We’re all aware the weekend’s on its way, and if you aren’t in the process of being buried by the weather that means another opportunity to indulge in our automotive hobbies. Whether you’re planning to get up early for a Cars & Coffee (sore wound, as our favorite in Malibu was shut down after last month’s show), tracing a route through the backroads with a few friends, or just catching up on online content from the comfort of sleeping in, I hope the accounts below make your weekend that much better.
We’ve been proud to share the work of our friend and Jaguar designer Patrice Minol in the past—take this gorgeous Giallo Ocra Alfa GTV for instance—and his Instagram account is full of classics like that one as well as the bleeding edges of modern speed. Whatever he’s shooting, Patrice turns it into a set of beautiful stills with just enough shallowness in the depth of field, separating the cars from the background but not removing them entirely. He’s comfortable with impromptu trackside photos as he is with fully staged and lit scenes, and manages to make both recognizable as his own.
It’s often the case that photographers can be extremely accomplished when it comes to the technical aspects of the art, but there’s always that nebulous “eye” that many will tell you is an innate ability to compose a scene with a camera. I’m not sure I believe that’s an unteachable talent, but whatever the case, Jon Aldridge has it. Of all the people in this week’s list, his shots contain the most emotion. To describe his portfolio as a set of perfectly composed candids is sort of oxymoronic, but I think you know what I’m getting at. It seems he’s often in the right place at the right time to capture these fleeting moments, and he doesn’t seem to waste any of them either.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Scandinavian raggare car community, but if not the gist is this: they love big old American land yachts, muscle cars, pony cars, and 1950s and ’60s hot-rodding culture in general. Within this niche you’ll find extremely clean OEM examples of American steel, but that’s not the common case by any means. The people involved in this glean a lot of their enjoyment from driving old bombs and filling them with girls and beers as they fill the clean Swedish forest air with the smell of cigarette and tire smoke. Tomas Henriksson captures the more sedate side than this, but you can find plenty of the late-night crowd in his shots too if you look!
Jon Wheel has a great last name for someone in his line of work, and thankfully he’s not so shabby of a photographer. In fact he’s pretty damn good, and though there are more adventurous portfolios out there in terms of composition, Jon’s photos are just about faultless otherwise. I like the documentary aspect to his work though, and to me these are the kinds of shots that last, have more permanence than something with crazy bokeh and too much Photoshop; his work is descriptive, it’s consistent, it’s clean, and nearly every car has been pulled from a dream.
David Beattie occupies our fifth spot this week since he doesn’t exactly do the same job as the dudes above. He’s the founder and designer at Slot Mods, his slot-car company that constructs huge custom setups. The shots above are from his Monaco tribute track, but he’s also done one in the spirit of the Targa Florio that’s worth checking out, and the rest of his designs are equally detailed and thoroughly thought-out. If I had a basement and a bigger savings account I’d be down there lapping my miniature Nordschleife more than would be healthy.
As always, if you’ve made it this far into the Roundup I doubt you aren’t following the official Petrolicious Instagram account; we update multiple times daily, so check in often to see where we are and what we and our friends are up to.
The Petrolicious Marketplace just added a very sharp E36 M3 that’s started some discussion on the values of those cars, but we’ve got much more than that in our current and past inventory. Take a look through the Instagram page to shop around or just poke your head in to see what’s what.
