We’re so excited to share that our in-house photographer, Ollie Read, has won Autosport National Picture of The Year.
The talented Ollie took his shot in tricky wet conditions at one of his favourite racing circuits in the world, Castle Combe in Wiltshire.
As N2O’s resident ‘sharp shooter’, Ollie travels all over the country to capture our experiential campaigns. But for the last 18 years, he’s also worked freelance for Autosport Magazine. So how did Ollie find his passion?
As an art student, Ollie taught himself to use film cameras to document his (rather large and difficult to transport) artworks. This sparked the beginning of his photography career after he decided to use the camera not just to capture his artworks, but to create art in its own right. After graduating, Ollie boarded a catamaran to the Caribbean island of Tortola, where in 3 months he used up 100 rolls of film – all paid for with a range of part-time and odd jobs.
On his return, Ollie could only afford to develop two rolls of film. He picked the right ones – Ollie knew he’d hit a home run when he discovered this stunning sunset shot on the second roll.
Just 2 weeks after Ollie’s return to the UK, he met a man who had just bought a Radical racing car. He was impressed with Ollie’s images, and the very next day they headed north so Ollie could photograph the driver’s first Radical race at Oulton Park in Cheshire. Photography AND car racing? Ollie was hooked.
At Ollie’s second Radical race, he managed to capture a stellar shot of a Radical car crashing in spectacular fashion (the driver was fine, BTW). He unknowingly risked life and limb to do so – moments after the crash, an entire wheel whizzed past, uncomfortably close to Ollie’s head.
Ollie took the prize photo to Autosport Magazine’s head office, who featured in it in their publication. Ollie has been a freelance contributor to Autosport magazine ever since.
Some of Ollie's other career highlights have included photographing four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, Olympic cycling champions Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, and other well known figures such as Rochelle Humes and Danny Dyer. He is also official photographer for 360 Racing.
