Talking with Steve McCann

I decided to e-mail the staff at Fast Car on the off chance that maybe one of them would be able to help improve my work or maybe even answer a few questions for me to help with the magazine. As it turned out it was Steve McCann the Photographer that e-mailed back. I started talking to him asking him for advise on my project and so he had a look and here are a few pointers I got from him:-

-'possibly show the Fast Show from a different angle' I decided to go from the campers point of view, I chose to go and write about my own experiences camping, this would be different angle as usually you would see someone writing that has maybe stayed the night in a hotel or perhaps has gone to so many shows that to them the show is just the same as everything else. I believe I can bring a new point of view and a new excitement to the article showing that they are all different and they are not just places for people to race the strip and show off their hard work.

I was later talking to him about my own car and how with first time cars they are not necessarily the looks people go for as they cannot afford them but the convenience that maybe a car is already for them to have from parents or possibly they are just so cheap and ready to go that they cannot pass up the opportunity. To this he stated 'Forget power at your age concentrate on style, insurance is a nightmare' This is exactly what goes through the mind of many teenagers looking for a first time car, they either mix a little power with a little bit of looks or they go purely for looks and instantly spending the extra money on the modifications that they put on.

I later asked him to look through my blog and to tell me if there is anything that he believed could be changed so that it was not to restricting on who it would attract or that I would single out a few people from the rest, so he did and this is what he said: 'You need to change the words boy racer as it is a very negative description giving the perception that all young modifiers want to do is tear around the streets speeding and driving dangerously when the large majority actually are law abiding, careful and want to look after their cars and look cool'. 'The Euro/Dub scene has influenced the UK scene so much in recent years, especially with Fast Car, most of these dub guys barely go over 60mph to avoid stone chips and damaging wheels'.

Further into the conversation we got talking about his work, how he manages to think of all the ideas for the shoots and how he decides which shoots to do and which not to do, along with what his opinions are of how fun it is to do the job. The first he commented on was the opinion 'Even though I am in this game due to the love of photography and cars it does change when it becomes a profession'. I believe the quote speaks for itself.

Next he went on about the shoots and the jobs:

'Shoots take an average of 4-5 hours each'

'In terms of picking cars, I have contacts all over so I hear about fresh builds before most people'.

'When I hear of a car or spot one (I've even found cars on facebook) then I ask the appropriate mag if they want it'

'It's good that I'm left mainly to a free roll and the best themes come when I think of the title before hand and do the theme to suit'

'Before I shoot a car for Fast Car I look at the car, the owner, what he/she does for a living, even a surname could be a theme'

'Other people can give you initial ideas too'