It's been a while I've done some proper event photography. This weekend I finally got around it again so I went to the Red Bull Air Race qualification day. I found the tickets quite expensive but it turned out to be well worth it! I can honestly say that I think Red Bull is on to something seriously awesome here. What started out as some small promotional thing has grown into a full world series in which some of the world's best pilots compete on crazy air race tracks all around the world. In London the race was held along the Thames river banks near the O2. Quite a spectacular environment for an event like this.

When I got home I was all excited about the pictures I took at the event. I think I shot about 3 gigs of raw material in order to compile a set of great shots to put on my Flickr. Then something horrible happened...

In a creative attempt to earn some extra money to get my girlfriend from the USA to the UK for good I decided to try something new this weekend. This idea had been on our minds for a while already but now I finally made it a reality. Enter the Hoodie Mafia.

Hoodies (a.k.a. 'hooded sweatshirts') are a 'big issue' in the UK at the moment. They're being associated with street scum, antisocial behaviour and other stuff the establishment doesn't particularly like. I personally like wearing a hoodie and I'm pretty sure I'm not some scumbag. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. Because of this I don't condone the anti-hoodie craze in the UK and felt like some 'action' would be nice!

So I went ahead, fired up Illustrator and came up with the above graphic design! Being pretty pleased with it I figured maybe I could sell some hoodies, tapping into the rebel nature of people such as myself and of course the kids on the street. I signed up with SpreadShirt to handle the printing and shipping because they're known for their excellent quality 'flock print' printing technique. The Hoodie Mafia store still needs some more work in the customization department but... it's open for business!

I guess the only 'bad thing' about SpreadShirt is the fact that their local branches are completely separated from eachother. I have to open separate stores for the UK, Germany, Netherlands etc, upload designs, create articles, customize the storefront and everything else. Quite a hassle indeed. They will come as soon as I have the time. I guess I just wish they were all linked into one when it comes to accounts, designs and storefronts. Note that you can of course order from the US Hoodie Mafia store from wherever you are. The only drawback is somewhat higher shipping costs and a longer wait for the goods to arrive.

I'm quite curious to see if this will do anything! It's a totally new experiment for me. So if you feel like helping me out a bit in racking up te funds to bring my little family together then why not buy yourself an original Hoodie Mafia hoodie and show the world you love hoodies?