Author: Paddy
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Ready For Anything – Seat Leon X-Perience
Standing at the crossroads at the top of Sally Gap allows an almost unrivalled view of the surrounding countryside. It was late January, and a particular cold spell had gripped the country. The roads up at this altitude were precarious enough, with snow decorating the edge of the road and some sly ice patches which…
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14 for ’14 – A Year In Review
When I sat down at roughly this time last year, to write my 2013 review, I had no idea of the changes that would unfold in 2014. That’s the nature of life I guess, but maybe it wasn’t something I was prepared for. When I established this business in 2010, I created a regimental routine, which I…
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Future Now – The Volkswagen XL1
Every now and again, a job pops up that you literally have no choice but to drop everything and go do it. When Volkswagen Ireland contacted me at short notice to ask me to come to Dublin for the day to shoot something ‘special’, my interest piqued. When I was told that they planned on…
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Daily Driver – My 2006 BMW 3 Series
Although I spend my time shooting cars, it’s a very rare thing that I get time to shoot my own car. Earlier this year, after months of planning & preparation, I was finally at a stage where I was happy to take the time out to shoot it. I’ve owned the car for three and a…
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Electric – The 2014 Volkswagen e-Golf
To most of my friends, the idea of an electric car is abhorrent. We get our kicks from the good ol’ fashioned internal combustion engine, whether piston or rotor powered, and powered by fossil fuels. It’s all we’ve ever known. I was the same until the very moment I released the brake on the new Volkswagen…
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Making Things Work – 2000 Honda S2000
Whilst I’ve been shooting a lot of manufacturer PR & commercial work as of late, I still get the biggest thrill whilst shooting editorial commissions. Because budgets are low, everything is nearly always shot in a run and gun sort of manner. It’s exciting though and ensures that no two shoots are alike. After being –…
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Sunshine in October – The 2014 Volkswagen Golf SV
Ireland is a funny place to live and work. Especially, if you work outside and depend on the weather. Generally, no weather forecast is ever accurate. I generally try to take a car for as long as possible for this very reason. I can usually get the shots I need inside a day, but with…
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Catching Up With Friends and a Mazda RX8
Every now and again, we need to set time aside to catch up with the good people in our lives. Similarly, we also need to set aside time to do what we love. The second of these can be especially tricky, if you happen to make a living from what you love doing… Waking up…
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Pure – The 2014 Toyota Yaris
Making a living as a car photographer is honestly not even half as glamorous as some would believe. Yes, there are amazing perks and if you happen to love cars, it never really feels like work. You get to drive a vast range of cars from complete opposite ends of the spectrum. On the other…
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Welcome to Quattro Country – The 2014 Audi S1 Quattro
At the time of writing, I’ve been working freelance longer this year than I had been as a contractor. It’s only a small amount of time, but I’ve learned that it has been important to enjoy every victory that comes my way. Other victories that I welcome are invoices that are paid on time and messages…
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Type R Déjà Vu
Although I’ve been shooting for quite a while, and I’ve certainly lost track of the amount of cars that I’ve been fortunate enough to shoot, I can’t remember shooting the same car twice. There’s a whole heap of situations where this could have occurred. For example if multiple publications wanted images or if the owner…
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This Time It’s War.
My relationship with drifting goes right back to the beginning of my photography career. I guess it would be pretty fair to say that if it wasn’t for drifting, I likely wouldn’t have had a lot of the opportunities I’ve had so far. Even in saying this, my love for the sport has waned progressively…
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S For Sublime – The 2014 Audi S3 Saloon
For years, it always pained me to read Irish road tests of cars on UK or non-Irish number plates. Often, the cars presented would be of different specification or even left hand drive. It’s a small thing but something that a plethora of manufacturers here are coming around to. One of those is Audi Ireland.…
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The 2014 Kia Soul
With the official launch of the 2014 Kia Soul having taken place earlier this week in Dublin, I can finally share some of the images from the shoot earlier this month. Working closely with Kia Motors Ireland has been great. They’re a company with energy, vibrance and they know what they want. These images were…
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The 2014 Kia Optima
Last month I was commissioned by Kia Motors Ireland to shoot some quick images for PR purposes of their new 2014 Kia Optima. The car was located in a dealership in Tipperary and I only had a couple of hours to get the images photographed. Thanks to modern technology, I was able to scout out…
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A New Direction & Meeting the 2014 Mercedes GLA
I’m sure some of you are aware, but I recently parted ways with Speedhunters. This isn’t a bad thing or indeed due to any sort of falling out, rather I believe it to be necessary to further my career. My time with Speedhunters was both happy and of huge benefit to myself but it has come…
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Irish Drifting – A Retrospective: Part One – 2004
March 5th, 2004. Not exactly a date that will go down in history, but it was a day that probably changed the course of my life forever. From the age of 13, I knew I wanted to be involved in motorsport in some way, shape or form. But from March 5th 2004, I knew exactly…
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Anne & Joe, December 2013
I’ve stood feet from death on many occasions at race circuits, but nothing scares me quite like shooting a wedding. Especially when said wedding is that of two close friends. The responsibility of shooting two people’s most important day is something that I’ll never take lightly. There are no reshoots, no second chances and no…
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Meeting Your Heroes – Robert Droogmans’ Ford RS200
What are your earliest memories? I’m not talking about your literal first memories here, but rather something that stayed with you throughout your life. Can you think of one? I can. I don’t know what age I was, but I remember sitting in front of the TV, watching a VHS of ’80s rallying whilst playing…
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The Best Camera Is The One You Have With You
How easy is it to become obsessed by camera gear? You buy one body and a lens. Then you start seeing other people getting great results with a different lens so you have to get one of those two. Who is that guy with two bodies? Better get in on some of that action. And…
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Playdat – A Players Datsun 520
Having worked with the Players team before, I’m always aware that when they build something, you’ll probably want to be top of the queue to shoot it. Their latest creation, a ’60s Datsun pickup truck is no exception. Whilst it may look rough around the edges, this is intentional. By combining its original patina with…
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Where Warriors Are Born
After I finished shooting Simon McKinley’s Escort MKII, and had experienced it from the passenger seat, I knew I had to find out where this power plant comes from. It didn’t take much effort to arrange a visit, a quick e-mail to Connaught Competition Engines and before I knew it, I was standing in their…
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Dangerous Games – An Airlifted E30 M3
I could count on one hand the amount of cars that I believe should never be touched or modified in anyway. The E30 M3 used to be one of them. Previously, I always thought it was perfect from the factory and any attempt to interfere with its natural state would be detrimental. Nick Singh Sahota,…
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When Your Dream Car Doesn’t Exist, Build It – A BMW M3 Touring
It was purely by accident that I stumbled upon Nick Pritchard at Players Shows, last year. I had been confined to the Speedhunters Hangar all day, shooting in a make-shift studio. As we wrapped things up, I popped out to take a quick look around as the cars were leaving when I spotted the familiar…
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Simon McKinley’s Warrior Powered Escort MKII
It must have been back in 2007, when I first saw Simon McKinley drive. It was the Saturday of a two day hill climb event, near my grandparents’ house in Co. Wexford. There were a lot of cars that day, certainly more than what would normally be expected navigating those roads on a Saturday afternoon,…
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That Time I Stumbled Upon A McLaren P1 At The Ring
It was back in August last year when I took a couple of days off from a hectic Speedhunting schedule to unwind and reset my brain. Since I was in the area, it would have been rude not to use the familiar surroundings of Nürburg village as my base for a few days… The Nürburgring…
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Two Weeks, Two Skodas.
As I alluded to in my recent 2013 round up, I’ve become determined to carry out more personal work in the coming months. When you’re working week in and week out photographing all sorts, you can easily go into autopilot mode, doing whatever it takes to get things done. This can lead to staleness in…
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2013 – A Year In Review
It’s been a funny sort of year two thousand and thirteen. My immediate thoughts on the year are not particularly positive, and when looking back through what I’ve shot, I should be feeling much happier. But I’m not. Instead, and like previous years, I’ve again come away feeling frustrated and knowing that I should have…
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Porsche Museum
With a day to spare on a recent European road trip, I couldn’t fight the urger to head south to Stuttgart and take in Porsche’s famous museum. Far more than just a typical automotive museum, the Porsche Museum is an attraction for both car fans and non-car fans alike. The first thing that greets you…
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F1 at Spa – Chasing the Dream
Ever since I first used a camera to photograph a moving car, I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life. When you dedicate yourself to an art, despite what some might say, you always set personal goals. Some big, some small, but for as long as I can remember I’ve…