Brake out

In an unassuming Gloucestershire town, in an unassuming street, nestled among a cafe, charity shop, butcher, bank and frozen food store, a quiet revolution is taking place. Walking through the door at Clifton Cameras, you find a significant percentage of employees have taken out cash and taken up tools to purchase and convert vans to drive their adventures in photography.

‘The two biggest things in my life are photography and mountain biking. Both came to a stop during lockdown. I was furloughed, all university study was based from home. That’s where the idea blossomed. To be able to travel, ride and photograph while sticking to the Covid rules. The idea had been floating around for a while, lockdown was the ignition to get started,’ explains 23-year-old Alex McDowell, part-time sales assistant at Clifton Cameras and second-year photography student at Gloucester University. Alex sourced a van from the several dealerships he could walk to during lockdown, eventually settling on a 2011 Peugeot Vivaro 2900. After it was stripped, cleaned, insulated, sanded, fitted with electrics, roof vent, solar panel, windows, tiles, worktop, taps, cupboard, cabinets, bed, mattress and off-road tyres – after several months of graft, Alex was ready to go and he didn’t hold back, shooting a large portion of his 17,819km British coastline project in the van.

Despite travelling far, Alex has also been utilising the, he set out to document people living within a 30-mile radius – Freeminer, Field Sport Enthusiast, Allotment Owner and Horse Academy Rider. Following the Avedon pop-up studio technique, Alex hung a white backdrop from his van or nearby structure. Using a simple Speedlite flash and softbox set-up, he captured subjects on a large-format camera using black & white film. Energised by his successes, he’s about to add to his fleet. ‘I’m going to build another van, a small darkroom that can be driven around. I do a lot of Collodion-based practice, it will open up so many opportunities.’