Down to Earth
Do you believe in luck or fate? I believe in both. Because as fate would have it, after doing a shoot with my friend Yoshi and his Spirit Rei S15, he was so ecstatic about the photos that he decide to show them to Spirit Rei Owner himself, Mr. Motohiro Taniguchi. Turns out Yoshi's family is very close to Taniguchi-san and was tasked at storing and showing the car at various shows in the Kanto area of Japan. After seeing the photos of Yoshi's Silvia, I was asked by Tanigushi-san, if I could also take some shots of the well known S13 that was used to showcase the elusive Miyabi kit. No way I was going to turn that down. Communicating through Instagram direct messaging, I quickly told Yoshi I'd be happy to shoot the car and i'd be on the look out for a fitting location.
Having only lived in Japan for a few months at the time, the land was still uncharted by me so a little searching would have to be done if I was going to find the perfect spot. If you've worked with me before and have had a decent conversation with me, you will have learned by me that searching for locations is one of my favorite parts of being a photographer and I usually have a whole list of location waiting to pair it with the right car. An unmentioned part of the craft is knowing your surroundings, exploring and examining them in different perspectives. Another tip is that sometimes you will have to absolutely break some rules in order to create something unique or something that hasn't been done before. Although no rules were broken (this time) it would be Spirit Rei breaking all the rules.
