your friend syd
Car Photo Art fuelled with fun

Your friend Syd – Car Photo Art fuelled with fun

Syd is Sydney Cummings – an editorial and commercial photographer based in the US we came across via Insta.

Although she graduated from the New England School of Photography only a few years ago, she is now building an ever-growing and enthusiastic fan base worldwide. Besides that she came up with another project called “one hell of a town”.

So, who is to blame for all that fun fuelled art and merchandising gems? It all started with an old Saab but led to a very special Porsche.

»I bought myself a 944 to start with. Now I can take it and do something fun with it.«
Hi Syd! What cars were driven in your family?

I am actually not from a car family. My dad was never into cars, and I didn’t really have any friends that were into cars, so everything started with me actually.

But the passion for photography started before you were interested in cars, right?

That’s correct. I started shooting landscape photography. So, I was shooting beautiful scenes and settings but over time, I kind of became a little bored with it. Like every time I was taking these landscape photos, it felt like something was missing (laughs).

Syd and her 944
And actually, it all started with a beautiful Saab …

It did. When I was sixteen years old I got a Saab, an old car by one of my father’s friends. It was all I had, and I spent a lot of time in that car, driving it and taking my photos, and I started wondering about that brand. I fell into the rabbit hole on Google and found lots of vintage Saabs. That’s how I fell in love with Saab in the beginning and that’s what got me into cars.

So, you also connected with the Saab community in the US?

Yes, I did. There’s a pretty small everybody-knows-everyone Saab community. So, I got to know everyone and traveled around the east coast of the US and shot everyone’s classics and all of that.

Does your first Saab still exist, the 900 Turbo from 1986?

Yes, I still have the car. When I got it, I decided to be able to fix more or less everything myself, which is what I did. So, I think that’s my forever-car, just because it’s everything I know and I learned from.

Which other car brands are you enthusiastic about?

I fell in love with the 911 design. You know, it’s very similar. The 900 is like a boxy 911. Most people probably don’t see that, but I look at them from a purely aesthetic design perspective. So, you can imagine that it was very easy to fall in love with Porsche as well.

Talking about Porsche, what’s the story behind your Apple-Porsche in the snow?

When I first started getting into Porsche, you know, kind of moving on from Saab and like learning about other brands and all that, I was researching. I knew nothing about motorsport for a start. And one of the first cars to come up, of course, was the 935 Porsche race car with its iconic, Apple branded livery. It was love at first sight and for so long I was telling all my friends, that one day I’m going to have that 935 Porsche. So, I bought myself a 944 to start with. Now I can take it and do something fun with it and this is how the photo shoot came about.

Syds beautiful other project on onehellofatown.com
Selling Sweatshirts ...
Stickers ...
... and even this wonderful blanket
What about “One hell of the town”? Please tell us about that.

 

That started as my Covid project. I draw cars in my free time just for fun, and I decided to turn these into stickers. I ordered a bunch of stickers and I put them on my website but didn’t really think anyone would buy them. That very day I went for a walk with my dog, came back a few hours later and had 100 new messages with orders. That’s how I started that little shop “One hell of a town”.

What are your plans for the future? What will happen in 2022?

I will take things to the next level like a long-term project that I can work on throughout the year. I’ve kind of figured out my formula and now I want to do something that challenges me on another level.

Thank you, Syd!

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