Here it is ladies and gentlemen: the last #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER of the year twenty thirteen. This has been the first full year of the program and whilst it’s grown from strength to strength, we’re not complacent. Next year will see some big changes to the program, but you’ll have to wait for Bryn’s editorial at the start of next month to find out what exactly these are. Trust me, it’s bigger than you ever imagined…

(Above) Andrew Thompson kicks us off the last post of the year, with a rather simple but special shot of an S14A.  The colours are perfect, with the warm autumnal shades in the sunlight and the complimenting cooler tones in the shadows. The depth of field is shallow but retains enough depth to keep the car sharp whilst turning the background and foreground into a blur of beautiful colour.

Whilst the other entries embraced capturing the most amount of light available, Brent decided that would be far too easy. Instead, the only ambient light Brent captured was the glowing brake discs and a flaming exhaust.

Shooting into the sun has its challenges, none of which seem to deter Jeremy. Another image that plays up the blue/orange contrast with stellar results.

Taking advantage of the soft lighting after a recent downpour, Jet capitalised on everything that surrounded him. By getting low (we hope he didn’t get too wet), he was able to capture the reflection on the rain-soaked ground. Again, it’s a simple idea but brilliant in its execution.

I’m not sure if I’m in love more with the car or this sublime capture. It’s not just about those gorgeous reflections, showing off every line along the side of the car, but also controlled use of a circular polariser to give us a look inside the car and behind the wheel.

There’s quite a nice juxtaposition between the pitting car and the Mustang still attacking out on track. Paul Ricard is a beautiful race circuit and it’s captured exquisitely here. The low sun provides long shadows, with the pit building acting as one enormous reflector to ensure the near side of the cars stay illuminated.

It’s quite fitting that we get a rather orange submission from one of our readers in the Netherlands, but the picture was actually taken at the recent Thunderhill endurance race. Mathieu assures me that there is zero processing on this. He simply recognised what was happening as the cars passed a certain point on the circuit and waited for the opportunity to capture his reward. Natural light at its purest?

You’ll have noticed by now that a lot of these images are taken during the so-called ‘golden hour’. It’s for good reason as it provides the most flattering light for the reflective panels of a car whilst also making everything that little bit prettier. Quan would have missed this incredible flare if he hadn’t dropped his lens hood. Divine intervention from the photography gods? We would like to think so.

This is one of the purest captures of #JoyofMachine that I can remember coming across. The couple had just finished posing and taking pictures with the 300SL when Tim captured them walking away and reviewing the results of their impromptu photography session. It’s a beautiful moment that reminds us of the power that a beautiful car can have on us.

With the sun rapidly setting behind the tree line, Tomas just about got pulled over in time to capture the last of the golden light as it reflected off the side of the car. That little speck of flare on the front wing makes it for me.

I’m glad we seem to be enjoying a period of beautiful cars again and I’m even happier that there are capable photographers around to capture scenes like this. You can almost feel the sun’s heat on your skin and hear the V8 roar with the wind buffeting over the top of your head. It’s moments like this that we live for.

Exquisite capture of a moment most of us can only dream of. The sun setting with the open road before you. One of those rare times you just have to aim, click and let the world do the hard work for you.

This almost high key panning shot is an example of how to shoot into the sun whilst retaining the important details. The little pieces of rainbow coloured flare are a happy by-product

Finally, we’ve reached the end. It almost seems a fitting tribute to #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER for 2013. The sun is setting but our ride awaits. There’s plenty more to be done…

As my last story of the year too, I just want to say a massive thank you to each and every contributor, reader, commenter and friend. You’re the reason I get out of bed every morning and I’m forever indebted for your support and love.

Safe shooting and have a happy holidays and New Year.

Paddy McGrath
Twitter: @PaddyMcGrathSH
Instagram: speedhunters_paddy
paddy@speedhunters.com

#IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER

About #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER

We created #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER to allow you the opportunity to share your skills and car culture experiences from around the globe with the rest of the Speedhunters audience.

How do you get involved? It’s simple…

Flickr - Join our #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER Flickr Group and share your favourite photos with us and others.
Instagram – Follow us on Instagram at @TheSpeedhunters and tag your own car culture images with #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER
Twitter – Follow us on Twitter at @SPEEDHUNTERS and share your tweets with the #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER hashtag.
Tumblr – Visit our Tumblr page to view the latest #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER tagged images.
E-Mail – If you’ve been to a cool event and captured some amazing images, be sure to e-mail them to us on iamthespeedhunter@speedhunters.com and tell us a little bit about the event. The images need to be a minimum of 1920×1280 pixels.

Have you submitted already but not yet been featured? Here are some tips to help you…

DO – Tell us your name!
DO – Submit your best work, regardless of when it was taken
DO – Take your time shooting and consider each detail
DO – Try to submit each image no smaller than 1920PX wide
DON’T – Put a huge watermark on it. We’ll make sure you’re credited
DON’T – Send us huge image files that kill our e-mail system
DON’T – Send us scary ZIP or RAR files. We won’t open them