On May 17th, we attended the British Car Show at Van-Dusen Botanical Garden. The event was celebrating its 40th year.
I (Jae) attended last year and had a blast. It was one of the first times hanging out with fellow photographer Geoff Brown, who has since become a great friend of Muckers. Last year, I shot a lot of candid “street photography” and some details shots/reflections of all the cars. I took a different approach this year and save for the few frames below, decided to focus on portraits.
One of the things that makes our bond at Muckers so special is that both Ian and I have a deep interest in people and the niche things they love. This wasn't just a car show OR a classic car show, it was a BRITISH Car Show. A very specific thing that very specific people care about.
I showed up a little before Ian and spent some time with our friend Ariela who was already 6 rolls of film deep! She was testing out a Rolleiflex that she borrowed from Geoff Brown. We walked around and enjoyed some music but eventually stumbled upon a local video game designer and his nephew, who were there showing their British car. We didn’t really talk about the car at all though and instead had some meaningful conversations about art. I managed to get a portrait of each of them before we moved along.
Not long after these portraits, Ian and his girlfriend Anastasia showed up. Ian got to work shooting rather quickly and focussed on getting some vibrant and flash filled photos on his Nikon ZF. HIs photos were filled with great composition and humour, as they usually are.
I have had a Mamiya 7ii camera for a few years now and could never really get along with it. It shoots in a weird aspect ratio and relies way more on electronics than the “old school” mechanical cameras that I prefer. It’s not a camera typically associated with portraits but I was determined to make it work. I asked a woman sitting in the back of her Bentley for a portrait and fell completely in love with the results. I couldn't wait to get in the darkroom and make a print.
After making her portrait, I also met her husband and got a portrait of them in their Bentley together. It turned out that he was an honorary consulate for the Czech Republic!
We did a little more walking around and took a few more photos and then decided to end the day with some hot chocolate and sweets.
Just before we left, I ended up meeting a guy named Rob. Rob told me about another “niche” hobby that he was part of and they just so happened to be having a big event the next weekend. Ian & I made a point of checking it out and had one of the best days of photographing we could ask for. We’ll be sharing some more about that in our next blog!
Thanks for the invite Rob.