A CONVERsation with automotive photographer Amy heynes

STORY | MICHELE GRAAFF

PHOTOGRAPHY | AMY HEYNES & SIMON RAEBURN-WARD

British photographer Amy Heynes (neé Shore) is fumbling with the Instagram live settings, to share her newest acquisition: a thin, custom-made leather camera harness. Heynes banters to the camera, part mentor, part pal, extolling the slender buckles and straps, explaining the ease of quickly shifting camera from hip to face.

Equipment-wise, Heynes travels light, as any time traveler might. That is the lens we might use to admire her work, images that somehow radiate a sense of amber-trapped mystery beneath the vibrancy of a living moment. We might ask: “Is this today, or some forgotten yesteryear?” In captures of cars and their admirers, Heynes delivers an emotional authenticity rarely found in today’s automotive photography.

Classic cars were always a backdrop in Heynes’ life. Her dad had an early career working with the Lotus Formula 1 team, then later moved into classic car restoration. As a teen, Heynes received her first SLR camera from her parents. She began taking casual photos of the people and happenings in her daily life. Heynes graduated university as a metalsmithing artist. Yet photography had its grip, so she spent weekends as a freelancer, shooting weddings. There, she would begin to hone her trademark ethereal images.

In 2013, Amy Heynes was invited to take photos of a Ferrari P4 replica build. It would be her first automotive shoot, with limited equipment and few editing tools. She set about noticing the car’s symmetry, the way the light played along the Ferrari’s curves, and the energy of the space. Framed in hazy English garage light, the images went viral on social media. Shortly after, some of Heynes’ casual shots from a trip to the Goodwood Revival caught the eye of the historic event’s organizers. She was invited back – officially on the books – to shoot the 72nd Annual Member’s Meeting, an exclusive motorsports festival of vintage race cars.

A decade later, Heynes’ work has showcased the upper echelon of classic cars and the people who love them. Her photos delight with their patina of rekindled history. Assignments take her all over the world: the banks of Lake Como, the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, the Bonneville Salt Flats, and beyond. Along the way, she found herself a good bloke – the talented, classic Jaguar restorer, William Heynes.

I sat down with the photographer one Friday, she at her home in central England, and me in Seattle. She had just finished prepping for the next day’s photo shoot: a client’s Ferrari 250 GT LWB TDF Berlinetta Scaglietti. In navy blue, she noted, which would really glow in the forecasted UK rain. We shared a long chat, complete with her moggy, Moss the housecat (named after Stirling, of course), and her pup, Lottie. Heynes’ quick laughter and impressive knowledge of cars and motorcycles makes it easy to see why, when not behind her lens, she’s co-hosting The Driven Podcast. Our conversation meandered between her career inspirations to road trips to the shape of car culture for women – especially in the role of new mom. It was a proper pub natter, without the ale.

First off, you have a motorcycle in your kitchen! Is it being repaired?

No, I bought it to be a lounge bike! I’ve always thought I’d love to have a motorbike just to be in the lounge. And then one year I was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, looking through the window of an antique shop and there it was. It’s an old general post office motorcycle, bright red, a 1966 BSA Bantam. It’s got leg guards with the gold “GPO” and a tank number. It does run. But it’s quite scary to ride, actually, because it’s very, very light.

When I realized you also drive a Mini, I felt a kindred spirit. You took yours on an 1,800-mile, solo trip across the UK. From the magical shots on your website, it looked like an adventure.

My Mini, a 1985 Austin Mayfair, is called “Mayo,” short for mayonnaise because of the color. It was the first car I ever bought for myself. It’s got a great engine in it – I did a full rebuild. So, in 2015 I took that first solo Scottish road trip, to the Highlands. I think that was probably one of the happiest weeks of my life. Then, over COVID, I was kind of striving, having broken up with my ex-fiancé and needing to just go and get away. I didn’t know how long the pandemic would last for, so I decided to make my trip into an article, so I’d be working.

I drove the Mini from the most populated place in the UK, which is Islington, London, to the least populated place in the UK, the most northern point at the Shetland Islands in Scotland, then drove back again. What’s funny is that I met my now-husband about three weeks before I went. That was really nice. So yeah, as I left, he waved me off.

There’s often this pressure to take specific steps to be successful in life, so I was delighted to learn you didn’t go to school to be a photographer. You are self-taught. How did you learn to shoot cars, specifically?

To be honest, complete trial and error the majority of the time. When I first had the opportunity to start photographing cars, I was asked for examples of dynamic images. I said “Yeah, sure,” but I didn’t even know what they meant! So I googled and I realized it meant moving shots. I always thought this was just like a panning shot where you stand on the side of the road. I didn’t know that car-to-car tracking was a thing.

So, I made my parents help me. My dad’s got a classic Mini, as well. I said, “Right, Dad, you’ll drive the Mini. Mum, you drive the shoot car, and I’m just gonna hang out the boot.” The first time I ever did car-to-car tracking was with my parents!

I was around 23 then. By that point I had been taking pictures since I was 16. I had a better idea how a camera worked purely from years of terrible photographs and realizing why they weren’t good. But also figuring out why I liked the ones I liked. So, I would think to myself, “I need to make my shutter slower to be able to get that blur.” And then, “Okay, well, I guess I’ll make my F stop really high and balance the exposure. It’s not how I usually shoot but we’ll see how it goes.”

Once you get your head around the actual mechanics of a camera it kind of makes sense. It’s a bit like a car when you first start learning how to drive. You don’t understand what the hell a gearstick does, how the gearing or clutch work. But then quite quickly, it becomes second nature.

In a landscape of automotive photography, your style is unique. Where do you find inspiration?

I’ve always said that the way I want to shoot is as honestly as possible. A lot of my inspirations are photojournalists. Or war photographers. They didn’t have the opportunity to set up lighting and ask, “Oh, could you just do that again?” It was all in that moment of what was happening. That’s what I like about weddings, documenting the moment as it is.

I will watch certain films purely because they are visually beautiful pieces. And actual physical books of photography – that’s where I get a lot of my inspiration from. Car photography from period photographs is awesome, especially dynamic shots. What they created on actual camera film is insane. So, I think, “Well, if those guys could do it, then I definitely can with the technology that I’ve got.

You travel pretty light in terms of gear. How much are equipment choices key in creating your particular style?

Again, going from my inspirations, photographers from the ‘50s and ‘60s, into the ‘70s. The simplicity of gear is really important to me. That has been the way I have worked for a very long time. To basically be able to go to a job and say, “Oh no, I’ve only got this one rucksack and a couple of cameras, a couple lenses. I don’t need extra time, lighting, or anything like that. I’m good to go.

At the beginning, I didn’t want to be a bother to anybody at the shoot by having a lot of extra gear. It wasn’t a social anxiety, but like we were chatting earlier, as women we can tend toward people-pleasing at times. Then it changed into a love for this light weight style of working. Going back to the inspirations, it’s this honest, simple way.

So, what are the workhorses in your kit?

The majority of the time I have a harness with two Nikon cameras, each with a prime lens. When I do photography talks, I mention having limitations in the way that you work. It is the seed for creativity. Using just two lenses forces me to move more, to be involved more, to think more creatively about how I’m going to get the shot.

One lens is a 35 millimeter, which is kind of your eyesight; the other is an 85 mill, which is a bit zoomed in, for when I think, “That’s over there and I can’t get there quicker!” Or, it’s a shot that looks better with a longer lens. I’ve got a new, middle lens, a 50 millimeter 1.2. It takes beautiful, creamy portraits. The problem is I’ve used two lenses for 10 years, and now I’ve got this third. But, oh! It’s so nice! A good problem to have.

You’ve been a generous educator, as a Nikon ambassador, your website, and other engagements. What drives you to share your experiences?

I think the educational kind of vibe has come from a very early age. I knew my skill and my joy were in the creative areas. Art and media were my favorite subjects. But other than the famous artists we studied, I didn’t know anybody in the normal world doing a creative job. So, I thought that one of my only avenues would be to teach, and I’ve always enjoyed the idea.

Early on, I got a lot of Instagram messages asking for tips on this or that: how to get clients, how to get started, or asking for advice on their work. I was trying my hardest to reply to everyone. So, I asked social media to give me their questions then answered all of them in one big article on my website. I just quite enjoyed writing it and trying to explain all the things that I had learned up till that point. The article I wrote is the reason I ended up getting the Nikon ambassadorship. They liked that I wasn’t gatekeeping, was taking off my anorak to help other photographers. So far as I’m aware, sharing is not taking any jobs from me, but has given me a lot more back.

I think many photographers don’t share their knowledge and I can understand it to an extent. Some people will ask about my edits or presets, how to make their images look like mine. But those I keep to myself because it’s what makes my work unique. One of my inspirations is French photographer Laurent Nivalle. I wanted to be him! How do I edit like him? So, I’ve been in their position. But taking inspiration from other people along with my own creativity, ended up producing what is now my work. It doesn’t look like Nivalle’s work. It’s inspired by his work, but you can tell the difference. To this point, he actually said to me once, “If you copy somebody, you’re always going to be a step behind them.

Talking about unique vibes, the Goodwood events certainly have their own. What’s it like being there?

The thing that Goodwood does really well is that they don’t do anything unless they can be exceptional at it. Goodwood and the Duke of Richmond really take that seriously.

The Member’s Meeting was my first working event for Goodwood. I was like a child walking into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The evening on Saturday there’s a carnival with actors running around. An entire full-sized aircraft hangar is a food hall, with hundreds of old Edison light bulbs hung from the ceiling. A gorgeous orange glow casts over everybody. Big carts overflow with fruit and veg and flowers. People are dressed up, everything’s a theme. You feel like you’re walking onto a stage. Something like 20,000 daffodil bulbs are planted around the circuit, so in photographs you’ve got this yellow sea everywhere.

At Revival one year there was a full steam train just chuffing away – with actual steam! I got some wicked photos, with the low light coming up. You’ve got thousands of car events all over the UK and the reason Goodwood is one of the top is that level of absolute perfection.

Over your decade of doing this work, how have you seen car culture change?

The classic car world is a sliver to the whole of car culture. But look, for example, at the ‘90s car scene, and the ‘90s Japanese stuff, that’s coming in. I’m not a part of that but I love the youth who are. Youth! That’s funny to say. It’s nice to see because people often think classic cars are an old white man’s game. At the same time, the love of cars is there whether you’ve got a Ferrari that costs 20 million pounds or a Mini that cost 2,000. So, I do think it’s definitely be coming more inclusive.

People most often ask if the car world is sexist because it’s full of blokes. Up until recently, I would say it’s been a very ageist. Obviously, I have experienced sexism, but I’ve had a lot more ageism. As time goes on, I’ve noticed changes at, say, Goodwood events. There are a lot more mechanics in their twenties, finished with apprenticeships. You didn’t often used to see that. And there are more women, but that’s a slow burner. When I first started there were no other female car photographers. And now I work regularly with at least two just at the Goodwood events. It’s nice. It’s definitely a slow thing but we’re getting there..

You’ve photographed historic events in incredible places. I wonder what next epic things you might hope to be doing down the road?

This might be a boring answer: just the ability to continue doing this job would be my dream be cause I feel that I’ve had such an incredible previous 10 years. Every year I thought this is definitely the peak of my career, it will slow down, or go downhill. And I really appreciate every year where my career went up and up. Since COVID hit, I’ve definitely felt not as busy. But I’ve also appreciated that, too.

I want to continue my work while still being a mom to one or two. I don’t want to be a woman that has a family and falls off the face of the earth. It doesn’t mean that I don’t want to prioritize my family. But I don’t want to lose that sense of me, or my career. If that makes me a selfish mom…I don’t think it does make me a selfish mom, though.

Working women continue to shape the narrative of what it means to be both an individual and a mother. Like, “I may have an extra ruck sack now for my little one, but I’m here and my work is still as beautiful and perfect as it was before.” Right?

I want this to be a thing that I will probably talk about to an extent on social media, where the majority of my followers are blokes. Because that’s exactly what you’re saying. I want to try and break that cycle. Being freelance, I don’t get paid maternity leave, and I will still have jobs to travel to. So, I’m planning on bringing my mom to shoots with me in the first six months.

Your life’s work as a photographer will continue to evolve, even as your new work involves raising a little human. What would you tell aspiring photographers right now, about this journey?

I think that if anybody is really good at doing the job, they will find their space. Some ask if I think the car photography world is over saturated. I don’t think it is, to be honest. I think there are places everybody can fit. And if it does feel oversaturated – this might be a bit too harsh – I would say that your work’s not standing out. Think about the music industry. There’s a reason Billy Eilish became an absolute, almost overnight sensation that she has. There’s nobody that sounds like her up. Or Beyoncé. These people are spikes of talent in the music world. And I think, again, with the automotive photography industry you’ve got to find your own spike. I just happened to somehow manage to be a little spike. I may not continue to be a spike, but I’m really grateful for it all.

Heynes carving corners at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb astride a Pier City Custom 2020 BMW R18. Image by Simon Raeburn-Ward.