Towards the end of last year I did my first real automotive shoot with the stunning Jaguar XJ-L, and to start of 2013 in earnest, I took it out again, this time to Hardknott Pass, for another shot. Here’s a few images from the shoot! More should be on the way soon.
This is also the first entry to my new website, so have a look around! I’m still in the process of updating it, so please contact me if you run into any problems.
For me, the year has finally come to a close. My hunger for all things four-wheeled will now have to wait until 2013, bar a few track days here and there if I’m lucky. As depressing as this is for me, it gives me a good chance to look back at my year, so I can see for myself exactly how far I’ve came since 2011.
And boy, have I went a long way. My year started out in the same vein as it has for the past three – my local springtime rally, the Malcolm Wilson Rally. Muddy lanes through Whinlatter come to life every March to the sound of speed. Incidentally, I would find myself closer to the core of rally more than I ever could have imagined in summer. More on that later…
In April I found myself doing something I’ve wanted to since I first started photography – shooting a GT Event. This one in particular, the British GT Championship, at Outlon Park, was a complete washout. But the rain couldn’t take the smile off my face. Even after the rest of the year has thrown more and more amazing things at me, I still look at this race as one of my favourites of 2012. You can read more about it on MotoIQ.com.
The North beckoned once again and pulled my up to Kielder Forest for the Pirelli International Rally. Although the event was dominated by the smaller Citroen DS3 and Ford Fiesta, it delivered some amazing driving from the European professionals.
And in a turn of events about as abrupt as this sentence, I ended up in Los Angeles. But before that, I made a trip to my local rally powerhouse, M-Sport. This image was shot for an article that was unfortunately never published, but keep an eye out, those images, as well as choice parts of the article, will be on my site in the near future. Keep an eye out!
The second half of the retrospective will take a good, long look at the rest of my year, both back at home, and my two months in America. And then it’ll feel ashamed because 2013 will in no way be able to be as good.
I found myself back home this weekend, in the English Lake District. With a Jaguar. And a camera, and some of the best scenery in the UK. Aside from this small introduction, I’m going to let the images speak for themselves. All images are captioned with a 1920×1200 resolution wallpaper.
This was my first static, and directed shoot since since I seriously started photographing cars. Only one image in this set uses artificial light, and it was an on-camera speedlight. Shot on Newlands Valley, Buttermere, and Workington.
I arrived at the track on Sunday morning to be met with torrential rain. But it’s not all bad, it makes from some fantastic photos.
The race was coming to a close, and it was quite clear that the field had been thinned out overnight. The rain also made life tough for the more powerful cars in the field, who were constantly losing their rear end through Maggots.
My personal favourite car was still going strong, it seemed.
As was the Bauhaus Aston Martin, which was impressively contending with the GT3 cars in the field.
The cars came through to a stunning finish, with the field in their final order. It was great to see such camaraderie between all of the drivers!
Britcar is another event that’s now on my annual list of things to do! In 2013, I want to try and cover as many long-distance endurance events as possible.
I know this isn’t everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, staying with, working with, for making the past two months so amazing.
I will see you all again, there’s no doubt about it.
To Romania!
What an amazing drive back from Pikes Peak. We followed the Colorado River all the way from it’s home state.
Through Utah and Arches National Park, along some of the most amazing roads I’ve ever seen.
Through Monument Valley at sunset, and down through Arizona.
Through the Grand Canyon. At sunrise.
To the simply awesome Route 66. What an amazing end to two months in this beautiful country.
It genuinely hurts to say that this will be my last post from the United States. For now at least. Hopefully I will return very soon.
Tomorrow I leave for Romania, and Drift Allstars in Constanta. I don’t get very much sleep any more, but when I do, I know I’ll be dreaming of the day I come back.
If you want to see the route I took from Denver to Los Angeles, you can see it here.
I’m glad Sunday is over. Intense does not accurately sum up what we endured at 14,000ft.
I think the bikes stole the show; they were fortunate enough to run with clear blue skies. The clouds rolled in quickly.
It made for some spectacularly moody images.
And the resulting weather hampered running considerably. Romain Dumas unfortunately fell in a bad spot of weather, hampering his run.
Less so than Jean-Phillipe Dayraut, in the Dacia Duster. He met his fate in the Boulder Park.
Rhys Millen had a safer run, and made it to the top slightly faster than Dumas. He took his first win, after many years of trying.
I’ll be back next year. I feel like the mountain has much more to give than it shown me on Sunday. Hopefully next year, the race to the clouds will be to fluffy white clouds, not a lightning storm.
After surfing finished in Huntington, we bombed up to Topanga Canyon to check out some abandoned houses.
It almost felt artificial, it was that destroyed and torn up that it felt almost like a movie set crack den or something. There’s a bit of history to this place – it was abandoned by its elderly owners in the 1970s and was just left to decay. Over the years it looks like it’s had a number of residents using it for a few purposes.
The caution tape is the cherry on the cake.
So, house number two that we went and explored apparently used to belong to a band named Canned Heat, which was again left to rot over time. However, it made way for some stunning graffiti.
And it’s not historic – people still seem to come by to add to the walls.
It’s hard to really imagine what this place looked like in its heyday, but it remains inspiring. It’s rumoured that Jim Morrison wrote Roadhouse Blues about this place. You can see why.
