"More than you can afford pal"- The Supercars of London

While most students abroad tend to write about their experiences travelling, tasting new food, and photos of various landmarks/sights they encounter, I focused on something out of the norm during my semester abroad in London. Namely, the supercar culture of the city.

 Having watched many YouTube videos of self-made supercar celebrities and spotters who post multiple videos of million dollar supercars cruising through the streets of London, alongside keeping tabs on a few automotive photographers who take stunning shots of these expensive cars, I set foot in the city determined to capture as much supercars or rare vehicles within my 5 months in the city.

Each week provided a challenge to find the latest or most rare of exotics roaming the streets of London. Often, the best surprises I encountered were random spots out of nowhere: like going around the block only to come across one of the most exclusive cars in the world: a Koenigsegg One:1, just shipped into the UK and registered.

With each week I was out spotting for supercars in the affluent districts of London, I made a couple of new friends along the way: primarily fellow spotters based in London who were also in the quest to spot as much exclusive and rare machines on the English roads. In my opinion, I made more friends during my spotting adventures than in my classes, largely because it was easy to break the ice and the fact that cars were something that we all shared as a passion, and it made for easy conservation starters when we were exploring the city.

The thing that makes the supercar culture of London in my opinion, stand apart out of any scene, is the spontaneity of it. Case in point: the photos below and above were from my coverage of a 'Cars and Coffee' meetup of car enthusiasts at a detailing shop based right outside of the centre of London. The car on the left above, in the Batman livery, is owned by one of the featured drivers on the famous show 'Netflix: Fastest Car": who was starting her rally across Europe in the UK that weekend. Below, was the 'convoy' shot the famous owners/elite posed for with their cars before they cruised out the business park into Kensington and Knightsbridge that day. Every weekend in most part, it was not a question of "what do I find today?", but more of "what will I find today?"

All in all, it was both a life-changing and thrilling few months abroad getting to capture this impressive scene behind my camera, and meeting owners/fellow enthusiasts alike along the way. While I am mainly an automotive photographer/student who has a taste biased for imports/tuning culture, my months in London offered myself the opportunity to delve into the world of exotic supercar spotting, change up my content range, and get up close to a world I only knew through various YouTube videos. I may no longer be based in London, but I am eyeing for the next opportunity I get to travel to the city: to do it all over again.