Dad snaps scenic photos of son's Hot Wheels cars for a year

A toy car enthusiast has taken his little boy’s Hot Wheels cars to a scenic spot every day for a year and posted them on Instagram in a bid to beat the lockdown blues.

Ross Burns, 41, has taken a photo of one of his son Daniel’s many Hot Wheels cars every day for the past year in what began as an activity to beat the boredom of homeworking during lockdown.

On Monday, he completed his task yesterday on his Instagram account, Scot.Wheels.

Ross, who works at Edinburgh Napier University, has since featured more than 250 cars in a huge number of settings in and around the capital – including Calton Hill, Edinburgh Castle and the Forth Bridge.

Daniel, aged five, has an extensive collection including Lambos and Volvo estates.

“I have a five-year-old son called Daniel and he loves Hot Wheels,” Ross said.

“I used to love Matchbox cars when I was his age and I soon began to become obsessed with his growing collection.

“To make sure I took a walk every day, I started taking a car out and just taking some pictures on my phone.

“After a few weeks, I set myself the challenge of doing it for a full year and I’m delighted to have now completed it.

“It’s been great for my mental health during the various lockdowns, particularly the one early this year – getting out and taking a picture of a car gave me a purpose and a creative outlet each day.”

Posting a photo a day on Instagram under the handle Scot.Wheels, the images chart the four seasons and a city in and out of lockdown.

Ross’ most popular image is of a Land Rover Defender 90 reflected on the Water of Leith.

He said: “I’ve done a couple of pictures where the car is reflected in the water and people love them.

“The Land Rover in particular is popular as it is one of the most realistic looking cars.”

Due to the restrictions of lockdown, the vast majority of photos are of Edinburgh but Ross and his family did escape to Fife last month for a holiday in Lower Largo.

He added: “We had beautiful weather and the beach made such a great background for the cars.

“A rugged blue Ford Bronco looked fantastic on the rocks by the sea.”

Now that he has achieved his target of a photograph every day for a year, and run up more than 20,000 likes in the process, Ross intends to carry on but take his foot off the accelerator.

“I’ll continue taking car pictures but not pressurise myself to do it every day,” he said.

“I’ll aim for quality over quantity and hopefully as we become able to travel more, I’ll explore some fantastic new settings with some wonderful new cars.”