Veteran Cars, Veteran Mistakes: My L2BVCR2025 Photography Lighting Adventures In London On The Mall – Part 1
I’ve photographed the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run four times over the past decade, which is long enough to realise two things:
- These cars are older than my grandparents’ grandparents.
- Every year, I find a new way to make my life more complicated with gear.
Out of all the spots I’ve tried, The Mall has become my personal favourite. Why? Well, where else can you watch 120-year-old cars rattle past Buckingham Palace on what is essentially a giant red carpet? Yes, the road is actually red — it’s as if the organisers thought, “If it’s good enough for royalty, it’s good enough for cars that require hand-cranking and prayers to start.”
The Mall also has the advantage of being wider than most London roads. More width = more ambient light = fewer excuses for blurry shots. The only catch? At 7am on a cold November morning, the “ambient light” is basically the same brightness as the inside of a teapot. Which is why I learned (the hard way) that some flash is essential.
Now, flash is both friend and foe. Lugging heavy strobes around at sunrise isn’t glamorous — you start to wonder if carrying a horse-drawn carriage might actually be easier. Over the years, I’ve tinkered with setups, and in 2024 I settled on a Godox AD100 with a MagMod Magbeam. This combo, plus a Phottix Padat 200 stand, gave me decent results… after I stopped missing cars while fiddling with positioning. (Pro tip: don’t arrive late. Old cars don’t wait for your light stand struggles.)
For 2025, I’m taking things up a notch — three Godox AD100s, reflectors galore, and a cunning plan to turn London’s lampposts into light stands with magnetic bases. Yes, I tested this on my street. Yes, the neighbours think I’m eccentric. But it works, and I’ll take “odd bloke with flashes stuck to lampposts” over “photographer with unusable shots.”
Now, let’s talk about car speeds. These beauties don’t exactly scream down The Mall like F1 cars — unless by “scream” you mean their engines actually screaming in protest. Still, their speeds vary, and here’s my quick guide to shutter speeds:
- 10 mph → 1/500 s
- 15 mph → 1/640 s
- 20 mph → 1/800 s
- 25 mph → 1/1000 s
- 30 mph → 1/1250 s
- 35 mph → 1/1600 s
- 40 mph → 1/2000 s
(If anyone spots one doing 40 mph, please check if it’s secretly running on jet fuel.)
With ISO hovering between 600–1000 depending on light levels, I’ve found High-Speed Sync (HSS) is my go-to. Hypersync has its uses, but HSS with Godox plus Magnum reflectors keeps things tidy, avoids ugly banding, and makes me look like I almost know what I’m doing.
As long as you keep flash-to-subject under 30 feet, ISO at 600, and shutter between 1/800 and 1/1000, a Godox AD100 pumping out around 1/8 to 1/4 power does the job. For 2025, my cunning plan is three flashes: two at the sides, one from above (for that divine “god ray” look), and one behind me on a lamppost to fill things in. It’s basically a lighting rig fit for a Hollywood premiere — except instead of celebrities, it’s cars that still think petrol costs thruppence a gallon.
I’ll write a Part 2 after the event, with images, tales of what worked, and probably a list of what went hilariously wrong. Until then, feel free to ask me questions — preferably about photography, not why my neighbours think I’m turning the street into a science experiment.
