hugues vanhoolandt

This week we focus on two of outstanding photographers, Jonathan Sharp and Hugues Vanhoolandt. We present two events, the London Concours, reported by der Englander Sharp and the Le Mans Classic by Hugues, who lives in Belgium. But first, we’d like to tell you a bit about how tough it is to be a race photographer in this day and age, and how much we appreciate their work.

For ten years in the analog era, your Editor and his photographer wife covered races and events for a variety of print magazines. We’ve been around the bend at LimeRock, slept in the Bog at the Glen, rode in Bugattis at Pittsburgh, beat the heat at Sebring, froze at Pocono, eaten by insects at Summit Point, morose at Moroso, cultured at Cavallino and chased by bears in New York. So we have some idea of what is involved in covering events for motoring magazines; bad accommodations if any, no food, no chairs, no shade, no money, no glory, no guarantees the photos or story will be published, and editors who would inevitably use the wrong photos. It is hard, tough work with a lot of competition. We retired from such strenuous activities long ago.

It rains in England. Best not to be afraid of a bit of water. At last year’s Silverstone Classic, says Sharp, “By the time I had got back to my hotel I smelt like a wet dog and had run out of dry clothes.” Photo by Jonathan Sharp

So what makes our guys tick? Jonathan Sharp has been taking professional quality photos since 2008 and has contributed to VeloceToday since 2012. “I have always had a love of cars and old aeroplanes but my passion for about the last 20 years has been in making the image, not just a snap of the vehicle/plane, but the overall image background, heads not chopped of, that sort of thing, and, as it is my passion, which has to be followed, and if that means traveling then so be it.

“I love trying to be creative and being around the stuff that interests me. What do I hate? Not being taken seriously. Anybody can take a snap; an image is harder, oh and camera phones, or rather arms holding camera phones that suddenly loom into the frame just as I am about to press the shutter.”

Vanhoolandt’s answer was a different dream. His first event with a camera was the 1991 Spa Ferrari Days. He’s been with VeloceToday since 2007. “To have the opportunity to go to places that have made me dream since my youth, like Le Mans, Monaco, Laguna Seca, enrich my photo collection, the pleasure of traveling to beautiful countries like Italy and California.

“Asking for accreditation is sometimes annoying and to make a good report, you have to be there early, leave late and walk a lot!”

Have you ever tried focusing a digital camera at night? A Ferrari at this year’s Le Mans Classic by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

Our photographers and reporters go to great lengths and physical discomfort to bring you superb texts and photos from events we can’t attend, for one reason or another. They do so without complaint, with speed and efficiency, and a remarkable degree of accuracy given the thousands upon thousands of cars and owners they have correctly identified over the years. They also require, and obtain, press credentials so that they can go where few others dare, in order to get the best shot. Obtaining press credentials, btw, is not easy.

Sharp reminds us that nowadays you need public liability insurance to go track side, usually a minimum £5 Million, sometimes £10 million of cover. “Oh and eyes in the back of your head would help, especially in assembly areas as you could be trying to photograph something at one end when something of equal importance arrives at the other end and you want to get a shot of it/them before it gets parked up, or they get surrounded by lots of people. My step count goes up on event days.” Hugues, for whom English is a second language, says that it is often difficult to write a good story in English, something shared with our Italian friends such as Roberto Motta and Alessandro Gerelli who have also done so much for us in the past.

And today, getting to events is tougher than ever. There has been a pandemic, and events tend to be super spreaders, while many events were suddenly canceled. Post pandemic our intrepid correspondents face hyperinflation, travel disruptions, and now, an unprecedented heat wave.

Yet they still go, and return, and process their photos, and send them to us in a timely fashion. We cannot thank them enough. We hope our readers appreciate their efforts, for we would all be poorer without them and I daresay VeloceToday would not exist.