The Quiet Side of Goodwood
Goodwood - a Mecca for car enthusiasts. The spectacle, the rawness, the overstimulation of automotive goodness everywhere you look. There is very little quiet about it. But what happens between those moments? The moments when the tyre smoke settles, the crowds disperse and a driver has that brief moment of stillness before the lights go green and they are hurtling up the hill at some unholy speed in a car derived from a time before health and safety was even considered.
Last year, I was lucky enough to attend both the Festival of Speed in July and the Revival in September. As a motoring fan, both events had been firmly on my bucket list for a very long time.
Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 and Brabham BT52, Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The Festival of Speed is an incredible event. Wherever you are, it feels as though every sense is being stimulated from every direction. One moment you’re watching a £20m McLaren F1 at full throttle up the hill, inches from the stone wall and a potentially very awkward phone call with the insurance company. The next, you’re rubbing shoulders with familiar faces - so much so that I almost tripped up both Haas F1 drivers at the time, Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman, within a matter of milliseconds. But that’s a story for another day.
The Revival feels different. More considered. More sophisticated, right down to the tweed jackets and flat caps. The senses are still being stimulated, but a McLaren hurtling up the hill is replaced by gentleman racers giving everything in absurdly expensive and rare cars, sliding through Woodcote. Everything is rooted in the period of motorsport it celebrates, spanning the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Spectators, stewards, staff and drivers dress accordingly, creating one of the most distinctive events on the motorsport calendar - and an absolute delight for both car enthusiasts and automotive photographers.
The vintage fairground at the Goodwood Revival.
A vintage Ferrari Formula 1 car being loaded onto a transporter at Goodwood.
Between the Moments
Paradoxically, my photography style both complements and goes against the intensity of these events. I’m instinctively drawn to the moments in between. The quieter glimpses that are easy to miss unless you’re paying attention and right in the middle of it all. I’m watching the action, but my lens is often fixed elsewhere. A driver’s race gloves resting against a wooden steering wheel. A strip of sunlight illuminating the front quarter of a yellow Singer. A race marshal standing on the Festival of Speed hill climb, looking towards the Goodwood sign for a split second. These are the moments I find myself looking for.
Breathing Room
I always try to introduce space into my photography. When I photograph cars, the car isn’t necessarily the entire subject. Often, it forms only part of the image. I think of this as breathing room - space that allows other elements to contribute to the story. I often work around a 35mm focal length because it gives me enough room to introduce those additional elements without the frame becoming overwhelming or busy. Negative space plays an equally important role. The main subject may occupy only a small part of the photograph, leaving the environment around it to carry atmosphere and emotion. It’s something I return to often in my automotive work - and, incidentally, something that translates particularly well when framed.
“I’m instinctively drawn to the moments
in between.”
Jaguar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
People as Storytellers
Rather than seeing events like Goodwood as an overcrowded nightmare where taking a clean photograph seems almost impossible without someone holding a glass of prosecco walking into frame, I try to use the crowds to my advantage. They create opportunities to photograph the smaller moments of human interaction surrounding these extraordinary machines. I love allowing people to walk through my frame. Sometimes they create a natural border around the car. Other times, the interaction itself becomes the photograph. People are some of the greatest storytellers. Someone naturally interacting with a scene I’m already observing - or simply two people interacting with one another - can introduce something to an image that the car alone cannot. Those fleeting, quieter moments are often what turn a good photograph into something more memorable.
“People are some of the greatest storytellers”
Tyre smoke and spectators at the Goodwood Festival of Speed start line.
A rainy moment at the Goodwood Revival.
Knowing Where to Look
The Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival are two of the most unique automotive events anywhere in the world. Both celebrate what makes automotive culture so compelling, but through two very different perspectives. For me, though, it’s the quieter and often overlooked moments that make them particularly special. Being able to capture those moments with a camera gives me far more satisfaction than simply photographing the cars themselves. I want to witness the stories these machines create. The human interactions around them. The craftsmanship woven into the smallest details. That’s why, for me, the crowds aren’t something to work around. They’re part of what can make an automotive photograph stand the test of time. It’s simply knowing where - and when - to look.
Photographed and written by Aaron Jordan at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, Goodwood, West Sussex.
Photography Note
All photographs in this Field Note were made by Aaron Jordan from real, observed moments. No scenes, subjects or environments have been generated.
Cameras used: Fujifilm X100V and Nikon F. Film: Kodak Gold.