The lifting of lockdown restrictions here in Ireland over the last month has had quite the affect on my schedule. Going from dark evenings and lots of sim racing to long days, some vaguely warm weather and even a trackday in my trusty AE100 has definitely been enjoyable. But the most satisfying and motivating piece of this newfound freedom has to be meeting people and making photos of cars once again.
The advantages(or disadvantages) of social media and its many algorithms means that you can view all the world has to offer regardless of your interests. Cars, photography, fashion, everything, all jammed into a tiny piece of glass in your pocket.
The world at your fingertips, yet you cant reach out and touch any of it. See, virtual worlds of race cars or futuristic ideologies of what the world might be like when the zombie apocalypse inevitably happens are interesting, cool and very much relevant but, it doesn’t come close to real world interactions.
Whilst my late night rambling may not make much sense to many, the reality is I probably talk to more people through socials everyday than I do in real life. Sometimes thats a good thing, you can control your interactions or engagement but again, theres something lacking.
I’ve known Conor(@ConorCL7) for about 3 or 4 years. His AE111 Levin and red DC5 Integra have graced these pages in some form or another over the years but up until a couple weeks ago, I’d only ever talked to the guy online. I could probably rattle off ten other people who fall into the same category and last year I made a personal goal of meeting more of these people in real life.
Its as muchan exercise in social skills as it is in photography. Fortunately, I’ve been lucky enough to meet some interesting and chatty people along this little journey I’ve been intermittently on. Conor was no exception. He had messaged to say he was going to be in the area for the weekend I picked out some potential locations the nights before and made the 45 minute drive to Rosslare, Co.Wexford.
Google street view has to be one of the best assets a ‘foreign’ photographer can have when looking for potential photo opportunities as I spotted this small harbour just outside the town and decided to chance that it would be open and that we wouldn’t be asked to leave.
The local fishermen were quite excited to look around the car as two of them came over not long after we arrived and proceeded to talk endlessly about cars they had down through the years, the current state of the country and the spider crab population of Wexford bay.
Spider crabs aside, I was really excited to shoot this car as Conor is known for only keeping pristine machinery and this car is no different. He had initially expressed some disappointment that there was stil some swirl marks in the paint although I struggled to find any, such is the attention to detail he maintains. He did confess he spent most of the morning cleaning the car with a sizeable hangover so props to this man as I wouldn’t do as good a job in good physical health.
I shot much of this set with the 50mm as I love the crispness it provides in all scenarios. It really showcases the Fujitsubo exhaust, Enkei RPF1s and the Mugen wind-deflectors perfectly as well as the stunning Recaro interior. Just goes to show that a car doesn’t have to be loaded with tons of parts to make it standout.
No Bad Vibes! 
Leave a Reply