Brooklands car photography course

Back in March, Kim treated me to a day with top automotive snapper Jason Dodd. A chance to hone my skills, work on composition and get some advice on improving my photos. The course was set in the grounds of Brooklands museum, home to dozens of period buildings and a short section of the mighty 1907 banked race track. The setting is ideal for a motoring photo shoot, Jason would bring along a selection of classic and modern cars to use as “models” Roobarb our 1974 Beetle being one of them. On an overcast Saturday morning I rolled into the small carpark at the front of the club house to be met by a group of chaps all sporting camera bags far bigger than mine! After a quick coffee stop we positioned a few of the cars and set to work. Jason drifted from car to car offering tips and advice on techniques and angles. The air was filled with the sound of shutters.

First up were a pair of ragtoppers in the form of a stunning 08 plate Morgan and a noisy Marlin kit car.





Parked up under Concorde behind the main sheds was the star of the day for me. A 1960s Gordon Keeble, 5.4litres of V8 grunt powering a sleek fibreglass body. I could have snapped the car all day and in my opinion it gave me some of my best shots of the course.



With the sun beating down we moved off to the sheds on the far side of the site, home to the Formula one exhibition and the site of Malcolm Campbells workshops as he built various land speed record cars. A pair of TR5s and Roobarb were posed against the timber buildings, the lairy yellow proving quite tricky for many to capture.







The last shoot before lunch was the two tone Morgan again, its owner used the faded Shell Pagoda to good effect as a backdrop, the clubhouse balcony provided an elevated platform. With the last shots in the bag we retired to the café for a snack and a cheeky pint before the afternoons activities



The afternoon started with a mini convoy of all the cars up to the famed banking, scattering the tin liberally around we had plenty of space to wander off and get some interesting shots, once again the GK seemed to be coming up trumps for me, the old pit buildings under the members bridge offering a great location. The massive Maserati and Jaguar along with the GK gave me the ideal magazine front cover shot as well







Moving back amongst the planes on display we used the rest of the afternoon lining up various cars and winged (and wingless) wonders.







My final shot had to be of Roobarb, parked in a forgotten corner of the site amongst a pile of old tyres, ready for the drive home.



After six hours outside and well over 500 photos, my brain is a bit fried and my legs a bit tired, but I feel like I’ve picked up some really useful tips for the future. Its not often that you get to devote some much time to composing a shot, at a show or a race meet it tends to be a five second pause whilst walking past. But hopefully I can put some of the ideas to use.

Massive thanks to Jason for today, more information on his company can be found here.

Steve.

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