Tagged: Camper
Stanford Hall 2013
On Sunday Alison and I made our way over Stanford Hall for this year’s annual show which is organised by the Leicestershire and Warwickshire Volkswagen Owners club. I usually take my beetle to display in the Historic VW line-up but, this year we decided to bring my Audi A3. Last year’s show was one of many which fell fowl of the appalling weather being postponed to later in the year. By the time we got to Stanford Hall, at about 10.30 am, the show was in full swing and looked to be busier than ever!
There were lots of great VWs for sale including some nice, early stock examples, along with the lowered and custom cars which are always in plentiful supply. One of several which caught our attention was a very straight and original split screen pick-up which was a fresh import from Ohio in the US.
The concourse area was packed with immaculate VWs of all kinds from early air-cooled models right through to recent vehicles including the Audi TT and New Beetle. The Splitscreen Van Club always have a huge presence at this show as they have their AGM the same weekend and then cruise to the show en mass. The Historic VW display was also impressive and seems to be getting better each year.
We left after lunch having enjoyed wondering around the show for most of the morning, in sunshine for a change!
Stephane Bar
Some interesting VW related photos from Stephane Bar, a professional photographer based in France who specialises in BMX photography.
Stephane trained as a photographer for 2 years at SEPR in Lyon through which he discovered different shooting and image processing techniques. This vocational training has allowed him to explore other worlds and develop some diversity in the services that he can now offer including: weddings, studio shots, pack-shots, portraits and advertising.
“It is the sport of BMX has given me the desire to capture and keep preciously unique moments, and then have the opportunity to share. This sport has the advantage of bringing together diverse disciplines whose figures have their own specificity. The Street – pretty rough around the edges, offers feats that impress the eye with the height that some riders can reach and by the unusual places where they can be exercised.”
You can view more of Stephane’s excellent work at http://stephanebarphotos.tumblr.com
Please buy me!
Photo of the week #68 – This splitscreen van, with ratty-paint, was for sale at DubFreeze last month.
Rat look
Photo of the week #63 – A row of rat-look split screen VW busses lined up outside Sandown Park Race course during The VolksWorld Show, March 2012.
The Stig in Stony
Photo of the week # 60 – Why does someone always stand in the way when you’re trying to take a photo?
Purple ’66
Photo of the week #59 – This 1966 VW Split-screen bus with metallic purple paint was photographed outside the Slough VW swap meet in November last year.
New year’s day at Vintage Stony
After the miserable weather we had in the UK for most of 2012, 2013 started with a bright sunny day! So I headed over to Stony Stratford for the new years day classic car gathering. I went last year and the turn-out was a little disappointing but given the weather was as expected. What a contrast this year. The sunshine brought out the classics in their hundred and by midday the town was completely packed with old cars!
A distinct lack of VWs though! Just a couple of split screen campers, one bay window and two beetles. I will definitely make more of an effort to take my beetle to the next Vintage Stony meeting in the summer.
Twenty twelve, a year in mono
Looking back at 2012, it’s been very memorable from a photographic point of view due mainly to the appalling weather we’ve seen in the UK! If you look through my photos from 2012, you’ll notice that there is one thing (apart from VWs) that most have in common, and that’s a stormy looking sky!
From a VW perspective, I’ve made it along to some new shows that I haven’t attended before – Back to basics and the show at Blenheim Palace were nice and fairly local but, I’ve missed several of the regulars that I’ve been to many time over the years including Bug Jam, VW Action, VanFest and BVF at Malvern.
One show which was missing in 2012 was the Ivan Hirst Memorial Show at the REME Museum near Reading. I went to this show in 2011 and it was probable the the last Vintage VW show which will be held in this location which is a real shame. For me, the highlight of the 2012 VW show calendar had to be The Lavenham Vintage VW Show which only takes place every four years. I guess I may be a bit biased as I’m one of the organisers but, even with a lot of running around sorting things out, It was a great weekend which I hope everyone else enjoyed too.
So what does 2013 hold in store? I expect some visits to more VW shows plus, I’d like to visit more general classic car shows and make more trips to Silverstone Circuit which is just down the road from my home. Rather than just pictures from car shows, I also hope to persuade some Vintage VW owners to spare an hour or two for a location photo-shoot of their VW. I already have a few locations in mind so I just need some cars and some better weather then 2012 – here’s hoping!
Willem-Aart van Dorpen
Willem-Aart van Dorpen is an automotive photographer based in The Netherlands. I recently contacted him to ask about his VW photograph on Flickr. Along with some VW show photography, Willem-Aart has started a new Flickr site and gone up a gear producing some fantastic VW photos that really stand out as being a bit special. I’m looking forward to seeing more of his excellent photography in the future.
“First of all, I would like to thank Malcolm for the opportunity to introduce myself on this blog. You’re doing a great job!
When I started out photographing cars in around 2007, I immediately fell in love with it. The endless artistic possibilities and technical challenges combined with my other passion, cars, is one of the many things that makes me truly happy. The fact that some of my work is appreciated by others serves as a great motivation to push myself further each and every time.
When I started out there was little or no direction, but recently things got a little bit more serious. Because I’ve always been fascinated by the work of commercial photographers like René Staud, Anton Watts and Martijn Oort, I took a two-year break from photography to educate myself on subjects like traditional art theory, creative retouching and CGI. While I’m not even close to the level I’m striving to achieve, I feel that my work has made significant progress. Every image proves to be an experiment, bringing new challenges and insights which keeps photography very interesting. There is not a single tool I leave untouched – cheating does not exist in photography as far as I’m concerned!
I’ve had my fair share of publications in magazines like ClassicVW, Ultra VW and Airmighty Megascene. It’s a great way to gain exposure and share your work with other VW enthusiasts. My goal is to create commercial-grade automotive photography in the not too distant future. Editorial publications are nice, but advertising and brochure photography is a whole different level. In the meantime, I’ll keep photographing a lot of nice vintage Volkswagens because they, and the people around them, will always have a special place in my heart.”
Visit Willem-Aart’s flickr site…
Götz Göppert
Götz Göppert was born in Munich in 1969. Based in Paris, he travels around the world in search of ‘unprecedented and unusual’ subjects. He loves his camera, doing lifestyle images or his beauty shots and his documentary series. He feels home whenever he can take pictures, in his hometown or on his trips all all over the world. Developing his very own and very personal style he loves to do his portraits and his reportages on location as much as his beauty shots in a studio.
After a long time working only for beauty clients he started to do reportages when he shot for his book “une annee autour de Sancerre”. This one year project about a wine region introduced him into reportage photography and he really enjoyed working under these very new and different conditions. From there on he started to work more and more in this very different direction not forgetting is natural and fresh beauty work. Mixing these different styles of photography makes his work so interesting and gives Götz always new opportunities to treat and handle his images, and he is never short of new ideas.
His website features four galleries of automotive photography – Track, Parked, Panoramic and Bikes. Visit his website…
