Those of you who’ve been paying attention this month will know that #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER has changed. What started out as a simple photo sharing project evolved into a beautiful insight to global car culture. The highest levels of photography were always demanded from the get go and it’s because of this that we’ve been forced to sit up and take notice of quite a few of you. Over the Christmas period, we got together behind the scenes to talk about the future of #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER and how we can take it to the next level. It’s good now, but we know it can be better.
If you’ve read Bryn’s editorial this month, you will know that #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER has now become a recruitment project. That is, we will use #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER to find new talent to add to the Speedhunters team. This isn’t an internship or unpaid position; this is a proper opportunity to become a Speedhunters contributor like Dino, Larry, Mike or any of the rest of us.
Think about that for a moment.
It’s a pretty damn big deal. So you’re going to have to forgive us, because we’re going to be ruthless throughout the recruitment process. Why? Because we demand the best of ourselves every day, and if you’re to join us, you will be dropped in at the deep end and expected to swim. We won’t be holding anyone’s hand. There’s plenty of opportunity here too, because we’re looking to create a global network of photographers who we can trust to get the job done.
For me, working at Speedhunters is the greatest job in the world, but only a fool would assume that greatest equals easiest. We work very, very hard to bring you what we do. There’s no such thing as a simple feature car or piece of event coverage for instance. Stories are often planned weeks and even months in advance. Before a single photograph is even taken, the essence of the story needs to be determined, a brief has to be drawn up, equipment has to be prepared, locations organised, travel arranged. Then after the shoot, you have to focus on image selection, post-production, resizing, adding watermarks, uploading and we haven’t even covered taking notes, interviewing owners and contributing to social media.
Any of you who are lucky enough to be chosen will be given a brief and expected to deliver everything that is asked of you, within a timeframe to boot.
If you can prove yourself with the tasks asked of you, you’ll then earn our trust and may subsequently receive another brief and another paid job.
But just like every one of us who works here, we all go out every day to fight for that next assignment. There are no certainties or guarantees in this industry. That’s just how it is.
Anyone can buy a camera, but not everyone has what it takes to become a professional photographer.
You need to be constantly striving to improve your skill set.
You need to go above and beyond what it takes to get the job done and never settle for something ‘that will do’.
So how are we going to choose? Well, we’re going to keep it simple.
At the start of every month from February onwards, we will have a theme announce like we’ve always had previously. It’s up to you to watch out for this announcement. Keep an eye on our Twitter feed – @Speedhunters – for an alert if you need to.
Read the announcement post. Then read it again. If you have any questions or doubts, ask them. There are no stupid questions, only stupid mistakes that come about from people not asking questions. You need to 100% understand what is being asked of you and then deliver it. The Dos and Don’ts at the bottom of each IATS post are there for a reason too…
We will review each submission independently and also compare it against your previous submissions to see if you’re delivering consistently good work. This process will continue time and time again with the traditional round-up of the best submissions revealed in a separate post at the end of each month. Getting picked as one of the best submissions is a good thing, but it’s also not a guarantee of anything. It all comes back to your ability to deliver worthy contributions to #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER, month in, month out.
As I’ve said previously, if you don’t make it into the monthly round-up, it’s not the end of the world. It also doesn’t mean that your chances of becoming a contributor have been negatively affected. You should however use it as an opportunity to motivate yourself into creating something even better for the next theme. Take a look at the pictures we’ve picked, use them as inspiration and show us your spirit and your determination. Show us that you’re willing to be the absolute best you can be.
This what it takes to be the Speedhunter.
Paddy McGrath
Twitter: @PaddyMcGrathSH
Instagram: speedhunters_paddy
paddy@speedhunters.com
The Inspiration Theme on Speedhunters
#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. Now, it’s your chance to prove you have what it takes to join us on our adventures.
How do you get involved? It’s simple…
E-mail – This is the most reliable method of contact. 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.
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.
All submitted images must be 1920PX by 1280PX before they are considered.
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
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
wheatgod I semi agree with your opinion
I go on car sites because I like cars. I go on speedhunters because the way the cars are photographed and presented is far superior to anything else I've ever seen. If I wanted to see a picture of a car I could just tap that into google images. But then speedhunters gives you not only a picture of a car, but the background behind the car, and that to me is more important than the picture itself. It's just and added bonus that we have the likes of Larry and Paddy (and the rest of the team) to bring us the best photos out,
wheatgod I semi agree as well.
The cars really are what take me beyond just the thumb tag on the first page, but there is something to be said about someone being able to snag that perfect shot during a meet with 100's of people walking by. Or using just the right natural or artificial light to accent a certain angle on the car. Or even taking the right picture to weave into a story.
At the same time, I think it really does detract from the image when someone sits in front of a computer and plays with filters and works overtly on the lighting and contrast. It makes the image feel doctored, and at that point, it feels like a render.
What keeps me coming back day after day are the stories. Now I am all for hyperbole and unique statements like "one of a kind", "passion", and all that other nonsense we like to blow out to inflate someone's ego, but the ones that really stick with me are stories about the journey towards the project/event, with well matched pictures. I think an applicable picture is worth much much more than a prettied up photo of an unrelated task. Talking about someone's life long dream of building xxx under a picture of the wheel is jarring to say the least.
I really do enjoy the content on here, and I enjoy the different personalities that interject from time to time, but I think the greatest sin of news is that they don't do real hard investigative stories (just find controversy), and likewise I think the greatest sin of automotive journalism is sticking strictly to the pictures. A picture may be worth a 1000 words, but if takes a real journalist to weave those 1000 words into relevance to really highlight a special project.
/rant
Good luck on your search guys, hope you find someone who will really contribute!
To the potential speedhunters out there...
http://tinyurl.com/mvazrfh
This site COULD grow if the staff realizes that photography is just half the equation.
The writing part, most of the time lacks TREMENDOUSLY! Not because there are mediocre journalists on staff, but the content, the technical aspects of the stories should be taken as SERIOUS as photography.
You guys (SH) should look into someone that can snap away as well as write informative articles, not just personal-opinion articles.
If you are happy where you are, you will only gather to a very specific demographic. If you want to reach out to a bigger audience, you may want to consider what I mentioned above.
LouisYio pretty much right? It's going to be a photographic bloodbath.
wheatgod Speedhunters does more then show you cars, they have a major influence on the industry because the cars they are showing are sometimes forgotten by it's readers. I personally love the Lancia Stratos but I haven't looked at a beautiful picture of one today. I also had to jog into my memory just now to think of an iconic car to use an example. That's the one for me, and sometimes it's nice to have a reminder of something like that. Speedhunters is that reminder for me from time to time I come on this site and I see a car like those KE70 corolla's just posted. I knew they looked pretty, and I was just staring at a KE30 corolla last weekend. But if it wasn't for that post, I wouldn't of looked at and admired that car today. I think Speedhunters goes a lot deeper then pictures and some posts.
If you don't mind me I need to go look at a picture of a beautiful Lancia Stratos now.
http://www.speedhunters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/SH-GFOSCDT-05.jpg
I'm going to hunt speed more then ever this year!!!
I'm scared to click on that link.
JDMized I agree 100%. The writing is vapid most of the time. Great photos but the stories usually are not worth the time. Want to see what good writing? Check out Petrolicious. Photography is great here but that is all.
I think that's a great point.
When you say informative articles, do you mean the likes of retrospectives (like some of John Brooks') or technical breakdowns of how things work / were put together?
Boy am I glad to be featured on the lead picture !
Terrific idea to involve the readers like this (that's an idea to keep in mind for future projects...haha), it looks like everybody is going to want to take part in this !
It sure is a good motivation to start shooting again, best of luck to anyone aiming for future IATSs
PaddyMcGrath #yolo
It's nothing bad.
PaddyMcGrath goatse
I can only assume if you've had a photo used, do not resubmit?
PaddyMcGrath I can't help but think if any of these "I have an idea" guys know the amount of work that goes into just producing the pictures, let alone the text. This isn't Racecar Engineering magazine afterall, which if you like that sort of thing will bury you in the minutia of technical details. To write such an article, to get the clearances from the various teams to get down and dirty as to the how's and why's of certain decisions is incredibly time consuming and that slows down content. I've never looked at Speedhunters as my one stop shop for teaching me how a widget works. There are other places for that. I think you guys do a good job of tossing in some tech stuff here and then to keep things mixed up. I have personally always looked at this site as a welcomed visual distraction to a day. To the say the site "could" grow I think insults the fact that the site has obviously grown tremendously from its inception, and it's done so at no cost to it's readers. When most magazines have come and gone, this site has remained, and it looks to me, with all the new staff and wider range of venues you have visited the budget provided has only expanded. I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement, there is. Primarily in the area of editing. Beyond that, I enjoy reading about how to shoot a car, how to frame a shot, even though I have nearly zero interest in going out and buying a camera. I find it interesting never-the-less, to learn how you guys do what you do and make it look so clean
@Mathew Dear - that painting of the p1 is just brilliant! any links to the painter's work?
Loic Kernen Man, your pic is fantastic, it really deserves the opening shot. *thumbs up*
azmedaj http://popbangcolour.com/
PaddyMcGrath I brought this up MANY times. You and your colleagues always brushed it off.
You guys take great pics, but, as for myself want to see technical, visceral content. Not just how cars are put together but WHY certain parts were chosen over others. What difficulties the owners found while building. I'd like to see the owner really showcase his/her inception.
I personally don't give a fuck whether a pink scheme works well with a given wheel set, that's just opinion....and unfortunately most of the articles I read on here are filled with opinion and a bunch of filler.
I don't mind reading, so long the articles are juicy. Get the owner's perspective, the in's and out's. Pro's and con's of parts. Do they work together? Do they clash? Tuning headaches? gas-choice, previous parts/cars that got ditched for something better/worse, future to-do list.
I can stay here and make a longer list, but you got the point.
Derelict JDMized Thanks for the heads up. I used to read MotoIQ all the time.....then I kinda got bored. Those guys are truly amazing and definitely know their stuff (they're all engineers after all)....but all the project cars are ALWAYS assembled with the same shit. KW dampers, White Line sway-bars, Volk/ Enkei wheels....the list is ALWAYS the same.
Sure those parts perform incredibly well for the money, they are awesome parts, but there are MANY other outstanding aftermarket parts out there that do a great job. So I'd like to see a review on other stuff.
They can't definitely please everyone, but for people like me, after a white it gets boring....and I leave (I'm sure there are other folks that left because their fixation with a given brand).
Oh well....
I submitted after Bryn's last article about who wants to be a Speedhunter. Should I submit again for the inspiration theme after this article because my submission was based on that theme already.. Thnx!
PaddyMcGrath Build details are always there (down at the bottom) but what is missing is passion in words. You guys obviously have a passion for cars in general and that shows in photography that is more than the usual en vogue angles. You show some of the bits and pieces that we want to see. What is missing though is a passion in the description of what is built. A PERFECT example is your "Irish Barn" story. Great photography as usual but how did you find this place? Why did you make the trip there? Why did the owner/ operator choose to work with that particular Toyota (one that being a British car guy, I just see as an old Corolla)? What about that POS looking Diahatsu "drift missile"? If he is obviously a fan of old Corollas, why not build one of those? You posit the question, "what about it?" but you NEVER answer it.
Honestly, you do not need any more great photographers. You have people who are sharing great images (like the above) already. What you should be doing is advertising a call out to the thousands of motorheads out there who dream of breaking into the literary automotive industry (magazines, etc...).
You might not 100% agree with me when I say this but photography can be picked up and taught. You need an eye for it yes, but many, many more people have an eye for photography than have a talent with the written word. Seriously, check out Petrolicious for some great examples. We all go to events in our spare time.
What your announcement should have been is: "Hey guys, you want to work with us? Well, we want to work with you but we have, you know, standards. So, here is what we want you to do. Visit an event in your area. It can be anything from a low key, relaxed Cars and Coffee all the way up to a motorsports exhibit somewhere. Pick four of your best photographs from said event and write a one page expose on it."
azmedaj PopBangColour is the name of the artist's website as far as I remember.
Peter_Laps Correct. We want to see you guys pushing to be the best.
Thanks Paddy!
I have sent a e-mail. I love the photography shown here. Very nice detailed work guys!
2xthefun wheatgod The Joy of Machine really got me more into cars. In the ends its man and machine becoming one trying to be the fastest, its something magical and knightly.
I'm in.
azmedaj Ian Cook is his name, POPBANGCOLOUR is his working name for the style of stuff he does there. Amazing talent.
Cheers for the selection again! Guess I'll be submitting every month then!
We are planning to bring in some new writers and increase the number of researched and insightful stories. As always you are on point Alex.
PaddyMcGrath is it ok to email a bunch of shots?
Thanks guys. That made my day
JDMized All feedback is genuinely valued, I think there's a place for all 'depths' of article. We've set ourselves out as a very broad church, which makes it difficult sometimes to weight the articles correctly, too long and detailed and people switch off, too short and bingo we've lost you as you can only skim. I love stories and the art of telling them, but some people just want to see pictures.
We're lucky that the figures show us how people interact and more importantly for how long, so we can see what captures people. Keep feeding back to us and we can keep making plans.
Diversity is the name of the game.
Covering the same events every years gets old after a while....
Ever considered offering constructive criticism? Like when seeing a photo saying here's what you could've done? Or would that just be too time consuming?
I think that all the guy's at speedhunters are doing a great job, I mean, they have progressed since I saw it the first time (not so long ago, maybe three years). Not only progressed in quantity, but in quality as well. And thats how I am more and more attached to this game of speed hunting. It's because I feel the same. Not only I feel the same about speedhunter's team feel's about cars that we all dream of, but I feel the same about the experiences that we, speed hunters, have while we're out and find that piece of machinery that quinch our souls... Weather it's a luxury vehicle, a modifeied build or a rally legend preserved to it's "out of factory" standards. It's in us to go were we go, just to see wheels spinning, mud flying and man conquering milestones. That curiosity that grows little butterflies in our stomach in the beginning of each one of our speedhuntings. We may never know how it will end, but one thing is for sure, we are all going to find ourselves in a quest for speed, over and over again...
Best regards to all, and happy speed hunting!!
i love that rolling shot by stas.
It has BEGUUUUUUNNN.
sorry I had to hehe
Thanks PaddyMcGrath that you have chosen so special shot with magic old school garage from my submission. When guys who are working with this Starlet KP61 project, saw that the picture was featured in #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER article, they were so excited that they will now work on this project with 200% power to make everything perfect. A pleasure to look when small thing like a picture energizes people to do big things. And of course big thanks to all Speedhunters crew for the opportunity that they give to us, to share car culture worldwide.
ooh how i wish for an indonesian speedhunter. The Speed Off-Road scenes here needs to be exposed to the world
NFNiTM PaddyMcGrath Quality > Quantity IMO. I'd rather see one epic shot than ten really good ones.
RensAdams There'll be another theme announce shortly
PaddyMcGrath NFNiTM I'll try give five epic shots, I like giving people choice.
Peter_Laps I think we prefer to offer advice in the form of positive re-enforcement. That is, by highlighting the good things people are doing rather than the bad. Some people don't take criticism very well either nor is it fair to publicly judge someone in that manner, IMO.
icalesonde As a fan of the different off road rallies in your area of the world (Rainforest Challenge, Borneo Safari, etc...), some hard core 4wd action would be sweet. Its a huge commitment for the press I would imagine though.
icalesonde check this "Kejurnas Speed Off Road Batulicin" coverage video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beVXZ6kHYDU
Thanks.
adhityaalie icalesonde udh nntn bro. what i meant was, to be exposed as in specifically, here, on Speedhunters.com. Truth be told in general, it has been done by the medias all over indo. That's the view of my point.
Derelict yes! and it has been a two decades (more or less) since the international rallying scene seemingly lost from indonesia.
Well I’ve just started in the photography scene and have
been using my 18-55mm kit lens and looking to take the jump into “Prime Lens”.
I currently have a Sony A57 and I have been looking at a
35mm f1.8 lens. Would anybody be able to provide any advice as to if this lens
would be good for the Geneva Motor Show? I want to get those pictures where the
background is blurred leaving the car in focus. But I’ve been having second
thoughts as my camera has a “crop sensor” and using this lens would be like
shooting through a 50mm lens?
Can anyone please give me any advice?! I’m hoping car people
would be able to offer better advice!
Thanks in advanced!
JDMized i agree 100% ... one should know there subject inside out (cars) what makes it stand out in a crowd . whats upgrades take is to a next level , why was it chosen , explanation of the job done to get that vehicle in the current state and finally 100% interaction with its owner giving u all the details on what was his mind set when taking on the project ... p.s if u dont know anything on the model that u are shooting do research on the base model so u can understand the the level of the build )
Another thing also should be ONE specific picture in an article of an enthusiast reaction showing the emotions of appreciating the build...... simply because when another person sees that reaction they tend to look more deeply and try to understand why that person's reaction was that way, from a simple smile to a huge look in disbelief can go a long way to the on looker ......
PaddyMcGrath Hey, did you guys make it out to KOH this year? Hoping for another batch of photos, and hopefully an article about this years event.
Nikhil_P I feel a bit stupid replying here, as I'm in no way a photographer, but I also purchased a 35mm prime lens for use on my crop sensor Canon 60D, as a 50mm lens was recommended to me by several people as a ideal starting point. So your choice of lens is good. However, after just a few hours at SEMA, I swapped back to my kit lens because of the crowds - because you have to stand further back for the prime, more people walk in front of you, so it becomes harder to get the shot. Worth bearing in mind...
Is this still a thing? Scanned the Twitter feed and haven't seen the challenges as mentioned above. Unless I missed it of course...
Hi im aged 13 i want to be a speedHunter wHen im grown up i just like cars and i always wanted to modify cars sucH as japanese cars subarus mitsubisHi nissan skyline gtr super cHarged engines and loads more i started getting into speedHunters wHen i saw need for speed 2015 on ps4 plus my dad likes cars aswell but not as mucH as me tHe first car i remember He Had was a black rally edition subaru wrx sti tHen e went to audi a8 mercedes c class bmw 335d bmw 535d and subaru wr1 subaru p1 bmw m3 e46 gold and more but i want to make my car a speedHunters mitsHibisHi drift car so i will aim for tHat and wHen im year ten i will pick grapics and art for my gcse so i can design cars and make my own prototype tHanks .
hey guys IS SPEEDHUNTERS ABOUT TAKIN PHOTOS LOL I THOUGHT U DRIVE OR STREET RACE AND DRIFT LIKE KEN BLOCK OR BLAH BLAH BLAH U GUYS GOT LOADS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS SUCH AS LARRY CHEN DINO CARBOLLA WHATEVES AND BLAH BLAH BLAH LOL! SP WHY DNT U MAKE A STORE IN THE UK LONDON PLUS IN WEMBLEY OR CENTRAL LONDON OR STONEBRIDE (thats where i live in lol!) ok so i hope u understood srry for the bad writing not bothered to edit it lel
SPEEDHUNTERS UNITED!!!
speedhunterzmad Aren't you a bit too young to decide on Speedhunters? I mean, you only got wind of them through NFS. That's a bit immature. On the subject on cars you like, you can't strive on mentioning the same usual set of cars over and over again. Variety is king in writing. The way I see it, Speedhunters perks don't include funding for a "mitsHibisHi drift car". All you can do is keep dreaming.
Love what you've guys have been doing for the car culture. I've grown up following y'all and you've all been a big influence on my life and the direction I've decided to go with my future career goals.
Ps. And merch, stickers, or shirts y'all wanna send my way that'd be cool as heck. Lol thanks for everything SH