At some point I went from being a guy who covers drift events and the occasional car on the side, to a guy that apparently only covers car shows. This is a little problematic because I always feel a bit out of place at car shows. Drift events are all about capturing that half a second in time that will never happen again. Car shows, on the other hand, seem as if they are frozen in time. Over the course of the show, the cars and the lighting rarely change (at least for the indoor portion) and if you can dodge the people walking into your shot, you have almost an eternity to get it right.
This seems ideal, but for a guy who has spent a lot of time shooting cars in motion, I sort of have no idea what I should be doing at car shows. But here I am, covering another car show… am I mad?
I’d say no, not really. A younger me would probably find things to complain about. That’s because if I know one thing about the car community and shows, it’s easier to be super critical of things instead of positive. Don’t believe me? Stand in one spot long enough (trying to figure out what to do) at a car meet or show and you’ll hear someone else complain about a car that isn’t theirs. It’s as if getting mad at someone else’s car somehow makes makes things better.
Vapid criticism is about the most annoying thing, especially when it’s inaccurate. Here’s an example: People complaining about Rocket Bunny. Look, it’s not my most favourite thing either, but using the term “Overfender Nationals” to describe things that aren’t SEMA is inaccurate and probably less funny and as played out as you might think Rocket Bunny actually is.
While I’m on the subject of people complaining about Rocket Bunny, maybe if we as a collective wouldn’t have made internet celebrities out of people who ran the kit, this pandem(ic) of overfenders wouldn’t exist (see what I did there). Essentially what I’m saying is we can’t create a monster and then cry when it steps on a few buildings.
Also, if you hate seeing cars with overfenders at car shows, then build a car without overfenders and put it in car shows. Be the change you want to see or something like that… I’m not trying to sell you on this “respect everything in the car world movement” but rather to be active in the scene.
That’s sort of the thing – there’s usually a valid reason or logical solution for most problems that arise in the car world. Overall, I really enjoyed the Driven Vancouver Aftermarket Autoshow and I’d be interested to see how other cities compare to ours in their tour. 
If you were to force me to come up with one real criticism of the show, I’d have to say that I wish there were more 1990-something Japanese cars entered and to be fair that isn’t a criticism of the show runners, but of the car owners who don’t register for car shows. And realistically, there were a lot in attendance but much like the Sugar Crisp Bear, “I can never get enough.”
