Evaluation

Evaluation

I think this project was quite freeing, I had a chance to experiment with different concepts with no boundaries. At first this was a struggle for me personally I couldn't narrow my idea down to something final and for a week or two I was very unsure about where to take this project. However when I decided to focus on the modified community I knew I was onto something. I photograph cars, events and shows for my own personal portfolio and also for personal documentation but in this project I tried to take a new approach and photograph from an outside perspective to offer something different to the photos I would normally take at a show.

I would usually focus on the cars at the show but it was nice to take my street photography influence and combine that with this project to photograph strangers at the show while still including elements of the cars. It would have been nice to get to more events but this was out of my control as there wasn't much on throughout this project but I think I'll carry this body of work on in my own time as it's something I've enjoyed doing and I don’t think this was ever going to be a project that would be 'complete'. I think it will be an on-going body of work allowing me combine my love of motorsport with photography and try and communicate this love with other people through my photographs.

For me this project was more about investigating peoples thoughts about people who were into modified cars, it was nice to talk my ideas through with my tutors and peers as they offered a perspective of someone who wasn't involved in the community and also did not believe everyone to be 'boy racers'.

I'm happy with my final shows however I find it hard to select 8 final images and if I were to do the project again I would try and bridge the gap between the photos of people at the show and the planned shoot in the forest as I feel they are very different in terms of environment, composition and overall look. Overall I prefer the photos in the forest because they were technically challenging and I had several attempts at shooting them where as the photos at shows were very 'run and gun' which was exciting but I found it frustrating when I saw something I wanted to shoot but just wasn't fast enough to snap it. I've achieved what I originally set to do which was to create documentary style photos with my own twist and I do believe my photos are a mix of a few styles pulling characteristics from street photography, documentary and portraiture. I have a set of photos documenting what goes on within the modified community; I've documented strangers at an event and also photographed portraits of friends with their cars. This has been a great project and it was a fresh change to have no boundaries and I found this made me focus much more on my final idea as I wasn't worried about meeting a criteria I was shooting purely to fulfil my own brief and while this was an on-going challenge I feel I've managed it in the end and I'm happy with my final shots.

My Final Images

Early reflections

When I was trying to think of an idea from this project I was really struggling due to it being so open ended. I wanted to do something I enjoyed but also something that was new to me.

I had a few ideas about doing a documentary style project following musicians or someone who had an interesting job or hobby. I liked the idea of a documentary but I was really struggling with a subject as I wanted it to be close to my own interests in order to enjoy the project to it's full potential.

When I finally decided I would focus upon the modified community I asked a few close friends about there thoughts on the project and they were quite happy to take part in order to show people outside the community that they are not "boy racers".

I also thought it would be nice to provide an insight into organised events as well as what a close group of friends get up to when together. I originally started the project with a plan for it to be strictly documentary but as I began to develop my ideas and complete shoots I wanted to get more involved and show my own personal interests within the photos as this project was very close to home. I decided to photograph some of the cars on there own and try and photograph strangers at shows to combine my love for street photography and all things automotive.

I'm really happy that I decided to go ahead with this idea, I've had a great time shooting for it and got some images that I'm very happy with and have had some good feedback for!

I've now got to begin selecting my final 8 images as well as planning more shoots and carefully editing them down to create a tight set of images that are linked but are also interesting.

Santa Pod

My second photo shoot took place at Santa Pod Raceway, a very popular location for car shows and racing days. These are organised meets backed by some of the major companies in performance motorsport and are on most weekends at tracks up and down the country. This particular event was for VW, Audi and Porsche cars and enthusiasts. 

There were roughly 2000 people who attended the one day event, there were young kids, families, couples, groups of friends and people from every walk of life sharing there passions and interests with like minded people.

I set about trying to capture the people involved in the show as well as the show itself. It's a very alien world to people who have never been to a show, people spend hours cleaning there car to compete for 'Show & Shine' which awards prizes and trophies for the cleanest car, best wheels, best interior etc

Again this is very contrary to the "boy racer" stereotype often associated with people involved with modified cars. People think that everyone who likes motorsport meets in a supermarket car park every weekend to play loud music, drive like idiots and just generally be anti-social. This is not the case, although a small minority do the above the amount of people involved in the modified community is huge. There are roughly 20+ fully legal, organised shows each year just for people interested in VW, Audi and Porsche cars. Each show sees anywhere from 200-10,000 guests all sharing the same passion.

I wanted to try and capture what I think the shows are about and use these in my project. I think people will be interested to see what goes on at shows and the types of people that attend and compare this to there expectations.

The main aim of this project was to document what I believe the modified motorsport community is all about to demonstrate that people who share a love of modifying cars are no different to people who like football, fishing, dancing etc

Night Shoot

My first photo shoot involved a group of friends I met through being involved with the car community. They are all under 25 and could easily be stereotyped as 'boy racers'. They all have full time jobs involving some sort of engineering, mechanical or electrical work and they have a lot of time and money invested into there cars. I wanted to capture a few photos of them with there cars to illustrate the point that they have a large interest in modified cars but I also wanted to keep the photos interesting.

I decided to do a range of shots of each car as well as some group shots with the cars and after reviewing my images I really prefer the images with the lads in them as people can make the link between young lads and modified cars.

I used a long exposure and off camera lighting to paint in the cars and the models so that I could show only what I wanted. I didn't want the location to distract from the images themselves so I chose to shoot in a dark forest so there was little distraction.

This image was inspired by the work of Chris Frear who I've been following on flickr for a year or so. He focuses on creating portraits of people in there workplace and his work is very different to most portrait photographers. He likes to include clues about the subject by photographing them in there everyday environments, more often than not at work.

I decided to have each person stand by there car and gave them absolute freedom to pose how they wanted and I'm really happy with the results. They all look relaxed and took the shoot seriously. The stereotype of 'boy racer' is young lads under 21 getting there first car and doing stupid things with it because they are not mature enough to realise the dangers. This stereotype couldn't be further from the truth, most people in the modified car community take pride in there car and there driving, maybe more so than 'mature adults'. I think there's an element of this in the photo below, each person is taking pride in the car they've built and invested in and I feel they are communicating with the camera as though they are tired of being judged.

This image was the final shot of the night and was just for a little fun to show it's not all serious and at the end of the day the modified community is all about doing something you enjoy and sharing that with friends and people who are also passionate about motorsport.

Jeremy Deller’s ‘Procession'

When initially presenting my proposal I was tipped to Jeremy Deller who was involved in a project called Procession which was part of Manchesters international festival in 2009. There was a parade show casing what he believed Manchester was about. The different types of people that made Manchester what it is and showed the diversity that one of the major cities in the UK has.

"From Big Issue sellers to boy racers, people from all over the city paraded through the city for Jeremy Deller's Procession at the Manchester international festival, in a fond and playful celebration of the city's past and present" 

The parade involved a section at the back dedicated to 'boy racers' who drove in convoy in the parade with there music playing etc. I'm unsure if this was a positive or a step backwards?

"Revving behind are the local boy racers, sound systems booming. They are the crew that speed round the back of the Stockport Toys R Us carpark on a Thursday night, and not everyone is pleased. James Clayden, 79, says: "All those fumes – it's enough to kill the smell of the fish and chips. We're supposed to be thinking about the environment."

The stigma around people involved with modifying cars is that written above is something that I disagree with greatly. When most people see a young male driving a modified car, they would think he and his friends congregate in a car  park late at night and race around. Maybe 10 years ago this was the case. However I think it's a bit time this stereotype was erased from society because in reality anyone who spend 10 minutes with any real car enthusiast will realise they take pride in there car and there driving. Of course some people do spoil it for the majority but on the whole the modified community are a well behaved bunch. There are hundreds of organised events each year for real enthusiasts and this is where they go, they don't sit in car parks revving there engines and causing hassle! If people wan't to put there cars to the test and race there are fully legal track days such as the one I'm planning to visit at Santa Pod Raceway next week. 

Hopefully I'll get some good images that show people from all walks of life attend organised events and have a genuine interested for modifying cars.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/hickstersunited/5631002960/)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jul/05/jeremy-deller-procession-manchester-festival 

Adrian Brannan - Car People

While conducting research and looking for inspiration I came across Brannan's project - Car People

The blurb on his website is as follow:

"A portrait project on various car enthusiasts from different walks of life. All of these photographs were captured with a Mamiya medium format camera loaded with Fuji 120 transparency film. The film was then cross processed and the final images hand printed by myself. This project dates back to 2000 when I was in my final year of studying at the Glasgow School of Art."

I really like his images, the colours are fantastic but this is due to the methods he used to shoot. It all feels very 2000 and I like that! It's like a time capsule looking at all the old cars and even the fashion, most things seem to have changed apart from the subject matter, there are still many people who are keen enthusiasts and maybe the number has even grown with how cheap cars are these days?

Because I'm going for a more documentary style my final shots won't be shot like the above, however they may echo a similar theme - enthusiasts with there cars. I feel Brannan's shots are quite experimental portraits and I like the fact they are not universally composed however they feel a little empty to me I would like to have seen more of the cars or at least more of the subject. I feel full length shots are a must for my project but that's down to personal taste!