LIFE THROUGH A LENS: DEAN SMITH

The former evo staff photographer takes a look back over his career to date, and shares the stories behind some of his favourite images

Former evo staff photographer Dean Smith is responsible for some of the most memorable automotive photographs of the last decade. Here he explains how he developed his style and shares some of his favourite shots

‘I WAS NEVER INTO PHOTOGRAPHY WHEN I was growing up. In fact I’m pretty sure I didn’t pick up a camera until I was 21.’ Not words you’d expect to hear from one of the brightest talents on the automotive photography scene. But as you quickly come to learn, very little of Dean Smith’s career trajectory can be termed conventional.

‘I hated school. Left at 16. If I could have left earlier I would have! I didn’t go to college or uni. I ended up working in a glass factory. Then I did a two-year National Training Scheme with IBM as I had a vague interest in computers at school, but then the recession hit so the IBM thing went kaput. So I went back to the glass factory. Then Tesco, then a bike shop and then, eventually, what you could call a “proper” job in IT, working on the Government Gateway. Then I jacked that in to take photos full-time and then, just when I was thinking I’d have to go back to Tesco, I landed the staff job at evo…’

It’s fair to say that Dean’s work as staff photographer from 2011 until 2014 quickly came to transform the look of the magazine, his raw talent and tireless – if well cloaked – enthusiasm (more on which later) driving him to take ever-more extreme action images that brought the pages of evo to life.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Dean’s unconventional path is that he is entirely self-taught, the young Smith cutting his teeth not by pointing his camera at cars, but by pointing a borrowed camera at his mates on their BMXS.

‘I raced mountain bikes cross-country when I was 14,’ he explains. ‘I did pretty well, but the bits I loved were the jumps and crazy stuff rather than the cross-country bit, so I stopped doing it after a few years and started riding a BMX at our local skate park instead.

‘There wasn’t much that was great about growing up in Winchester, but what we did

have was a genuinely world-class set of dirt jumps. Along with my mates I spent every waking minute down there, building and digging and riding. People would travel from the States to come to our trails, so occasionally we’d get some mega riders there, plus a few good local guys. It was around this time I started taking photos of them, really just for my own amusement, using a borrowed camera and some borrowed flashes.

‘I had absolutely no plan for photography to be my career, because I didn’t think I was good enough. I have an obsessive drive to get better at things, so as my interest in cars grew I progressed from the bike stuff to shooting friends’ cars as well – often night shoots as I’d literally be doing my day job all day – and then posting the images on forums for feedback. Not because my objective was to be a car photographer, but because I just loved doing it.

‘My first paid work was for James Baggott, who published some trade magazines for car dealership networks. I was still working in IT at the time. Then Autocar got in touch and tried me out on a few shoots. By this time I was an avid evo reader, so I got in touch with them, but I kind of got brushed-off, which was fine because in truth I wasn’t good enough.

‘I took the plunge to go freelance in late 2010. The way I jacked-in my IT job was possibly a bit impulsive. To be honest, within six months I thought it was a massive mistake. I’d done a trial shoot for the staff photographer’s job at evo, but it didn’t lead to anything. At least not immediately, but then months later Paul Lang [evo’s then art director] called me to say they’d been let down by a freelancer and asked if I could do a last-minute job that weekend shooting Darren Turner at Silverstone. I’d never shot anyone before, but obviously I couldn’t turn it down. I’m bloody glad I didn’t…’

Since then Dean has become that rarest of automotive photographers: one who takes the most natural, intuitive shots, yet relishes the opportunities new technology brings.

‘I’ve never shot film,’ he confesses. ‘I’ve never even touched film. Digital was my way in. Since then I’ve enjoyed the rapid advancements in technology. The new Sony cameras have been the big leap, but so much has come in recent years.

‘I just want to experiment and keep things fresh, so people wonder how I achieved an image. For example, I’m now attaching lights to drones and lighting cars from above. It’s ridiculous when you think about it. If ten years ago someone said I’d be doing this kind of stuff I’d have said they were mad.’

I distinctly recall working with Dean when he started using a zoom lens to do car-to-car

shots. I’d never seen a photographer use a big lens rather than a wide-angle to do tracking shots, so to be honest I thought we’d probably have to do them again. How wrong was I…

‘Hah! There’s a reason no one does it. It’s because it’s f ***** g hard. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t think I copied it. I was just trying to do it a different way to add more “everything” to it: car bigger, and bigger in the frame, more blur, more… just seeing how crazy you can make it look. For me regular tracking shots look so boring, and I hate the distortion you get from going too wide with shots. I was looking for something fresh.’

Finding new and exciting ways to shoot may be one of Smith’s primary motivations, but the jobs that excite him are very much rooted in the finest traditions of motoring magazines: the road trips.

‘Before I ever worked for a car magazine I always said my dream shoot would be an F40 in the Alps. Even now, having been fortunate enough to do just that with Henry Catchpole some years ago, if I could have just one more shoot – kind of a last meal, if you like – it would be the Alps, in the sunshine with an F40 and someone who can pedal it.

‘I think that’s one of the things I miss about working full-time at evo. When you’re freelance you have to be efficient if you’re to enjoy the benefit of being your own boss. When you’re a magazine staffer you get worked to death, but the pay-off is countless opportunities to go on big, time-consuming trips to shoot really cool cars in really cool places. That’s what I wanted – and what I got – from my time at evo .Itwas an incredible period.’

Aside from an extensive repertoire of hilarious but entirely inappropriate mum jokes, Smith is also known – fondly, I should say – for his relentlessly downbeat outlook. Eeyore on a bad day has nothing on Deano. Which is odd as he’s blessed with so much natural talent he makes shooting exceptional images look effortless. As is often the case, things are not as easy as they seem.

‘I always really struggle with anxiety before a job,’ he explains. ‘I can’t relax until the shoot’s done. Doesn’t matter what it is. If I get more than three hours’ sleep on the eve of the job that’s a good night for me.’

Learning that Smith suffers for his art is distressing – I’ve worked with him for years, but never knew of his pre-shoot fears until interviewing him for this story – but it’s further proof of his determination to always come back with great images.

‘Taking the shots I’ve picked to accompany this story is all I ever wanted to do. Still is, truth be told. Road trips, crazy sideways action, technically challenging night shoots. Doing really amazing jobs with great human beings. It’s the dream, isn’t it?’