Automotive Photography Blog by Darren Woolway

MKII Escort Street Racer

For the January 2017 issue of Classic Ford Magazine I photographed Alex Eliott’s Blood Orange MK2 homebuilt Escort. Not being local to Peacehaven I decided to take the missus out with me for the day so that we could visit Brighton in the afternoon. On the way we kept our eyes out for potential locations and came across the old Lido, it is currently being restored but the back wall had been left open which fit in perfectly with the character of the car. It was certainly a fun shoot and well timed as it started raining heavily after we finished. Thanks Alex!

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2016 HIGHLIGHTS

This year has been quite an exciting time, lots of changes and new adventures. I have had a quick look at all the shoots I have carried out throughout 2016 and tried to choose just one image that I like from each set, these may not have been the published image choice but is my personal choice. There are a few shoot days missing here and there such as some events but you can find a few of those over on the blog.

In 2017 I am looking to photograph more commercial campaigns for cars and products, I am going to expand into headshots for LinkedIn profiles as well so if you are in need of an image get in contact. Winter is a slow part of the year for me so I decided to use the time to plan and execute some new product images to improve my portfolio.

January

25th January – Versace Eros, a self initiated shoot.

25th January – MCE Watch, a self initiated shoot.

27th January – Bleu De Chanel, a self initiated shoot.

27th January – Versace Woman, a self initiated shoot.

February

1st February – Chamilia Beads, a self initiated shoot.

1st February – No.7 Early Defence skim smoothing cream, a self initiated shoot.

5th February – MAC Cosmetics, a self initiated shoot.

24th February – I took a trip into London to pick up some mail from the office, couldn’t resist taking a pic of this weird looking piece of architecture on City Road.

March

10th March – My cousin contacted me about photographing his Audi as he had some new wheels and grill on the car. I have included 2 images from this shoot as couldn’t decide on a favourite. I did several shoots for him this year as you will see further on. READ MORE

11th March – Once a year I visit Rose Bruford College to photograph their Ready Steady Light event, however at short notice I was asked to photograph one of their theatre productions. This was my favourite as I loved the effect the torches gave in the smoke.

12th March – Ferrari Testarossa, a beautiful classic owned by Profusion Customs. This was a test shoot to show how I can perform to win the RWB UK contract. I later took on both the stills and moving image of the first RWB UK Porsche 964 911 Royal Wide build here in the UK. It will be released early in 2017. READ MORE

14th March – Millie Cox, I first met Millie when I was photographing night clubs. After a successful shoot last year we got back together for a shoot in 2016, Millie is such fun to work with and her poses are simply beautiful. I photograph people mainly as a hobby these days and really enjoy it. READ MORE

19th March – Ready Steady Light at Rose Bruford College, this is a Competition run for South London schools who compete against each other to light parts of the college with a maximum of 6 lights. It is always a fun thing to photography as I love lighting design.

COMING SOON

24th March – Ford Cortina in the Darenth Valley, this was photographed for Classic Ford Magazine and is awaiting a publishing date.

April

16th April – A shoot with Valerie, booked last minute due to a cancellation Val did a great job. I just love how a small pocket of light picks up part of her face as we look through a frame of derelict timber. READ MORE

25th April – It’s Jamie’s Audi again however this time a trip to London was in order. It was a rainy night and I questioned whether it was worth going because of heavy cloud cover. Despite the weather we produced some beautiful images. The underground car park is actually in Maidstone. READ MORE

29th April – Firetherm Fleet, a quick job to photograph two new vehicles together. The final image will have the vehicles cut out on a white background as a hero image. READ MORE

29th April – Granada GXL, photographed for Classic Ford Magazine. READ MORE

May

4th May – Corvette Cross Fire Injection, photographed for Profusion Customs.

6th May – The Drifters, Jahson put on a charity tribute evening to Lionel Richie to raise funds to help a young boy. READ MORE

9th May – Kelly Maynard, I met Kelly whilst photograph for nightclubs and asked if she would like to model for me. As it turns out she had just decided to give it a go and this was her third ever shoot. Kelly is an amazing model and within this short period of time is working full time as a model. She works well with or without direction and was a perfect choice for running a studio course later in the year.(Warning: Adult Content) READ MORE

14th May – Volvo 1800s, came across this beaut’ whilst visiting a garden centre. It is in mint condition and I really wanted to photograph it. The location had been freshly renovated so I wanted to try it out and the two combined looked amazing. The car owner had only just purchased the car so there was not a lot of history, without a story behind it I wasn’t able to get it featured in a magazine but did manage to create some memorable imagery. READ MORE

18th May – 100E Anglia and 103E Pop, photographed for Classic Ford Magazine this father and son duo was great fun. It also meant that the location made it to at least magazine 🙂 READ MORE

June

6th June – Becky Little, a fun bit or Urban Dereliction with Becky. (Warning: Adult Content) READ MORE

11th June – MKIII Escort Estate, for a special long roof edition of Classic Ford Magazine. READ MORE

18th June – MKI Fiesta’s at The Ace Cafe, this was a shoot for Classic Ford Magazine to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the MKI Fiesta. READ MORE

20th June – A quick fashion shoot with Katie to show off her new dress. READ MORE

25th June – 105E Anglia shot for Classic Ford Magazine. READ MORE

July

July didn’t have many feature shoots as we were at car shows photographing cars and selling prints, if you are running a show this year let us know so we can see if we can cover it.

30th July – Ali’s 50th at Leeds Castle, sometimes I cover events and this was definitely a fun one to do with an airshow, fireworks, fire breathers and stilt walkers. READ MORE

August

3rd August – Kelly Maynard at the beach, as we had beautiful weather and warm water I had to get a shoot at the beach in this year. Following the success of the first shoot with Kelly I booked her again to guarantee success.(Warning: Adult Content) READ MORE

24th August – Plymouth Satellite, photographed for American Car Magazine.

26th August – The RWB project is well underway but lots of imagery and video footage to get through. We released 2 teaser videos, one for the launch of RWB UK and the second to wish a Merry Christmas. Until the article is released on the 25th January 2017 the video cannot be released. Check out the two teasers below:

28th August – MKI Escort South London Style, probably my favourite shoot of 2016, love the car and the location. READ MORE

September

Everything started to slow down from September as I was working on another project, but managed to get a few shoots in between September and Christmas.

6th September – Yes that’s right Jamie’s Audi again but this time he has custom wheels… I think he has forgotten about the 100E project he is meant to be spending his money on!

10th September – MKII Escort at Peacehaven, currently in this months issue of Classic Ford Magazine

October

8th October – Ford Granada, part of a Buyers Guide for Classic Ford Magazine. Was cut out and placed on a white background in the magazine. READ MORE

29th October – I know what you’re going to say… it’s Kelly again! Well yes it is but this time I used her to run a studio portrait photography class. Interested in Classes? READ MORE

November

From September to December I went to teach photography in a school for a while to catch them up on practical skills. One of the lighting set ups I taught them was for this bottle:

December

For the wind down to Christmas I joined an angling club and left my DSLR at home, however I had my iPhone to take some images of the beautiful scenery as I was fishing.

The frost just looked magical in the morning, with the Birch wood complimenting the colour scheme and the red sky as the sun rose it felt like heaven.

As the frost started to thaw out the woods sounded like a massive rainstorm had hit, very strange

I was fishing just below where the sun is.

Despite it being December 28th with a third of the lake frozen I managed to land 75lb of carp.

RWB Release date announced

Britains first RWB 964 911 will be released in Issue 149 of Total 911 Magazine on 25th January 2017. Later on in February the full documentary will be released, so to see the first official images of the RWB make sure you grab yourself a copy of the magazine. For now here is another short clip with a Christmas message from RWBUK and Profusion Customs.

Granada MKII 2.3 GL

These old Granada’s are getting harder and harder to find since they become popular in the destruction derbies. This saloon is probably the most mint example I have come across and it hasn’t even been restored. Owned by Jon Roberts it is one of the first 100 to roll of the factory line, being sat garaged for over 30 years the mileage is pretty low too. This was photographed as a buyers guide for Classic Ford Magazine Dec ’16 issue, initially I didn’t think too much about the location as it was to be cut out and put onto a white background. Now I look at the original images I realise the background I shot it was actually perfect and wish I spent a bit more time composing it a bit more centrally. However to find out more grab a copy from the shots and enjoy the details below:

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Father and Son Pops

Red is certainly the colour to catch your eye and a 6am call time makes your eyes a similar colour. It was important to arrive nice and early at our venue as later during the day the sun is in the wrong position and the pedestrian movement gets rather busy. Mark and Mike’s Pop duo look and sound amazing, if you get to see them at the odd show they attend it is worth taking some time to have a good look. I am not going to say too much about them here as you can read the full specs in the December issue of Classic Ford Magazine. Enjoy the set below:

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Anglia 105E Zetec – Practical Magic

Another South London Classic although this one is on the border of Kent near Sidcup. I met up with Scott Jeffery back in July to photograph his Anglia 105E with a Zetec SE engine swap. Despite the best of planning I couldn’t quite get the car to the original location… it appears a barrier has grown down the small dirt track I had originally planned to take it down. Despite the initial hiccup we found a nice quiet location where the softness and subtlety of the grass blended in well with the B-Road/Race car practical drive.

Having loved the shaped of the Chevy Bel Air (search my archives and you will find a few) Scott fell in love with the shape of the Anglia as the rear wings are similar in shape to those massive American fenders we all know to love. You can read the full article in the November issue of Classic Ford Magazine which is now only available on back issue. Hope you enjoy the images below from the shoot and that they act as inspiration for your next project:

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MKI Escort South London Style

Classic South London looks this MKI Crossflow-powered 1700 Escort I photographed for Classic Ford Magazine has plenty of trick touches.

I met up with Stuart Woolley at his home in South London, I had an idea of the type of location I thought would suit this car but as am not local to the area was a little lost. Stuart said he knew a couple of local industrial estates we could take a look at, we drove past what I thought was the perfect location and about a mile down the road Stuart pulled over, I thought he was taking us somewhere specific. Having only seen the columns from the road I suggested that we go back and take a closer look, on entering the car park it became apparent that this car and the location were meant to be together.

Unbeknown to me Stuarts mother worked in the building that owned this space, after a friendly chat with the security guard who he also knows we were allowed to shoot. This has to be one of my favourite shoots of 2016 and I am so happy to finally be able to share it with you!

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Rauh-Welt Begriff United Kingdom Porsche 964 911

RWB UK Trailer

Currently I am working on a short documentary showing the build of the first Rauh-Welt Begriff 964 Porsche 911 build in the UK. RWB is run by Japanese car designer Nakai-San, he creates wide arch body kits for Porsche’s and tailors the cars ride to that of the driver.

In the last year alone Nakai-San has built over 60 RWB’s across the world, his designs are now so famous that they are used in The Need for Speed video games. This 964 is the first to sport the Royale wide arches and Fender wings and is also one of the first to have a sound system.

The full feature is expected to be 20-30 mins in length and will be released late in 2016. For now I hope you enjoy this 36 second teaser. To keep updated on the progress follow my social sites which are available at the top of the page.

MKI Fiesta 40th Anniversary – Ace Cafe CFM

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the MKI Fiesta, and to celebrate I met up with 40 great examples at the Ace Cafe London. This was a shoot that I carried out for Classic Ford Magazine, the full feature can now be bought in shops. Below are a few images from the evening:

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Volvo 1800S

When visiting a farmers market I came across this 1969 Volvo 1800S owned by Lawrence Harrison. It is in beautiful condition and I knew at that point I just had to photograph it. I thought it would fit a magazine feature perfectly but unfortunately Laurie had only owned the car for a couple of months so there was not much of a story behind the car.

Laurie is a member of the Volvo Owners Club and first showed the car this year at the Gears of Change Motor and Military show in Kent. Since owning it in July 2015 the engine has had some work and the track rods adjusted along with a leather seat restoration. Below you will find the images from the shoot that we took:

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