Hugues Vanhoolandt, World Class Photographer

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

What can you say about Hugues Vanhoolandt, who almost every year travels the world, attending and reporting on almost every major classic car event in the UK, the U.S., and Europe?

Hugues Vanhoolandt is the invaluable, irreplaceable element that makes VeloceToday famous on a worldwide basis. From Retro in February to Stuttgart in March, Essen in April, the Mille Miglia in May, Ville d’Este in June, Chantilly and Goodwood FOS in July, Pebble Beach, Concorso, Laguna in August, the Goodwood Revival in September, to the Zoute GP in October, Hugues is non-stop before he finally he takes a break from November to January.

This is an incredible agenda, and makes Hugues, already one of the best motoring photographers in the world, one of the most experienced classic car event photographers. He knows his cars, he knows his cameras. Crowds seem to part before his lens; he is up before the sun to capture photos no one else could or would. He knows the best places from which to photograph moving cars and the time of day to be there. In California Hugues works with Brandes Elitch, in the U.K. he partners with Jonathan Sharp, at other locations, he works entirely alone where he comes and goes like the mists of his hometown track of Spa Francorchamps. His captions and identifications are always perfect and correct; he writes sparingly but accurately even though English is his second language. As Elitch notes, Hugues has well over a million images on file, and he is always willing to help others find a suitable photograph and contribute photos to a wide variety of authors for inclusion in their books. In another recent example, we needed a photo of the rear of the fabulous Alfa 8C 2900 Touring Berlinetta. We had side views, overhead views, front 3/4 shots, but nothing from the rear. A quick email to Hugues netted us 15 different images of the car’s svelte behind, a cornucopia of styling details.

Last week Brandes Elitch needed a few photos for his Pebble Beach remembrances; of course Hugues complied with a grouping of his own favorite images from his work at Pebble Beach from the years 2008-20019. Below, we present twenty of Vanhoolandt’s own favorites.