TwistaPhoto | Nat Twiss | Automotive Photographer

Apr

British GT – Oulton Park, Round 1

Motorbase Performance Porsche

As someone who has spent the past four years as accredited media at the vast majority of the events I’ve photographed, it’s very easy to forget how spoiled for choice we are at circuits. The growing base of enthusiasts have it much harder. I got to spend the day in their shoes this weekend, at the opening round of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park. Having the restrictions was a huge challenge, but I think that it made for some fantastic images.

M-Sport Audi R8

Photographing the drivers and cars in the paddock was a huge challenge. With the teams often closing the fronts of their awnings, and this year shielding the back of their pit garages, I could often only get a fleeting glimpse of the paddock activity.

Used Tyres

It’s the little things.

FF Corse Ferrari 458GT3

Out on track, the Armco made getting the full car in frame a challenge. Improvisation is a good skill to have in these situations.

United Autosports McLaren MP4-12C GT3

There were, however, one or two spots where you could see the cars in their full glory.

MTECH Ferrari 458GT3

One of the great things about Oulton Park is the back end of the circuit, where the circuit runs through some quintessentially British woodland. It certainly made for some interesting compositions.

JRM Performance Nissan GT-R GT3

Especially with some of the springtime greenery. Though the temperature was more like mid-winter!

888Optimum BMW Z4GT3

The sun peeked through once or twice luckily.

IDL-CWS Ginetta G55 GT3

And then the fire of the Ginette helped warm us up a little more! Luckily, the driver got away in time from the blaze.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these images, or viewing other images from the event, please contact me here. The images shown here are copyright, and may not be used without consent.

Feb

Jaguar XJ-L, Hardknott Pass

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.

Nov

2012 Retrospective Pt.1

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.

Oct

Jaguar XJ-L

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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.

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Sep

Britcar Pt.3

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.

Sep

Britcar Pt.2

As sun set, I made my way back to the paddock. And as soon as I got through the gate, I came across this beautiful Ford GT40. Now, it was obviously a replica, but still an awesome find in the paddock.

By now, the race was well underway, and the teams were settling in for a long night.

Pit strategy is as critical in endurance racing as it is in any other form of motorsport – as soon as the car is stopped in the box, everything is go.

Possibly the most dangerous part of a pit stop is refuelling.

Once the car is topped up, the car takes off, back into the night.

Sep

Britcar Pt.1

Britcar 24 at Silverstone is the first time I’ve ever attended, let alone photographed, a 24 hour endurance race. It won’t be my last.

Silverstone is a vast circuit. I’ve never shot the full track. Even as a spectator at the British Grand Prix in 2007, I’ve always been situated in the Brooklands complex of the circuit.

I absolutely love the varied mix of cars running in the Britcar 24. This classic Porsche was my personal favourite, with a beautiful GT-86 and a Honda Jazz tied for second place.

Silverstone is an odd circuit for me. I’m very used to being close to the cars, but the large, F1-minded runoff areas mean that I’m actually a huge distance from the cars. Except at the entry to the famous Maggots complex. The cars enter at blistering speeds, it’s a great feeling.

There’s a true beauty to racing cars. Sometimes, it’s hard to find. But I’ve yet to photograph a race-built car that I’ve turned away from. The way this chrome-painted Aston Martin GT3 reflected the late afternoon sun put a huge smile on my face.

There’s nothing better than to be bathed in warm light, while race cars tear past you. It’s something I’d only previously experienced while at Pikes Peak, but here, at Silverstone, it happened again.

Sep

Wales Rally GB

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to Wales Rally GB. My first time ever at a rally event of this scale. I’m used to going to the Pirelli International, and the Malcolm Wilson, but this was an entirely different scale.

It was also my first time seeing WRC-level drivers on stage.

Jari-Matti Latvala went on to win the rally today. He came in to SS8 with a huge lead, and acted like the thick fog that was covering the jump section didn’t even exist. Luckily, it cleared up after about half the cars had ran through, making my job much easier.

Sebastian Loeb went on to take the second spot from Petter Solberg on the last day of running, but actually looked quite slow on Halfway, in my opinion. I’d love to see him drive on a day where he’s at his fastest.

Matthew Wilson looked quick over the jumps. I guess growing up in Cumbria has some advantages for this event! He came home in eighth once the event was all over.

I decided to play around with slow shutter speeds partway through SS12. I think some of them came out really well. Recently I’ve been shooting much faster than normal.

I blame the 70-200 2.8, and it’s gorgeous bokeh.

This Skoda, driven by Hayden Patton, was probably one of the most photogenic of the bunch. One of the simplest liveries in the entire field.

With any luck, my full coverage of Wales Rally GB, as well as a tour of the M-Sport and Ford World Rally Team HQ should be coming soon on MotoIQ! Stay tuned!

Aug

The Joy of Re-Editing

Editing images after an event is a funny thing. For me, at least.

It’s actually a huge problem for me. I focus on having a lightning-fast turnaround. But I’m also no Larry Chen. I edit my images, like most photographers do. This means I don’t have time to review every image that I captured during the day; I usually go for the ones most relevant to the post.

This means I miss out on some golden images quite often.

And this is where the re-edit comes in. Although it serves no purpose editorially, I love digging through my archives, looking for those images that you had to ignore on the first edit.

They aren’t necessarily moments of great action – just bits and pieces that can capture the atmosphere of an event.

Aug

Thank You!

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!

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