Travelling the world with the F1 and snapping some of the worlds most incredible automotive machines and their drivers? All in a days work for the incredible Lydia Harper!
Since first meeting Lydia when she photographed Camp VC back in 2018 (her first automotive event!) her career has taken gone from strength to strength and she is now sighted as one of the most sought after automotive photographers around.
We caught up with Lydia recently to chat to her about her experiences in the motorsport world and her brilliant female founded and female run creative agency Parc Fermé !
……And the best news?! Lydia is back at Camp VC for 2022 presenting talks about her work and how to get into the world of motorsport photography!
We still have a few tickets left for this years Camp VC before we sell out so jump on over to www.campvc.co.uk to snag one of the last remaining ones NOW! See ya there!
So let's start at the very beginning! How did you get into photography?
After university I set up a leather goods brand out in South Africa, I started shooting the products myself and then began to incorporate more lifestyle aspects, like the nearby landscapes and the craft and processes involved in the work. From there the passion for photography really took hold, and when I moved back to the UK I switched my focus from leatherwork to photography and started taking on brands and wedding clients.
How did you find your way into automotive photography?
I grew up around bikes with my dad and brothers riding, but other than messing around in the fields as kids, I never really gave it a go myself. When I heard about VC, I was super keen to get involved and naturally taking photos was my way in. Shooting at Camp VC in 2018 was actually one of the first automotive events I ever shot.
Have you always loved photographing motorcycles and cars?
To be honest no, I knew for a while that I wanted to do it but I was busy with other projects and never had much of an opportunity to add it to my portfolio. When Covid happened I was able to take a chance, and flip my business completely. I swapped the wedding industry that I no longer wanted to work in for the motorsport world, which was exciting and so wildly different to what I was used to.
How did you start working within F1?
I had been a fan of F1 for a few years but it’s not something that you can easily dip in and out of as a photographer. From my experience you need to give it everything, and be willing to sacrifice a lot to stand a chance of working in that world. I spent most of 2020 shooting at as many racing events as I could get access to, as well as establishing our lifestyle brand and creative work under Parc Fermé and using that as a way to interview and shoot with as many people in the industry as possible. I don’t come from this world and didn’t know a soul in racing before I started shooting it, so it took a lot of hard work and bit of networking to get a foot in the door.
What is the best thing about working in F1?
For me its just the sheer spectacle of it all, I find the sport fascinating so many ways. From the logistics of how it moves around the world, to the technical and psychological aspects of racing. There is a long standing perception of glamour that comes with it but there’s also a very humbling reality to all these normal and hardworking people making a career in such a demanding sport. It’s a privilege to capture that, I find it really moving and always get emotional in the final minutes before the race.
And the worst?
Formula 1 travels around the world to so many amazing locations, but when working you’re often too busy to actually experience them, and most waking hours are spent at the circuit. I wish there was just a little more time for that.
So come on…. Who’s your favourite F1 driver?
For what he has done for the sport and its future, Lewis Hamilton is a hero, but on race day I’m a Max Verstappen and Red Bull fan!
So tell us more about Parc Fermé!
Parc Fermé is a creative collective, founded by my sister and I. We set out to offer a unique approach to content creation in motorsport, by covering it from more of human and lifestyle angle. We offer photography and production services, we design merchandise and we also create interviews and written content on topics that interact with the sport, such as fashion, art, travel and design.
We’ve been lucky to build an awesome community of likeminded motorsport fans along the way and love that aspect of it. While we initially focused on F1, we’ve had the opportunity to learn about and cover so many other awesome racing series, so the content is a little more broad now!
What was the idea that made you start Parc Fermé?
My sister Alice and I are F1 fans and we always had these conversations about what we thought was missing, or how we would do things differently given the chance. Whether it was merchandise, photography or the way people were interviewed, we had all these ideas that we wanted to have a go at for ourselves. It felt more true to us to start our own thing than to try to get a job in a team or an existing organisation, so we did just that and ran with it!
What is it that draws you to storytelling with your photography work and work with Parc Fermé in particular?
Storytelling was part of my work from the beginning. Shooting my own brand and the story behind it easily transferred into my client work, from fashion projects to weddings and now through to motorsport. There is a narrative to pretty much everything and I think the way things are captured and curated is such a valuable tool in telling a story and having a lasting impact on the audience.
On the surface F1 can look like 20 drivers and 20 cars, but behind them is an entire team of people with fascinating jobs, insight and stories to tell, and that’s what we are pushing to capture with Parc Fermé.
Why do you feel it’s is important to tell the stories of the lesser known characters with in motorsports?
As a women in the space, I think its really important to send a message that motorsport is for everyone. There are so many unseen and unsung heroes in motorsport and in telling their stories we have the power to encourage and inspire a far more diverse and open future for the sport.
I love that Parc Fermé is female founded and run by an entirely female team (that’s very rare in motorsport!). Do you feel that there is something special about being able to talk about motorsport through your angle and lens as a woman within that world/ sport?
For sure, representation really matters and our experience as women in this space is pretty unique. Our has been almost entirely positive, but there have been challenges in getting here and getting taken seriously. We can really see that people appreciate and take inspiration from this being an all-female team, but without it feeling deliberately so or overly feminine. I’m happy to say that people in Parc Fermé are here because they’re the best and and not because they happen to be women or we have a quota to fill.
In terms of our content, its hard to pin down exactly what it is that we bring that is different as women, because the writing and photography isn’t necessarily informed by the fact we are female, but our life experiences certainly contribute to our work. I know in myself that I’ve noticed I shoot differently when I’m shooting in a big group of men, instead of fighting for the same spot and shot as them, I’ll often step back and shoot it differently. I shouldn’t need to do that at all, but I guess I have taught myself to look for different angles than theirs, and to turn the camera on someone or something else.
What’s next for Parc Fermé?
2022 is the year we want to really define what we are doing here and start making a bit more noise in the industry. We’ve just launched our first merchandise drop, which we’re stoked about. Most of the team are heading out for Monaco Grand Prix soon which is also exciting, but the plan is just to keep pushing forward and carving out our own path here!
Check out more of Lydias work and more about Parc Ferme HERE and those of you who are lucky enough to be coming to Camp VC the year are in for a treat as Lydia and her team will be onsite giving a talk about Lydias experiences as a motorsport photographer!
See ya there!