Car Spotting - What is it & why is it a dirty term?!

Many have heard of the term "car spotting" but what is it?
It's spending numerous hours, pounding the streets of high class areas in cities, in search of supercars and hypercars. Both foreign and domestic.
In London's case, Knightsbridge and surrounding areas is where everyone goes.

There's negative connotations surrounding the term, and this can be due to disagreements between owners and said 'spotters'- a comment on social media that someone didn't appreciate, it can be due to someone getting snapped unwillingly, or just due to spotters standing in the middle of the road annoying drivers!

Now, I've been called a 'spotter' yet, I'm not. This isn't due to it being considered an insult or anything, but I don't have the dedication for it. Not like the real spotters do! These guys can walk around from morning till night, in search of something cool. Some travel from hundreds of miles away to visit London, just to do some spotting!
There's a type of hierarchy with all of it, you have the guys who have been doing this for a while and are fairly well known - even having their images published, there's people who have a good social network following due to it but aren't quite as known, and then it trickles down to those who just walk around taking photos/videos... just because.

After speaking to spotters, I've found out why these guys do it. The reasons vary from person to person. Ranging from just wanting to see these incredible vehicles in person, to practicing photography, to how it gives people something to do, all the way to how it's an escape for some people.
One real sad story I heard was how a boy, only around 11-12 years old, was being bullied at school "for running around after cars." He wanted to give up so the bullying would stop. This was really sad to hear. All he wanted to do was see these £250,000 plus cars out and about - yet he was bullied cause of it! I knew of a few people with cool cars who said they'd happily go down to the school in convoy to pick him up one day. Fortunately the bullying seemed to stop and he's still doing what he enjoys.

I love my automotive photography and yes I do walk around with the spotters occasionally, this is to practice my photography or just to go and say hi! But I don't deserve the title of spotter as I mentioned, these guys are just so dedicated to it. For as much as people will say it's pointless or a waste of time, some of these guys are making money from their images or videos! So it can't be that bad. Even those not making money from it, they're still getting to practice or better still, just doing what they love!

Enjoy what you love!

Skully x