For the last few weeks, myself and 
Mainly, the battery in the R32 GTR was flat. That car wouldn't be moving anywhere.
Luckily, if one car didn't work out, we still had a selection at our disposal. I voted that we take his Mazda RX7 instead, which had been imported directly from Japan, but had already been the subject of a previous photoshoot. Not that it mattered - we decided that we would use this time to search for locations that would work well for the R32. Therefore, this outing was going to be more of a reconnaissance trip as opposed to a proper photoshoot, but we'd still take our cameras along for testing purposes.
Time to get going
Our first location was at a beach parking lot in Umhlanga Rocks. The location had decent lighting, but the lights gave off a very orange glow - not that this is an issue, I can fix that in Lightroom. I didn't take any photos at this spot, instead snapping a few shots using
Jumping back in the RX7, we headed to another parking lot a few hundred metres away. By now, the raindrops were starting to get a bit bigger, so this area was going to be the photographic equivalent of a hit and run.
The raindrop effect was not planned - those were real raindrops falling on my lens.
I'll never get tired of how this car looks with the pop-up lights.
We spent maybe 5 minutes at this location, during which time we were watched by three very curious security guards - you can see one of them behind the RX7 in the photo above (orange jacket). Maybe they had just never seen a Mazda RX7 before? Or perhaps they were baffled as to why two adults had fallen out of a car and were now taking photos of it? Either way, they didn't ask questions, and probably gathered we weren't there to cause trouble.
With each of us getting a few photos on our respective cameras, it was time to head to the next location I had in mind: Umhlanga New Town Centre.
The ultra-modern buildings gave a nice contrast to the 90's lines of the RX7.
Even though this new location was only a few miles away from the beach, the rain drops were easing off a bit, and eventually stopped after a few minutes. We spent the time parked outside one of the most unique dealerships / collections we've ever seen. Parked inside a shiny showroom were 5 Honda S2000's, accompanied by a red Toyota MR2 hidden in the corner. Neither of us have actually been able to figure out the true purpose of this 'showroom', as there was also a small restaurant area at the back, so it will have to be visited another day.
I've always loved the effect that light trails from cars create, so I figured it would be a good idea to take a few photos incorporating the passing traffic. We had to wait a few minutes for other cars to appear, as most of the businesses in this area were closed for the night. However, our perseverance paid off, and I ended up with a few nice photos to choose from.
Don't be fooled - this certainly isn't a family car.
The second to last location of the night was underneath a shopping centre known as The Crescent. Not knowing if the rain was going to make an appearance again, we elected to park undercover in a rather unusual spot - outside Baby City, right next door to a gym. There were no doubt a few confused people on the treadmills watching our photographic shenanigans.
But at least the lighting was great.
Using a 20 second exposure certainly helps makes the rainclouds evident. At least they were moving away.
We were fast approaching our last half hour of designated photo time, so we decided to head up to the rooftop parking. After scraping the underside of the RX7 on a deceptively large speedbump, we parked off and experimented with a few more angles, bringing the evening to a neat ending.
Next time, hopefully the GTR will be ready to go, and we can bring you all some fresh new car content to drool over. In the meantime, the RX7 will make for a suitable substitute.
This photo reminds me of all the shots I've seen from the infamous Tatsumi Parking Area in Tokyo. Google it and you'll understand.
Take a look at this evening from the perspective of
Literally an hour after finishing this somewhat unplanned shoot, I did another unplanned shoot with a Mitsubishi Evo 10. Read about that one here.
| Camera | Canon 6D |
| Lens | Canon 24-105 f4 L Series |
| Additional Equipment | Manfrotto tripod |
| Processing | Lightroom CC |
| Location | Umhlanga Rocks / Umhlanga Ridge, South Africa |
DISCLAIMER: All photos and writing are my own original work.