Cars have an interesting, and broad, capacity of purpose. They are tools suited for our practical needs, our abstracted desires, our conversation starters and isolation chambers alike. Anyone with a passing interest in things that move knows how ridiculous it is to compare a Camry with a Carrera, but instead of talking about the vast spread of performance or anything else that tangible, let’s instead think about how cars can connect and separate us.
It’s a very simple and obvious point, but try to recall the times when you’ve formed bonds with other people with the glue of the automobile (and not the kind that is slowly releasing its hold on my interior panels…). Endless forum threads (for better or worse…); driveway gatherings to help each other out with our builds; the gravity generated by countless shows, meets, drive-ins, and cruises; and of course, just shooting the shit about motorsport, tuning, restorations, the hunts we embark on for cars and parts, and the ridiculous lists we subject each other to (“Three cars for the rest of your life: go”). It’s all because of what is essentially a way to move things around.
Conversely, we can adapt our autos to become vessels of solitude. Gone on any midnight drives lately? There is something almost womb-like about getting in your car and sealing the doors to the outside world. I won’t extend that analogy into uncomfortable territory, but I think you know the feeling. It’s also sort of akin to taking a shower: you’re left alone with your thoughts and you can let the brain ramble on into ridiculousness or focus on the sole task at hand—though it is surely more fun to nail a high-RPM heel-toe than it is to stand underneath water.
In this week’s selection, I’ve tried to find accounts that are vastly different from one another—we’ve got some overlanding Landies sharing space with Ferraris for instance—but more than just a general mix of the subject matter, the hope is that the accounts below will evoke the kinds of solo and shared joys that vehicles of all types can provide.
Louis Hennart is one half of a pretty incredible photographic team, and while we’re not ones to share modern supercars very often, this is an exception of the best type. What I love about this account is that Hennart manages to capture these machines out of their element. It’s sort of the sad reality that most cars of this calibre are more akin to fashion accessories than the defiers of physics they were assiduously engineered to be. Sure, there are some pics in here of Aventadors in their natural habitat parked among the world’s various high-rent districts, but that’s minimal. Instead, the cars are actually at race tracks, or at least being driven past 1st gear. As it relates to the theme, this is an account with supercars being driven and used by their owners, and not employed as a means to draw the attention of everyone in V12-earshot. The anti-Park Lane.
Dillon Bonk’s page is dedicated to Land Rovers doing what the majority of their owners will never even entertain the idea of: going off-road. And this account is actually kind of a blend between going it alone and spending time with like-minded friends—at once picking and pushing their way through isolated terrain and having a group of others doing the same in their own solitary cabins of British bulldogs, there is surely an element of both here. This is a collection of images that compels you to stop looking at your phone and get outside, but if you need to wait until the weekend at least you can catch a whiff of pine and dirt from this Instagram portfolio.
For many people first dipping their toes in photos, turning those early attempts into black-and-whites is an easy way to add gravitas and “artsiness” to otherwise bland captures. This is not at all why Laurent Nivalle often works in greyscale. This is the example of how it’s done correctly. He works in color with similar aplomb, but the noir-ish atmosphere that he creates with his contrasting B&Ws is what really stood out to me. When you don’t have colors to break up the photo, the importance shifts heavily toward the composition and the use of light. This is an expert at work in the medium. Content-wise there is a lot to take in as well, what with Nivalle freezing frames of motorcycles, cars, people, and places all over the world.
Richard Pardon is not solely focused on the kinds of stunning zoomed-out shots as those I’ve selected for the preview, so be assured that a bevy of top-quality photographs await your click. I chose the above scenes though to tie in with this week’s rough thematic slant; these are the drives that we can either take solo as in the beachside bird’s-eye on the left, or with a cadre of our friends like in the Cheddar Gorge capture to the right. But really, there is so much more to see from Pardon in terms of subject and style. Here’s someone who can render any scene of any object with beauteous ease, and here’s a feed that compels one to reach its bottom.
Bouncing around in Nick Caron’s account is an illustration of the shared journey we take with our cars and our friends. It’s tough to find pages like this one that manage to slice a wider piece of life’s pie while retaining a high standard of image quality, but this is one of those nuggets worth sifting for. Stuffed with portraits, travel, events, and vintage BMWs, this collection will hopefully guide your hand to the phone to make some weekend plans that don’t involve you and a couch spending one-on-one time together. Also, he has a sublime Calypso M5, so there’s that too.
We’re not tooting our horns so much as we’re just offering another friendly weekly reminder that the official Petrolicious Instagram page is chock-full of the kinds of images that you read these roundups for. We’re continuously and regularly adding to the feed, so be sure to check in often. Or don’t. Either way, we’ll keep the lights on for anyone who shares our immortal passion for cars and photography!
