Cars Collection is my platform for automotive journalism, photography, and driving – built on many years of work behind the camera, behind the wheel, and behind the keyboard.

Here, I've gathered what I've produced over the years: articles, reviews, features and photos, but also the legacy of a history that began long before. For me, Cars Collection is not just about cars, but about the feeling, the experience, the craftsmanship and the stories surrounding them.

This is also a place where everything is done with a personal touch. I work with the content myself, from driving and photography to writing and publishing, and that's reflected in everything here.

If you want to know more about me, the background of Cars Collection, and how I work, you'll find it below.

Oh James

My name is James Holm and I've been working as a photographer since the mid-1990s. My photography has always been influenced by the interests that have followed me through life. It started with skateboarding and moved on to snowboarding, with a constant search for the endless winter and many days of travel in snow and mountain environments.

Cars came into my professional life later, but have actually been there from the start. My father, Bengt Ason Holm, worked with cars and photographed for the book series Cars Collection as early as the 1980s. The car world was therefore something I grew up with, even if my own path into it took shape in a different way.

The start came when my friend Martin Westerstrand, who then got the job as motoring editor at Slitz magazine. Martin asked me if I could photograph cars as my father did it and was quite well-known for it amongst my friends. Martin already knew that I photographed skateboarding as he also skated at the time. We did a first trial shoot with his BMW Z3 M Coupé, and the result was so appreciated that it became the start of something bigger.

After a few years as a car photographer, I took the next step. When I saw how motoring journalists started taking their own photos for their articles, I thought I might as well do the opposite and start writing articles for my photos. Since 2008, this has resulted in over 300 published car articles in car magazines, lifestyle magazines, weekend supplements and digital media.

Summer 2022 saw a lot of change when I had a serious motorcycle accident and was in hospital for two months. That time gave me space to reflect. Many of the publications I had worked with had disappeared, changed, or scaled back their output, and I started to wonder what would happen to all the material I had created over the years.

It marked the beginning of the next chapter and the return of Cars Collection.

Photo: Nils Simonsson

About Cars Collection

Cars Collection has a history that began long before this digital version saw the light of day.

My father, Bengt Ason Holm, built up Cars Collection during the 1980s as a subscription book series. Every month, you received two parts: a silver-coloured book with pictures and articles, and a black part that served as a lexicon. This continued for three years.

This was before computers were used for layout. Everything was created by hand in a so-called repro room – a type of darkroom with yellow lighting. My father wrote many of the texts, took a large proportion of the photos, edited other journalists' material, and was responsible for the layout.

It was a job that required an enormous amount of time, which also meant I didn't see much of him during that period. At the same time, as a young boy, I accompanied him on a few occasions. For example, I was present at Ferrari while the Ferrari F40 was being built. I also went to Lamborghini where I saw the last Lamborghini Countach being built, and stood next to him when the picture was taken. The year was 1990.

Photo: Bengt Ason Holm

I was also with him at the Morgan Motor Company, a place I myself returned to in the summer of 2025 and wrote about. I then continued to Aston Martin while Aston Martin Lagonda was still being built.

As an adult, I have personally returned to both Ferrari and Lamborghini on several occasions for test drives, which in many ways ties the story together.

After Cars Collection, my father began a new book series, Famous Car Factories. However, it only came in two editions – one about the Morgan factory and one about Lamborghini. More books were planned, but never became a reality.

Later, he also wrote a novel, The Seventh Elephant, based on a fictional story about the hunt for the seventh Bugatti Royale.

For me, Cars Collection became a name and a legacy that had always been there in the background. When I later started working with car photography and car journalism myself, the connection was naturally there, even though I went my own way for a long time.

After the motorcycle accident in the summer of 2022, I started thinking about all the material I had produced since 2008 – tests, test rides, features and photos published in various magazines and platforms, but lacking a long-term home.

Gathering everything on JamesHolm.com didn't feel right. That site is for me as a photographer. The car journalism needed its own space.

Therefore, the idea arose to revive the Cars Collection – this time in digital form.

It felt right immediately. Not just as a place for my own material, but also as a way of passing something on. Bengt passed away from cancer in 2020, but I think he would have appreciated seeing Cars Collection live on in a new era. I also still have a lot of the material he himself produced in analogue form, something I want to work further with in the future.

Today, Cars Collection is home to what I've created myself: over 300 articles about cars, driving, and experiences. In my articles, I often weave in my own memories and experiences.

Cars Collection is therefore both an archive, an editorial platform, and a way to let a car's history continue.

This is how I work.

I might be a bit arrogant saying this, but I actually think what I do is quite unusual.

It's not just that I photograph cars. Nor is it just that I write about them. The special thing lies in the combination: driving the cars myself, photographing them to a high technical standard, writing the articles, and at the same time carrying with me a legacy from a previous generation of automotive photography.

Many of the photos in my articles are taken in conditions where I work completely alone. This applies, for example, to the so-called rig shots, where the camera is mounted on a tripod that is attached to the car and then retouched out afterwards. The result is photos that look as if the camera is hovering in front of the car while I myself am sitting behind the wheel. I often take these photos myself, without assistance, while also being responsible for the entire production.

Another important part is that I can actually drive a car for real. I've driven more than 500 laps of the Nürburgring and competed in Scuderia Hanseat on two occasions, with cars that Mercedes-AMG SL65 Black Series and Audi R8 GT Spyder. I have also test-driven retired Formula 1 cars on track on two occasions, including through Rajamäki Racing – an experience that gives a whole new perspective on driving.

For me, it's important, as it affects how I experience a car and therefore how I can describe it. Truly understanding the driving makes a difference in both the photos and the texts.

Add that I grew up with my father's work, visiting factories such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Morgan even from a young age, and I still carry both the material and the stories from there with me.

When you put all this photography, writing, driving and heritage together, it becomes a way of working that I believe is quite unique.

That's also why Cars Collection looks the way it does.

There isn't a big team behind the scenes here. It's me doing the work.
And that's exactly how I want it.

/James Holm