Artisan Ape began last year because Peter and I were fed up.
Fed up that some of the nicest builds never got their time in the spotlight.
Fed up that the ones that did, were slapped together for IG likes and followers, and…
Fed up that this meant that both up-and-coming and established photographers would feed this shit behaviour by only going for those that would provide them exposure.
It’s ironic then, that the only reason we have this photoshoot, is because I saw a picture of Harry’s car with a hard IG caption to accompany.
All conversations during shoots revolve around the build, and frequently turn to the story behind the blog. Peter is the genius behind the lens, I’m the loud talker who preaches why “Artisan Ape is on a mission to RIGHT THE WRONGS”.
On this occasion, every few minutes, I’d say something where Harry would reply along the lines of, “eh, whatever people want to do hey?”, never seeming too bothered or concerned about my hypothesis of a supposedly broken tuner community.
He had a point. For those in frequent chats with Peter and I, it’s no secret that this blog began with a specific agenda and a point to prove.
Maybe it was lockdown, perhaps it was the societal issues we’ve had through the past couple of years coming to a head, most likely it was just Harry being a cool guy, but our conversation left me feeling much less prickly about all the things I didn’t enjoy about our scene here in Sydney.
He explained that the car was purchased off a good friend with K20 already installed, and to use a metaphor we developed together, “it was a bodybuilder on junk food with some broken ankles”. He was supposed to do some performance driving alongside a prolonged restoration process, but then lockdown happened.
By the end of our hibernation the car was essentially complete in his eyes, and at the time of the shoot, the car hadn’t been out on track.
“I’ve got a track day end of year, keen to see how it goes” he told me under the evening sun at SMP, neither committing or refraining from a bigger participation from grassroots motorsports.
I can already hear the track fiends crying out, “that car is built for track, it has as K20, what a great chassis and build package… such a potential waste”. It’s one of those things when you affiliate with a subculture, always easy to fixate on what would be right in your eyes.
Nothing wrong with that of course, affiliation and association gives you a sense of direction, purpose and motivation. However, it’s a double-edged sword, as you begin listening to what others would deem correct, people start to make decisions for you and your choices can quickly become clouded with skewed perspectives.
Speaking with Harry was a great way to get this blog up again, because he doesn’t actually give a fuck about what you think, sincerely. He’ll listen to what you have to say, the advice of the internet, whatever inspires him on social media. Then, he makes a decision that’s his own, and doesn’t rag on about the choice that he didn’t make, to prop up the one he did.
No long-winded explanations about why he hasn’t been on the track with this EG, no justifications about the types of parts he used or attempts to be righteous about how he spent his money, just “I liked it” and “it looks good, so I did it”.
It felt refreshing, and definitely gave me a sense of humility as we begin to shoot our friends and their rides again.
The only thing that is really correct, is a decision that you’re happy with. You do you, and you’ll do good.