What makes a great photo worth as many words as people claim? Isn’t your imagination healthy enough to turn just about any static scene into a story of some kind, even if it’s just a case of a blurry Polaroid and some unplaceable nostalgia? Doesn’t that mean that every photo is worth a few thousand words? That said, I don’t believe the mark of a great shot lies in its technical achievements alone either. The ones that carry the most meaning in our lives are those that have a combination of these two elements: subjects and scenes that prod at our emotions, and a photographer with a big enough bag of talent to render such things with technical aplomb. But this isn’t just true of photos is it? The same criteria applies in the general sense to almost anything artistic. To that end, this week’s collection of photographers has an intruder who shares his talents with colored pencils rather than with a lens.
As for the photographers this week, it’s my hope that you’ll find something new and interesting in here, not just because of the dream car content, but for the beautiful way they’ve been presented. Still shots are inherently a little bit natural and unnatural—they are scenes from real life, but real life never freezes in time—and perhaps it’s this aspect that makes them such great daydream fuel. There’s plenty of that in these five accounts!
If you were to go by his Instagram feed, you’d be forgiven for assuming Simon L. is living the ultimate playboy dream. He’s a student with a Mini Cooper in real life (as well as a skilled photographer), but his photographic portfolio is full of the unobtainable stuff that kids and adults pine for equally: for instance, who in their right mind isn’t imagining what it’s like to drive a GT1 next to a CLK GTR in the Alps? Again though, it’s not just what’s in the frame that makes Simon’s shots worth paying attention to. His photos possess a crispness and level of clarity that makes them look to be straight from an OEM’s press release, and I mean that in the best way possible. These are gorgeously colored, rich in contrast but never overdone, and framed with a good sense of angles and proportion regardless of location.
Hub Raum is one of those photographers with an astonishingly small pool of followers relative to how good the content is. While I’m not certain if Hub Raum is his or her name, or something else entirely, I’m confident that you’ll be drawn in by the style like I have. There’s this pervasive lonely quality in this portfolio, and I mean that in the sense that the cars and bikes being shot are done so in a way that makes them seem isolated, and if you’re going to attempt automotive portraits, isn’t this at least part of any successful method? There are a variety of pretty backgrounds to be found in this account, but they never draw attention away from the vehicles in front of them, and I think that’s much easier said than done.
Nashio K. lives in Japan, and though it’s a pretty tired and inane stereotype that the Japanese always “do things differently,” that is the case in this specific example: everyone else this week uses a camera to portray their favorite cars, but Nashio does so with pencils and paper. From street icons like the Nissan GT-R and Mazda RX-7, to modern Super GT machines like the latest NSX race cars, to dekotora trucks, to Corvette Stingrays in pastoral America, he covers a lot of ground with his pack of colored pencils. If you’re wondering why there are a few ride-on mowers included in the big mix, so am I! Regardless of the vehicle’s sporting abilities though, he draws each car with considerable detail, and when he decides to do an entire scene they’re as compelling as any photograph.
Joao Filipe is just 19 years old according to his Instagram page, and he’s already carved out a unique style that connects all his shots together. He can seemingly do everything well—details, candid pit lane action, parked cars, race tracks, name it—but the really stellar stuff is in the panning shots. Unlike the standard “good” pans that blur the backgrounds into oblivion (which is not a bad thing), Joao’s actually incorporate the rushing scenery into the compositions. He uses trees and guardrails the way most people use buildings and mountains, and it’s not like a race car in motion offers the most time for preparation. These shots have a kinetic quality to them that translates the essence of motorsport into a single shot.
As we’ve been doing for the past few editions of “Instagrammers,” the fifth spot belongs to a decidedly not car-focused photographer. If you haven’t already seen Michael Block’s work with landscapes, be careful that it doesn’t spoil you on others who attempt the same. He masterfully captures all four seasons, and from cozy cabins resisting the bitter winter to European castles and keeps in the midst of spring’s bloom, every picture he takes makes you want to find the place in real life. Unfortunately for all of us in the Petrolicious Los Angeles office, we don’t get much in the way of fall foliage, but as far as facsimiles go, the recent bunch of Michael’s autumn photos is the best I’ve seen.
If you’ve gotten this far you know the drill: if you want more, look no further than our own account for more content from Petrolicious and our friends around the world.
