So I was invited to shoot the official unveiling of McLaren Automotive's new concept turned road car the MP4-12C at their Technology Headquarters in Woking today. I have been here previously on a few occasions to shoot various F1 car launches and the aura generated within this complex is as powerful as it ever was. Ron Dennis is a man known for his meticulous, possibly fanatical, attention to detail. This is evident in every aspect of this complex. Dennis has designed a building with huge windows and white marble floors so that if there is any dirt, anywhere, it will be spotted and dealt with immediately by employees dressed head to foot in black t-shirts and slacks with non squeaky shoes to boot. They have translated the F1 ethos for car design to a road car. As for after sales service, well should you in the unlikely event break down, you push a button on your dashboard that sends an sms text explaining the diagnostic problem to a McLaren central server database. They then get straight back to you to tell you if it's safe to drive on. Not necessarily something Lewis and Jenson would expect from the pit lane during the Melbourne Grand Prix, but you get my drift. Given the pedigree of McLaren, I reckon these folks will build you as exquisite a sculpture of aerodynamic efficiency as is humanly possible. They are the sports car industry's version of Apple.
Dennis has focused his attention on producing a road car that can reach 0-200 mph in under ten seconds. Without crunching too many statistics and single piece carbon monocoqs, visually, it's simply beautiful. I am not a petrol head, but this is a marvellous looking car. All I had to do was photograph it.
McLaren managed to throw Jenson and Lewis into the mix, and even these two World Champions in their slightly ill fitting suits and overtly large watches, couldn't detract from this car's aesthetic appeal. All I really wanted was a clean shot of this pulchritudinous machine, which I would naturally expect to achieve. After all, having been invited along for the sole purpose of doing just that, it would be fair to assume that this was a no brainer. Well, never assume anything. There were over 200 journalists and guests and staff and car enthusiasts pretending to be journalists in attendance. And every one of them had a camera.
The first photo opportunity came when Lewis and Jenson were asked to unveil the car and stand next to it. Sitting on the floor to one side, the four of us (bona fide photographers) slid along the white pristine marble to get a better angle. Only for someone sitting behind me to lean forward and inform me that I was obstructing his camera's view. An android phone attached to a tripod. It didn't get any better. When we were given another opportunity to photograph the car, onto it's bonnet swarmed two dozen iphones. How did these people get in here? These ubiquitous shutterbugs manage to get accreditation or invitations or neither for everything, be it the World Indoor Artistic Gymnastics competition, Premiership Football matches or even England rugby training sessions at Pennyhill Park.
So, the four of us again, naturally, realized the only angle to shoot the car from was at the back of the room. It didn't work on a wide angle up close to it...you couldn't see the shape or structure or linear dynamics of the car. It would be like viewing the Mona Lisa through a magnifying glass........totally pointless.So we haggled and moaned and fought to get the picture we wanted minus the enthusiastic piston heads with their iphones in the corner of each frame. It was a struggle, but hey, we got there in the end. And what do I have to show for it? Well, a picture of a fast car that wasn't moving.
