Australian motorsport and automotive photographer Curt Graham immersed himself in the world of fast cars (or slow cars doing their best) at a young age. As a teenager, he attended track days and meet-up events to marvel at everything from high-end drift cars to compact Japanese nuggets.
When recalling his early inspirations, Curt is grateful for his father’s influence over his passion for ‘cameras and cars’. His father purchased a Canon 550D that Curtis would constantly borrow and take with him on his adventures. Curt’s father also worked at a car dealership and would bring home the latest cars, including race-bred performance vehicles. Curt began taking the camera to automotive and race events and found a connection between these new hobbies. Before long, Curt started taking his camera everywhere, including live music acts he would attend with the Metal band he was in. During a trip to Japan, he discovered an incredible assortment of cars to photograph. With so much influence and exposure, it’s no wonder Curtis' paths converged to combine cars with cameras.
“My life is cars and cameras!”
I first met Curtis at a Fujifilm touch-and-try event at Ted’s Camera Store in Melbourne, Australia. He was rocking a beat-up yet clearly loved and fully-functional Fujifilm X-T body that looked like it had been repeatedly dropped down a flight of stairs. They build them tough at Fujifilm. Since that day, we have constantly bumped into each other at camera and photography events. Given Curt’s love of all things automotive, he is often distracted scanning Facebook Marketplace or excited by the prospect of picking up a new car or set of rims. He currently owns four cars. And that’s after he sold a bunch. His focus and passion for the automotive world are admirable, as is his love of photographing cars on and off the track.
As a self-taught photographer, Curt eagerly attended car meets and race events to hone his photography and composition skills, master his camera, and take photos of mad cars. He would also take his camera on overseas trips and use these travels to spot and capture amazing vehicles in the wild. Curt soon discovered that drivers and owners liked the results and began requesting photos of their cars at track days. He used these experiences to understand and master his craft and core camera settings to capture dynamic automotive images. While I don’t believe in fate, it’s fair to say that good fortune smiled upon Curtis after he completed a family portrait shoot. As it turned out, the family's mother was a publicist at GM (General Motors), and she encouraged Curt to shoot for the global automotive brand. It was the turning point his career needed as he realised his work was sought after and he could make money from it.
As it turns out, our co-hosts Denis Smith and Jason Lau were the perfect pair to include in our full interview with Curtis. Denis is renowned for his light painting prowess and loves the opportunity to light paint cars in whimsical yet compelling ways. Earlier in the year, Denis flew to Dubai for a Porsche Classic event where he worked long hours into the night to work his magic on a fleet of vehicles. As for Jason, one of his passions is photographing motorcycles, including his own custom Harley-Davidson. Jason’s captivating images celebrate classic, custom, and current-gen motorbikes and their riders. Both are past podcast guests. By the end of the episode, Curt, Jason, and Denis were discussing a potential collaboration. That’s what happens when you get such passionate and creative photographers together. I couldn’t be prouder. Once again, not fate, just good fortune. Also, a massive shout-out to Jason and Denis for their time on The Camera Life podcast.
You’d think admiring and photographing street and track cars as a profession would be enough. However, Curtis took his passion to the next level and invested time and resources in entering his cars for track days and events, including drifting and smaller vehicle class races. He recalls a mate encouraging him to tackle his first track day with his Mazda MX-5 and a new set of tyres. He loved the experience and was instantly hooked. His track days began as an experience to get the best lap times and hang out with mates. More recently, Curt has pushed himself to take on more competitive racing events, including endurance races. While he says the events are ‘grass roots’, he still loves the experience and has a lot of fun. Curt fits all of this into his life while working 9 to 5 in his IT day job.
Curt’s passion for the automotive world is evident and admirable. His images celebrate not only automotive design but also the people, community, and culture of ‘grass-roots’ motorsport. As a result of that focus, Curt is part of the team reviving and building Zen Garage. Zen Garage is a Sydney-based warehouse space that showcases and celebrates automotive culture and fandom. It’s a place for like-minded mates to meet and hang out.
“Founded in 2011 in a run-down warehouse space in Sydney’s inner west, Zen Garage opened its doors to a community passionate about automotive culture – but it’s not all just about cars. Zen’s aim is to explore and celebrate creativity and culture. Whether it’s found in cars, bikes, art, photography, music, skateboarding, or anything in which one can reach a moment of Zen. Whilst the word Zen might mean different things to different people, we’re pretty sure that everyone will have Zen Moments throughout their lifetime, whether it’s nailing the apex on the race track, passing that impossible level on that game you’re playing, or just having quality hangs with your mates. Those Zen moments are what we live for and it’s what we’re all about.”
It was an absolute pleasure hosting Curt on The Camera Life podcast and learning more about his journey as a visual creative and lover of automotive culture. If you’re unfamiliar with The Camera Life Podcast, be sure to take a look at our YouTube channel for the latest episodes and, of course, our back catalogue of weekly shows. Our shows are also available on popular audio podcast platforms. If you like what you see, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to The Camera Life, and click on the bell icon to receive notifications of upcoming shows. We host two shows weekly, the first being every Thursday at 9am AEDT (Australia), where we interview amazing guests. The second show, The Random Photography Show, airs every Monday at 7:30 pm AEDT. The Random Photography show is a little random, a little loose, and a lot of fun! Be sure to check them out.
Find Curt online:
