Sometimes it's good to do a shoot where you can stuff around and have a joke while you try different things and hone the “craft” side of photography. Learning and developing different styles of creating images is something I really thirst for, and it’s made so much easier when you have friends that have a good understanding and empathy for what you're trying to achieve.
Jake’s S13 has undergone big changes over the last year-and-a-bit, starting out as a road registered drift car when Jake acquired it with an Sr20 Heart. Now, fast forward 3 years and it’s got an LS1 heart and T56 gearbox re-purposed from a VY SS Ute and 18x10 Work gt5 +18 wheels sitting underneath +25mm front fenders + 45mm rear fenders (Viva Garage's Rocket Bunny copies), making it a formidable grip weapon.
I arrived at Jake’s late afternoon with a loose plan, knowing more of the hill that his shed-turned-workshop sits on has been dug out to accommodate extra undercover shed area in the months to come, thus leaving a flat dirt area with a rock face background.
After a quick dry down, we positioned the car accordingly and got to work, I was interested to see how his pressure pack paint job (it’s a race car after all) would stand up against the off-camera flash, but those fears were soon put to rest as I started lighting different angles of the car.
While it wasn’t a particularly amazing sunset, it was still worth capturing the last light and the hint of colour it produced.
With the sun now safely gone, we could produce more contrast between the flash and background of the car. Note to self: Race slicks and mud don’t go well together…
One of the goals when doing the engine swap was to make it sit back as far as possible in the engine bay, this required modifying some polyurethane engine mounts to suit. The exhaust fab' work and tune was done locally by LS Engineering, giving the LS a raspy, loud note.
Inside, as you can imagine, is all business. A sturdy Nardi steering wheel and Velo race seat make the pilot comfortable during those flying laps and a hydraulic handbrake still in arm's reach if the wish to drift ever becomes too great.
I must admit, doing interior photos is one of the more challenging aspects of doing automotive photography. Normally I’m able to bounce light off the roof lining in the back seat to give a defused, even lighting effect and other times it takes a few goes to find what will work. But it is always rewarding conquering the different styles of interiors in a diverse range of cars.
The door cards, replaced with aluminum and a simplistic single fold are starting to collect stickers, including Jakes own business, JL Media. If you have any more stickers, let him know!
All the photos at this point were filling time until it got dark enough to do something I’ve been slowly exploring over the past year. With summer now safely behind us, it was time to play with fire again.
Roughly, this is done is by attaching rope to a pole, soaking it in slow burning fuel, then igniting it. The type of fuel/rope is important so that it doesn’t have an odor when it burns, so smelling like molten chemicals or fuel is never an issue. The shutter on the camera it set to open for 30sec as I walk around the subject “painting” the burning light on the camera's sensor and using that light to illuminate the car at the same time.
After another couple of exposures trying different patterns, we hit the jackpot. An undulating sea of fire, whipping and curving, brazenly engulfing the S13 (figuratively of course).
And lastly, a more simplistic approach, but just as effective!
Full Specs:
Engine vy ss ute
T56 gearbox
1.5 way lsd 4.08 gears
Wheels are work gt5 18x10 +18 offset
Gk tech arms and knuckles
Bc br Coilovers
Tail shaft by EMA
Power steering by Rapid
Exhaust and Tune by LS engineering
AGI cage
Homemade gearbox mount and reverse throw clutch setup
Cam and cylinder head work coming soon with a goal of 280rwkw
Bonus Images
Still Moist
