy at classic car shows tends to vary according my mood - sometimes I’ll go digital for the spontaneity; on others occasions I’ll take the slow route and use a pinhole camera. For Classics on the Common in Harpenden I chose the latter, using my 6x9 pinhole camera to capture the cars and the people milling around them.

Classics on the Common is an all day event, so lots of people bring their own seats and picnics along to socialise.

The interior of a Bond Bug

Trotters’ Independent Traders even turned up!

Photos taken 27 July 2023

Classic motoring

August 29, 2023

We’ve had a busy summer with numerous car shows. At some I’ve used a digital camera to take pictures, but at Welwyn I plumped for my pinhole camera. The advantage of this is I have relatively few photos to select from when the films are developed so I’m not left wading through hundreds of digital files!

Photos taken 1 July 2023

It's all in the detail

August 1, 2023

My usual hunting ground for car photos is the classic car shows we visit with one of our Minis. Back in June I had the opportunity to explore a whole field of beautiful classics, right in the heart of the City of London. The London Concours takes place each year at the Royal Artillery Company which is hidden away behind high walls near Moorgate - an oasis of green I had no idea existed.

There were plenty of exotic cars to see but, as ever, my eye was most drawn to the older ones, dripping in chrome.

The only small fly in the ointment was the harsh sunlight, so I found myself focusing on details rather photographing whole cars - and there were plenty of interesting details to be enjoyed!

Photos taken 8 June 2023

Travelling light

June 30, 2023

My experience of teaching a smartphone photography workshop last month proved to be a great way of learning more about my own phone’s camera, but not without its temptations. As I researched what the cameras we all carry in our pockets can do I realised just how much more the latest iPhone can do now.

After much indecision I took the plunge and upgraded from my three year old iPhone SE to the latest iPhone 14 Pro and I haven’t regretted it for one moment. Yes, it still does all the phone stuff the same as any mobile, but having a larger sensor and three different lenses to play with brings many more possibilities when I want to travel light. The day after I bought the new phone I decided to use it as my sole camera for our monthly visit to the Barrington car meet and it was strangely liberating.

The super-wide angle lens offers some fun possibilities if you get really close.

On the new phone’s camera it will allow you to use the portrait mode on subjects which aren’t human which allows for all sorts of creative possibilities.