Even today the term ‘car photographer’ implies some sort of specialist, now most likely to be a highly skilled digital creative working with a 3D wire frame but twenty years ago it meant someone who could work in a large infinity coved studio, manipulating multiple lights and a huge floating reflector to create seductive glossy images. I never considered myself to be one of them at all, but on a few occasions I did attempt it there was always some trepidation about renting a car studio, not least because the electricity bill for the tungsten lights was additional to the studio rental and could end up being almost as much. In 2003 I was despatched by Motorsport to shoot this rather lovely Vanwall, at the Donington Collection which sadly no longer exists. It had been pushed from its usual spot into a conference hall at the end of the building with no windows and a low ceiling and that was to be my ‘studio’. The single biggest problem in photographing cars is reflections, a car body being effectively a collection of highly reflective and curved surfaces so I decided to black out the back wall, using a lot of drape (left over from a Gary Numan album shoot!) concentrate on highlighting the car’s rather beautiful and instantly recognisable outline and keep it all a bit mysterious. If you look carefully you can see the ceiling tiles reflected in the bonnet but in the circumstances I was pretty happy with the result. There is a rumour about, that the Vanwall name may be returning to the world of motorsport - I do hope it’s true……