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About M and H PhotographyIn the beginning...
The car park was packed with every conceivable make of car and the Little Chef was heaving with
the oddest bunch of characters you'd ever wish to meet! I thrust my bulky road map under the nose
of a very harassed looking official, who grudgingly ringed a couple of spots for me In all honesty, I don't remember anything particularly exciting happening that night early in 1984, but something inside me clicked. I'm enjoying road rallies now, every bit as much as I did then. Photography was the only thing I left school with any interest in (well Wine Gums and breasts too, but I couldn't see a future in either of them)! So naturally I started photographing my local rallies. To begin with I simply sent sheets of contact proofs to unsuspecting organisers, not surprisingly nothing came of that! But some of the right people saw the shots, and before the year was out I was receiving invitations to photograph their events. Wracked with nerves and self-doubt I seem to remember being too! Bexley Light Car Club gave me my first stage rally at the wonderful Peters Pit and Tunbridge Wells Motor Club asked me along to their AutoCross Events. The chap who covered all the local road rallies gave in with barely a whimper and whatd'ya know, I was a motorsport photographer! Bollocks!
Despite never getting to grips with navigation, we did loads more in '85 and had a ball. Upgraded to a stage prepared Mk I RS2000 in '86 and had a bash at the Aylesbury Stages with the somewhat off-the-wall Jason Paulding sitting next to me, shouting a lot! Incidentally, despite completing the rally we only recieved one proof from the official photographer, wanker! That still pisses me off to this day!
At this point, I must thank Gordon who comes along to a lot of the road rallies and helps out with the photography, map reading, gravel kicking (whatever that is) etc. Guaranteed to be talking utter drivvel by the end of a long night. Adrian too, has lost many a weekend over the years. But since the arrival of Championship Manager, PLaystation and a girlfriend (not necessarily in that order, but I am close) he's been a bit of a stranger to the rally scene.
My thanks for your interest, and thanks especially to those of you who have ordered photographs over the years. I still get a thrill out of people wanting my shots. That never changes. Andy :o) |
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Back in the early eighties,
my friend Colin and I used to go to Brands Hatch for virtually every meeting of anything with four
wheels (I remember on one occasion being probably the only spectators at a test day. A test day for
Christ sakes!). When the racing season ceased for the winter, we watched rally cross for the first
time. Quite a spectacle it was in those days too. However, even the likes of Trevor Hopkins and
John Welch need a weekend off. It was one such weekend I was scanning the 'What's On' section of
Motoring News, and I noticed a rally called the 'Monte Minor' was starting at a Little Chef on
the A2 in North Kent.
The '84 Monte Minor has a lot to answer for. By the end of the year, I'd bought myself a
banana yellow MK II 1300 Escort. Bog standard and slow as shit! entered the southern tour
and an old school mate called Dave Randall on the Maps. We were utterly clueless and retired
early on in a state of confusion. Fortunately not before I'd become very excited at the sight
of my first ´Photo Board´. Got a bit carried away into a 90° left and made the
poor photographer take flight in a fit of panic. I've been paying for that one ever since!
The last rally I competed in was the '86 Preston Road Rally, only the greatest rally on earth!
Present day clerk of the course and living legend Adrian Gladwin was my navigator. From a start
number of 31 we were 5th at halfway and only an 11th hour, and extremely out of character, error
from Ade Dropped us to 13th. That still pisses me off too! But a corking night and an experience
you can still enjoy nowadays thanks to Adrian and his team at Chelmsford Motor Club.
