Imagine capturing the golden age of Formula 1 racing through your lens, only to have your work remain hidden for decades. That’s exactly what happened to Henry Pang, a 1980s F1 photographer whose stunning shots of legends like Ayrton Senna were never printed as standalone art—until now. Thanks to his son Jeffrey, a YouTuber with a passion for cars, Henry’s photographs are finally getting the spotlight they deserve. But here’s where it gets fascinating: turning those vintage slides into high-quality prints wasn’t as simple as it sounds.
Jeffrey, who runs a popular car drifting YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@run_jeff), recently created a mini-documentary about his prized Porsche 911. The film featured some of Henry’s photos, which beautifully encapsulate an era when F1 cars roared with V10 engines and rivalries like Senna vs. Prost defined the sport. Viewers were captivated and begged for prints, but the process was far from straightforward. Like many photographers of his time, Henry shot on color transparency slides—a medium designed for CMYK magazine printing, not standalone photo prints.
And this is the part most people miss: in the pre-digital era, creating prints from these slides required materials that have long been discontinued. As Henry explains in a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHsMoxv_DCI), ‘Color separation was the norm back then. You needed a positive print, which meant a transparency—a slide.’ To turn these slides into prints today, they typically need to be scanned and digitally processed, but even that comes with challenges.
Jeffrey’s first attempt involved a flatbed scanner, but the results were underwhelming—fine for Instagram, but not for large-scale prints. Specialized scanners exist, but they’re rare and expensive. Enter Henry, the photographic genius, who suggested a creative solution: using a 36-megapixel Nikon D800 with a 55mm macro lens, a slide holder, and a lightbox to capture high-resolution scans. It was a painstaking process—each slide required manual focusing—but the results were breathtaking. Details like the air turbulence around the cars were visible, bringing Henry’s work to life in a way never seen before.
The photos include iconic shots of Ayrton Senna, his intense focus palpable as he conferred with engineers. To complete the journey, Jeffrey visited Foto Box in Toronto, a film lab specializing in chromogenic printing. ‘These machines still use light-sensitive paper,’ Jeffrey explains. ‘The process is similar to traditional darkroom enlarging, but with modern chemistry.’
While Jeffrey’s YouTube channel focuses on cars, not photography, he was clearly moved by the final prints—a testament to his dad’s talent and their shared effort. But here’s the controversial part: in an age of digital perfection, is there still value in preserving analog photography? Or is this just nostalgia? Let us know what you think in the comments.
If you’d like to own a piece of this F1 history, prints are available for purchase here (https://www.run-ms.co/). And if you’re inspired by stories of rediscovered art, check out PetaPixel’s feature on Jack Smith, who uncovered 80,000 of his grandfather’s travel photos (https://petapixel.com/2025/12/06/grandson-discovers-80000-stunning-travel-photos-taken-by-his-grandfather/). Henry Pang’s story reminds us that sometimes, the most remarkable treasures are hidden right in our own families—waiting to be brought to light.
