Yesterday as a special treat a close friend of mine took me out Mercedes Benz world to go to a Piston Heads Sunday Service event.  This is where members of the Piston Heads forum just show up in their cars.  This covers everything from basic VW golfs all the way up to top end Lamborghinis, Ferraris and a McLaren.

There were several special cars including McLaren MP4-12C brought down from the factory by a man from MSO, or McLaren Special Operations.  Essentially a customising and tuning division of McLaren.  Kindly they let us ask lots of questions and even take a seat, in a car costing £170,000 before you tick any of the many options this one had, including many that are MSO options only (and so very expensive).

My other favourites where from well known Italian marque, Ferrari.  The fabled F40 and their current top sports car the 458 Itaila, with a 599 and a Dino also on display.  Never before have I been allowed so close to this legendary car, to be able to do so and see just what made this car what it is was a privilege.  No velvet rope here.

The day was a opportunity to get out in the fresh air with a camera for the first time since my brain injury at the start of October.  While a bit rusty at cars, and the sun dipping out which made things complex at times I came away with some nice images.

Backgrounds at these events will always prove to be difficult with people milling around, and not a lot you can do to hide bad backgrounds when using a wide angle.  The sun was also proving a problem when it did come out giving too much dynamic range, meaning some shots juts got given up on until it went away again!

Automotive photography has never been a strong point, and there are limits to what you can do at static shows, but it’s certainly something I’d like to try some more of.  Maybe I should get my ‘79 Mini Clubman estate finished off and get that out for some nice images, once I get my license back of course!

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