“I actually never even thought about looking at the world through my car until the pandemic,” photographer Brian Bowen-Smith tells us. “It’s a 1958 Ford F100 that can’t sit too long so every once in a while I will take it out for a spin.When I was photographing my neighbor I noticed that it looked really cool through all of the windows because of the curves.” And that’s how BBS Drivebys was born. So Brian took his truck and went on a true road trip around America during the pandemic. The result is a timeless look achieved by shooting with his Leica.

This story is presented in partnership with Leica. All images by Brian Bowen-Smith and used with permission. Check out his website and BBS Drivebys. Be sure to give the Leica M10 Monochrom a try for yourself!

The Essential Gear of Photographer Brian Bowen-Smith

Leica M10 Monochrom

16 18 21 Tri-Elmar

Leica Summilux-M 21mm f1.4 ASPH

Brian Bowen-Smith

“But one of the saddest moments and most emotional dealing with Covid is when I went and visited these Dairy Farmers. They were really, really, really having a rough time because of the pandemic with no one buying any milk. So sad, they couldn’t stop their operation because cows need to be milked every day. Even having to dump it sometimes because there weren’t trucks coming to pick it up. They were working with just the family and it was a massive farm. Everyone was pitching in just to keep their heads above water. It has been in the Family for generations. And they are in danger of losing it.”

Talk to us about how you first got into photography.

I originally got into photography through my gymnastics coach in high school and classes. That’s the only class I got an A in. Later, I revisited when I started dating my wife who at the time was a model and needed pictures for her portfolio. That trickled down to doing more pictures for her agency. Which eventually led to my internship with Herb Ritts.

What made you want to get into fine art?

I would assume that anyone who wants to be a photographer wants to get into fine art because that’s where you sI would assume that anyone who wants to be a photographer wants to get into fine art because that’s where you seem to shine the most. When it comes to fine art, if you are creating things that you think are beautiful, whether they’re riské, beautiful, abstract, etc., the ultimate goal is to create something that blows people’s minds. More importantly, your own.

BBS Drivebys is a fascinating story. You funded the book for it on Kickstarter. But besides the pandemic, what made you want to look at American culture from a car?

I actually never even thought about looking at the world through my car until the pandemic. It’s a 1958 Ford F100 that can’t sit too long so every once in a while I will take it out for a spin. That day when I started it happened to be one of those days, merely by coincidence. When I was photographing my neighbor I noticed that it looked really cool through all of the windows because of the curves. Then I thought, “wow that would be an amazing series, maybe I should do a couple more.” Next thing I know I was on the road across the whole country viewing it through my windows. I had no idea what this would become but I knew I was on to something special.

Brian Bowen-Smith

“I saw this as a timeless piece that I wanted to create where you wouldn’t know where some of these pictures came from it could be 1943 it could be 1988 or it could be 2020. Just one last thing I had to think about”

When you went around meeting these folks on the road, how did you go interact with them and gain their trust? How much of a limiting factor was COVID-19 for this project?

That’s a good question. I actually would Instagram what city I was heading to next and ask people to DM me with their ideas if they wanted to be a part of it. I got tons of them, all with great ideas so I would filter through which ones I thought were the most interesting or important. There’s no way you can do them all. I would ...