The Art of Car Spotting

A short article on my experiences in the world of car-spotting

3y ago
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For the last three years, I have often journeyed into the vast concrete expanses of central London. The majority of these trips are to spend the day with friends or family, but sometimes I take a few hours on my own to comb the beautiful streets of Green Park and Knightsbridge, in search of expensive automobiles.

To many automotive fanatics, this craze – that has surged through the younger generations of car geeks – makes very little sense. Even I find the exercise of walking for hours through the inner city quite tedious, but others can spend an entire 12-hour day in the lanes and mews hunting for customer-owned rarities.

The few times I have gone out of my way to really go ‘car-spotting’, I have had the pleasure of meeting some great guys, who’s passion for the automobile has brought them social media fame. They have self-taught the intricacies of photo editing, spent thousands of pounds on state-of-the-art camera equipment, and devoted weeks of their lives to pursue something that they find great pleasure in. However, they have been at the receiving end of a large amount of criticism from both pedestrians and even police, for apparently being the cause of ‘ant-social’ behaviour’ in the city – and in many other places across the world. I will admit that I have witnessed some very stupid behaviour from the younger ‘spotters’, who seem to find the thrill of dashing across a busy three-lane road worth the risk for a fuzzy picture of the latest F12 TDF.

However, the guys that I have met while attempting my own kind of ‘speed-spotting’ - with a couple of hours free on a Wednesday afternoon in town – have been some of the nicest people I have known in my time in the city. Due to their age, and inexperience with the law, many ‘spotters’ have been given fines by police for operating in and around pedestrian areas in London - whilst the owners of the big, loud, obnoxious automobiles causing the disturbance get away scot-free. It is a massive shame that issues have arisen from the increased popularity of ‘car-spotting’, but the influx of young car fanatics at automotive events, and the various inner-city ‘shut-downs’ - arranged by groups of vehicle owners – have created serious concerns over public safety.

The day may soon be upon us where the ‘car-spotting’ craze implodes on itself. Just this summer, the almost complete city-wide lockdown that occurred at Top Marques proved the limits of ‘spotting’. It would come as no surprise if the city called off the event for 2019.

Other problems have come with the rise of the social media culture. After all, without anywhere to post their pictures, the young ‘spotters’ would have no desire to go mindlessly chasing a Laferrari down the middle of Sloane Street. A number of individuals, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting on my trips into the city, have all expressed serious concerns over the impending fate of their favoured past-time.

The struggle for automotive photographers doesn’t end there. Those who know of the algorithm apocalypse that occurred across Instagram over the last year or so will understandably be frustrated with the impact it has had on their audience engagement. As have I, trust me! I, like many others, have been furiously battling a constant decline in followers. Although my passion for the automobile has never been fuelled by likes, shares, or follower stats, the satisfaction gained in seeing an audience base who are interested in your hard work and effort is very rewarding. In my first 12 months on Instagram I gained over 10,100 followers, in my second year I have lost almost 200. The inexplicable loss of engagement is frustrating, but I continue to post content nonetheless.

However, to my fellow Instagrammers - do not despair. By setting up my automotive account over two years ago, I have been given the opportunity to travel to some fantastic places, attend amazing events, and have met so many incredible people who share my passion for everything on four wheels. The successes I saw in my first year on the app have also made a great addition to my CV, hopefully helping me to begin a career in the automotive world, which I have dreamed of doing my whole life.

For those who are interested, here are a few links to some of my favourite automotive Instagrammers:

Alex Babington: www.instagram.com/alexbabington/?hl=en

Jacob Elliott: www.instagram.com/jmesupercars/?hl=en

Henry JMW: www.instagram.com/henryjmw/?hl=en

Jonny Pearce: www.instagram.com/jonny_pearce/?hl=en

Cameron: www.instagram.com/cg.automotive/?hl=en

Ben Williamson: www.instagram.com/benjfw/?hl=en

Tom Newton: www.instagram.com/thomas.newton/?hl=en

Adam Shah: www.instagram.com/adam_shah_/?hl=en

Aimery Dutheil: www.instagram.com/aimerydutheil_photography/?hl=en

Callum Bough: www.instagram.com/callumbough/?hl=en

And of course, here is a link to my account for those who are interested:

www.instagram.com/alex_.henderson/?hl=en

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