You may have noticed that we've been adding new features and media partners to Speedhunters for the past few months. I'm quite pleased that the site has been continuing to evolve, but in all honesty, the overall look of Speedhunters is getting a bit long in the tooth these days.

We've been needing to rework the website's design for some time now, and FINALLY have started to develop some new GFX to update the styles. At the start of this design process, we investigated whether or not it
made sense to come up with a radically different layout for the home
page. Should we make the site more a magazine format? Is it more
important to access more stories on the front page and reduce
the size and number of displayed photos?

I pondered this for a little while, but came to the conclusion that it doesn't make sense to move away from the visually lead format of Speedhunters. We are after all, primarily a photography website. This is a core axiom of the Speedhunters project: the most important element on this web page are the photos, so all design elements needs to prioritize the pictures front and center.

And it's this realization that informs our July theme: Photography Month. We're going to look at the art of automotive photography as an end unto itself.

Each of us will be looking back at some of our favourite personal photos and will attempt to articulate our own approach to the art form.

We're also planning to try and give some advice about developing one's career as a professional creative.

Our July event coverage will also be more focused into an art attack direction too. Watch out for many "art of" galleries this month.

July will also see us open up Speedhunters to showcase the work of different photographer colleagues and friends. Check the shot from one of John Brooks' collaborators, Rick Dole. The full story will be posted up shortly.

BTW if you are a professional, semi-pro or amateur automotive photographer and you want to try and get a selection of your work posted on Speedhunters this month, please drop us a line using our email form. Send along with some links to your portfolio and we'll have look. Our fav galleries will be featured on the site.

We'll be kicking off our event coverage this month with in-depth reporting from the FIA GT1 and GT3 championships from Paul Ricard circuit in France. Will Roegge, myself, Paddy McGrath and Jonathan Moore are on site to kick off our coverage starting tomorrow.

Paul Ricard is one of the most visually striking circuits in the world and I'm sure we'll be able to produce some amazing shots for you!

Also this weekend Mike Garrett and Linhbergh Nguyen will be heading out into the California desert to shoot the most influential of drift culture events: The All Star Bash.

They'll be braving dehydration and sunburn in order to document the day's action.

Team NFS driver, Matt Powers is planning to participate in the on-track action too. It will be cool to see Matt getting back to his drift roots at ASB 2010.

On the other side of the planet, our own Ross I'anson will be on deck at the Nissan test center in Newcastle, UK for round four of the JDM Allstars drift series. The JDM crew have a great talent for finding amazing locations to run their events, and the NIssan center will likely top them all.

Wow, it seems like the big events this month are all this weekend!…

No July would be complete without some stories direct from the Goodwood Festival of Speed…

… And we'll be entrusting John Brooks to fill us in on the what goes down on Lord March's estate this year. Go John!

As always, this is just the tip of the iceberg for our month story features, but you just have to keep coming back to get the full picture!

Talk to you tomorrow from Paul Ricard…. Art Attack Mode ENGAGED!

:Rod