Ultimate Stance 2019

Published November 8th, 2019

Words and Photography: Michal Fidowicz 

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Ahh, Friday. Feels good doesn’t it?

You know what doesn’t feel good though? Turning up to Telford after a 4 hour drive to find that the organisers of the show have decided to close off the car park they’ve always previously left open for losers like me who turn up on the Saturday and leave their cars there over night. Shame that, as this area was undoubtedly the funnest part of the show at every single Ultimate show I’ve been to (this one was my 6th, or 7th now.) Hereis where last minute builds turn up, where people show off a car they’ve been building behind social media’s back and an area who’s attendance isn’t decided by anyone other than the persons who turn up. Boo to you for closing it off US. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps their insurance didn’t cover that part, or the venue owner didn’t want people there. If it was a management decision though then it was a pretty bad one, the show felt noticeably quieter and smaller this year on the outside.

Something else that doesn’t feel good is my hotel cancelling our room and relocating us to a hotel 15 minute drive away in a place that doesn’t have a properly functioning mini-cab service. 30 minute wait for a cab? Clearly I’m spoilt here in London.

It’s rare that I start an article off on a moaning note, however as a show goes I didn’t really leave the venue feeling inspired. In fact I left the show venue through a crowd of Police cars sitting awkwardly at either side of the gate. Car placement was terrible too, which is my excuse for not taking too many pictures. I physically cannot take a nice picture if the gap between the cars is not big enough to accommodate, say, a pram or someone in a wheelchair perhaps (I’m trying to make this less about myself here.)

With more that I learn about photography, and the more I grow my personal style I keep getting drawn to the conclusion that shooting at shows is something that I just don’t want to do. I’m never happy with the photos. There’s either someone awkwardly in the background, the lighting might be off, the general angle of the car is terrible or in the case of US the car is placed on a luminous neon orange carpet. I think my photography wants to be drawn more and more towards being arty and creative and away from crowded events like this.

Of course, I have absolutely no plans on stopping going to these – it’s just too easy to moan about it. At the end of the day seeing my friends that I don’t get to see very often is alone a reason enough to come along and be present. But I now find myself wanting to shoot these cars in a private location, outside of a busy environment of a show. Somewhere actually pretty.

I really don’t have much to say so I’ll let the photos roll. Check out this Nissan Bluebird though, probably my highlight from the outside this year. This car has always reminded me of an FSO Polonez, a Polish car I grew up around.

There was no way I wasn’t going to bring a car to any show this year. I managed to pull together my static 525d in time for the show and the polite security man on the door let me sneak it into the car park on Sunday. Thanks mate!

Towards the end of Sunday the lighting just got really, really good. I managed to grab a few photos before heading off inside to take some photos before I shot off home.

Kicking off the indoor bit with a car that I’ve already mentioned in my blogs before this year. Lewis’ 190E. With out a doubt my favourite 190E about, with a dream colour combo and some lovely interior touches.

Here is a good example of how cramped majority of the show was. Shame that this is the only angle I could grab of Shak’s new wheel set up!

Another car I grew up around. A Fiat 126p! My dad had 8 of these being used as delivery cars when he owned his own pizzeria in Poland in the 90s. He said you could fix majority of the stuff on it with a hammer. So, much like my previous BMWs then.

And well, that’s the end of that.

I’ll be honest, I’m excited to have a good few months off from going to car shows on a regular basis. Time to practice shooting cars to a higher standard and to plan the 2020 clothing drops, as it’s something I slacked with badly this year. The future is exciting!

See you soon, and thanks for reading.

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