Around the web today; October 30th, 2013.

I've been busy and haven't had the chance to post anything for the past few days, so here's a whole bunch of links to make up for it:


A heavily modified Ford GT with 2000hp hits 278mph in only one mile, from a standing start:  http://www.carthrottle.com/witness-a-278mph-ford-gt-smash-the-texas-mile-record/



Car blogs and websites frequently post videos and pictures of exotic cars, usually of Italian descent, going up in flames. This time it's a video of a Ford Falcon ute, showing the tray engulfed in flames, which are quickly quelled with extinguishers by several other people nearby. He then continues his drive to work like nothing happened, which doesn't seem like the best idea:
 http://www.carthrottle.com/car-mechanics-ute-catches-fire-still-gets-to-work-on-time/



Some great footage of rally cars getting a whole lot of air on a jump in Switzerland. Competition level rally cars obviously have a lot of modifications to handle this kind of treatment, but I can't help but think that the brutal landings must have bent at least a few chassis out of shape upon landing:
http://jalopnik.com/this-is-a-jump-for-cars-on-the-side-of-a-cliff-1453411744



A 600hp Mitsubishi Lancer Evo ascending a treacherously wet and steep hill climb course in Switzerland. There are some pretty hairy moments when the car gets crossed up under power. I don't like the way Evos sound all that much in comparison to its most common rival, the Subaru WRX, but only in the sense that their engine and exhaust note tends to be rather flat and characterless. This particular example has a tough soundtrack though:
http://youtu.be/vdeW_VR8J9o



In stark contrast to the Evo's flat drone, this open-wheeler's 3 litre V8 emits a deliciously aggressive, high pitched howl as it blasts through the course, leaving a deafening roar reverberating around the hillsides in its wake. Turn your speakers up. Lots.  http://youtu.be/vdeW_VR8J9o


While your speakers are turned up, watch and listen to this one too; a great variety of cars, engines and noises. The Lancia Delta Integrale at 1:30 sounds particularly deranged:  http://youtu.be/mT2kNSOfXZ4



Some food for thought if you're not familiar with trucks and quite how much they cost to operate:  http://www.overdriveonline.com/5-more-things-members-of-the-general-public-dont-know-about-truckers/




This Tata Xenon 'Tuff Truck' is something a bit different. I like it. Looks tough, as its name suggests.
 http://www.themotorreport.com.au/57175/tata-reveals-australian-designed-tuff-truck-xenon-ute-concept




Well this is awkward. It would be embarrassing to stack your chopper anywhere, let alone in your own driveway, in front of your wife. At least it was a very minor incident compared to similar attempts I've seen:  http://blog.powerblocktv.com/husband-embarrasses-himself-doing-burnout-in-front-of-wife/




Red Bull is always coming up with cool ideas. Like racing a V8 Supercar against a plane on the beach in Queensland: http://blog.powerblocktv.com/v8-supercar-vs-airplane-race-on-an-australian-beach/




This certainly could have turned out a whole lot worse; a rally car barrel-rolling within arm's length of a crowd usually doesn't end well. The little hatchback rolls over so quickly it's almost impossible to count how many times it went over. The driver must have been awfully dizzy when the car finally came to rest:  http://jalopnik.com/watch-this-car-roll-over-about-47-times-and-somehow-not-1454270653




A dramatic and sobering gallery featuring images of the recent NSW bushfires taken by members of the Australian documentary photography collective Oculi: http://www.oculi.com.au/features/oculi-group-nsw-bushfires-october-2013-2/




Some ridiculously tight tandem drifting from two Nissan S13 Silvias in Japan:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M_mDbbIDlY




Some good advice from American photography guru Zack Arias about fear, in relation to both photography and life in general:  http://zarias.tumblr.com/post/65430999760/i-feel-paralyzed-by-fear-of-rejection-im-in-my-last



Some very scary footage of a Ducati high-siding and rolling before being hit by the following Yamaha R6 with helmet-cam, spraying fuel and bursting into flames during a race on a street circuit. Both riders were very lucky to escape with no injuries: http://www.epiccarnage.com/video-fiery-motorcycle-crash-footage/

Around the web today; October 21st, 2013.

A blog post by Nigel Petrie of Engineered to Slide fame, detailing his drifting experiences at World Time Attack over the weekend in his insanely awesome Hilux ute: http://engineeredtoslide.com/2013/10/wtac-weekend-wrap-up/



A video from WTAC, showing why it's not a good idea to rip a massive burnout on a high-speed corner with cars drifting behind you. Trashed a couple of awesome cars, including Anthony Cece's tough Cefiro.

A police officer in a Commodore paddy wagon makes a surprise house call, by driving through someone's brick fence and parking in their front yard, after being clipped by a turning car:  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/police-car-crashes-into-fence-in-prahran/story-fni0fee2-1226743412064


A father of three gets busted driving at 191 km/h down the highway with his family: http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/1853609/road-to-disaster-police-fear-deaths-after-father-clocked-at-191kmh/?cs=53



Street racing isn't the best idea, especially if there's a police car behind you at the lights, but this guy got off pretty easy: http://blog.powerblocktv.com/cop-goes-easy-on-driver-caught-street-racing/

An interesting analysis of how cereal was created and subsequently advertised and marketed; in the early days one manufacturer claimed outlandish health benefits from eating his cereal, Grape-Nuts, saying it could cure appendicitis, raise your IQ, and make your blood redder: http://mentalfloss.com/article/20320/how-cereal-transformed-american-culture


A rare all-wheel drive Cefiro wreck up for sale that looks a little worse for wear: http://m.gumtree.com.au/1991-nissan-cefiro-awd-rare-wrecking-or-repair-whole-car-only/v?adId=1027926912#nissan

Around the web today; October 19th, 2013

An insanely fast hillclimb run in an open-wheeler Formula car, by a driver who seems to be missing any sort of fear genes. I'd crash and kill myself in the first couple of corners trying to match that sort of pace: http://youtu.be/kGqdcz6bLps



A deliciously raspy TWR Jaguar XJS racing car belting around Donington in the UK, followed by a run at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed. Be sure to turn the volume on your speakers up:  http://youtu.be/DpnlwPv60B0
http://youtu.be/cA52JK_2sWo

Here's another local clip showing a sibling of the car above, flying around Mt. Panorama nearly 30 years ago, with Tom Walkinshaw behind the wheel: http://youtu.be/c5jtf83eKGs


A street photographer taking his work to the streets of Los Santos in the wildly popular video game Grand Theft Auto V: http://petapixel.com/2013/10/17/street-photographer-takes-craft-video-game-world-gta-v/

He has a tumblr blog where he posts his images here: http://streetphotov.tumblr.com/

And a website with photos from the real world: http://fpgomes.com/


Photojournalism from around the world at the Wall Street Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2013/10/17/photos-of-the-day-oct-17-3/?mod=WSJBlog



A very cool series of photos combining model cars on small dioramas with real streets, houses and trees; all taken on a cheap point and shoot digital camera: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/10/recreating-the-past-with-model-cars-and-forced-perspective/

His flickr page has many more images, accompanied by behind-the-scenes pictures showing how the lifelike look was achieved: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/



Some interesting commentary on the current state of newspaper photojournalism: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/assignment-chicago/2013/10/photojournalists-and-buggy-whips.html



A related post to the Jasmine Star plagiarism controversy: http://www.cmphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=107&stealing-makes-me-angry-not-sad

Around the web today; October 18th, 2013

A feature by Speedhunters on a tough looking 1970s Datsun 260Z owned by photographer and journalist Larry Chen, with an accompanying garage chock-full of cool automotive memorabilia, toys and scale model cars:  http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/10/70s-street-fighter-imai-works-datsun-260z/


A lengthy picture thread from the HAMB, with lots of images of junkyards and wrecks from the 1920s through to the 1970s:  http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390611


Some examples of well-known automotive logos taken back to basics: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/automotive-logos-simplified-1446395923


Skids in a new Bentley worth more than some people's houses. The video also features some cool team drifts in various Japanese imports:  http://jalopnik.com/how-to-get-a-410-000-bentley-to-do-a-burnout-633209494


A pair of thrill-seeking Canadian motorcyclists get hammered with massive fines after police view footage of their antics recorded on helmet-mounted video cameras: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/the-most-expensive-joy-ride-ever-recorded-in-quebecs-h-1445902758/1446288857/@pgeorge


An awkward test drive of a new Chevrolet Impala: http://jalopnik.com/someone-crashed-a-new-2014-impala-into-three-new-corvet-1446832965


Snapshots of people all over the world going about their day from The Big Picture blog: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/10/daily_life_august_2013_1.html



Several big name US wedding photographers get themselves into trouble by plagiarising some content for  tweets and blog posts:

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2013/10/sad-tale-jasmine-star-doug-gordon/

https://www.behindtheshutter.com/what-we-can-all-learn-from-the-recent-events-of-jb-sallee-jasmine-star-and-doug-gordon/

http://stopstealingphotos.tumblr.com/post/55742970716/doug-gordon

http://mockstarphotog.tumblr.com/post/58264161952/im-sure-it-was-just-her-web-designer

Around the web today; October 15th, 2013

It's been a while since I last posted here. My official photography portfolio site is now up at www.rohanphillips.com

I'll try to start posting a mix of content more often, including links to interesting websites or pages related to cars and photography in particular.

So here's some cool stuff I've come across this morning.

From www.jalopnik.com, a few phone snaps of a 'creatively' decorated Ferrari 458 Italia: http://jalopnik.com/this-has-to-be-the-worst-ferrari-458-italia-paint-job-e-1445068817


On a related note, some photos and video of a Ferrari F50 being driven on the streets in a somewhat suicidal manner, which ends badly judging by the photos of the mangled wreck. While F50s are most commonly painted the distinctive Ferrari red, black looks quite nice, and a little less ostentatious; as much as is possible in a Ferrari anyway. http://jalopnik.com/surprise-528-000-ferrari-f50-driven-by-shirtless-assh-1445127869


A woman running from the police in her Mercedes gets hit by two trains. (video) She somehow manages to escape the carnage with only a broken arm. One of the officers who goes to her aid after the first impact was lucky to get out of the way moments before the second train hit the car: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c90_1381721438


A good example of why I don't think I should ride a motorbike; it's just way too easy for something to go slightly wrong with no chance of recovery. The guys who take part in these high-speed road races must have to swallow a big jar of brave pills before they jump on their bikes. With the availability of low-cost on-board cameras these days, you can see the pileup from multiple vantage points. (video): http://jalopnik.com/this-domino-effect-motorcycle-crash-is-absolutely-ridic-1444953083


A set of photos from RIDES featuring a heavily customised 1975 Chevrolet Caprice convertible 'donk'. These things are controversial to say the least. I started out hating them for being in such terribly poor taste, but over time, and perhaps helped by some excellent photography by www.andrewlinkphotography.com, they're so ludicrously appalling I actually come to kind of like them now. In a way. http://www.rides-mag.com/donk/2013/10/1975-chevrolet-caprice-kent-state


Andrew Link's website itself is certainly worth a visit. His automotive portfolio features a healthy mix of cars, mixing up high-end Euro exotics and the above-mentioned 'donks': http://andrewlinkphotography.com/?page_id=30  His dramatic portraiture is also excellent: http://andrewlinkphotography.com/?page_id=11


This isn't quite photography related, but an interesting experiment regarding the value of art, in this case stencil prints: http://gizmodo.com/banksy-sold-225-000-worth-of-art-at-a-central-park-sta-1444833251


And to round off today, here's a video of a Dodge Ram pulling out a tree stump: http://blog.powerblocktv.com/youtube-video-highlights-dodge-with-cummins-engine-pulling-tree-fround-ground

My Cefiro #31: Classic Targa Adelaide

My Cefiro #1: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-cefiro-1-carsales-ad.html 
My Cefiro #2: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-2-inspection-and-test-drive.html 
My Cefiro #3: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-3-buying-it-and-bringing-it.html 
My Cefiro #4: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-4-starting-modifications.html
My Cefiro #5: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-5-first-drive-and-photos.html

My Cefiro #6: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-6-exhaust.html

My Cefiro #7: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-7-wash-and-photos.html

My Cefiro #8: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-8-hills-run.html

My Cefiro #9: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-9-respray.html

My Cefiro #10: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-10-gathering-cobwebs-in.html

My Cefiro #11: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-11-bringing-it-back-to-life.html 

My Cefiro #12: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-12-on-road-again.html

My Cefiro #13: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-13-second-round-of.html

My Cefiro #14: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-14-boostworx.html

My Cefiro #15: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-15-daily-driving.html 

My Cefiro #16: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-16-bonnet-swap.html

My Cefiro #17: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-17-hahndorf-hills-run.html 

My Cefiro #18: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-18-respray-quote-and-drop-off.html

My Cefiro #19: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-19-painting-in-progress.html

My Cefiro #20: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-cefiro-20-respray-pickup.html

My Cefiro #21: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-cefiro-21-hills-run.html

My Cefiro #22: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-cefiro-22-suburbia.html

My Cefiro #23: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-cefiro-23-hahndorf-car-spotting.html

My Cefiro #24: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-24-water-winding-roads.html

My Cefiro #25: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-25-japanese-import-spares.html

My Cefiro #26: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-26-offset-check-grille-swap.html

My Cefiro #27: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-27-ceffy-pintara-hills-run.html

My Cefiro #28: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-28-sleeka-spares-suburbs.html 
My Cefiro #29: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-29-hills-hospital.html 

My Cefiro #30: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-cefiro-30-shopping-and-swapping.html

 In the middle of September, one of my favourite motorsport events was on; the Classic Targa Adelaide. Under new ownership after some management issues, the name had changed. But the event was still the same concept; lots of expensive cars going fast on some of the best roads the Adelaide Hills have to offer. 

Have a look at their website for more information: http://www.classictargaadelaide.com.au/adelaide/adelaide_home.html

It had been a very long time since I'd been able to attend any form of motorsport event, due to obvious health reasons. On Wednesday the 14th there was a prologue event taking place in the small country town of Tanunda, located north-east of Adelaide in the Barossa Valley. 

I was feeling relatively ok in the couple of days leading up to Wednesday, so I tentatively made plans to go if I felt up to it. The prologue started mid-morning, which was a bit early for me, as it was the best idea to stay on my liquid feed for as long as possible to give me some energy for the day's activities. 

Come Wednesday morning I was feeling able to go, and keen to see some cool cars, so at around 11:30 I grabbed my camera bag and headed out. Initially I was a bit hesitant about taking the Cefiro, not sure if it would be too obnoxious and uncomfortable for a longer drive on a highway. But since I was attending a motorsport event, I figured it would be more appropriate than a boring Commodore anyway.

On my way to the Port Expressway, this cool Toyota JZX100 Chaser caught my eye as I drove past, largely due to the nice rims, tough stance and custom plates; 'Nom Nom'. 

I'd seen the car's rear from a distance a few weeks before, as you can see below, the boot lid is particularly distinctive.

The Chaser's owner was actually getting out of the car when I pulled up across the street, so I said hello and chatted for a bit about his car. Due to my photo spamming of multiple automotive forums and my distinctive car, he actually knew who I was, and his forum name was familiar from Nissansilvia.com and SAU.

After taking a few more pictures, it was back onto the road again.

It felt good getting the car up to 100, and then 110km/h once I'd made it out to the recently completed Northern Expressway. I thought the Ceffy was going to be a bit noisy and uncomfortable when I first set out. I needn't have worried. Although not as quiet as a standard Commodore, the exhaust sound was quite minimal considering how loud the car is.

I'd appreciated the side support of the Bride bucket seat in the hills, and as it turned out, it was good for highway driving as well. Since the roads were all quite good, the stiff suspension wasn't really an issue, and with the extra lumbar support of the seat, I actually found it more comfortable to drive than my parents' VY Commodore. With the flat and shapeless driver's seat, my back would tend to start aching fairly quickly from holding myself in place.

Turning off towards Tanunda, I stopped in a gravel area for a few photos. The green pastures and puffy clouds were quite a nice background, with trucks and cars passing by.

I continued up the road for a little while, and then pulled over again to photograph the scene on the side of the road; brilliant yellow fields of Canola stretching out towards the horizon.

The cool clouds made for a dramatic scene when I did a black and white conversion to this photo.

Crossing back over the road, I could hear a loping V8 in the distance, which turned out to be a Holden HK GTS Monaro. The pastel yellow paintwork looked pale in comparison to the eye-watering canola shade.

A few trucks thundered past as I waited to get back onto the bitumen.

Coming into Tanunda, I spotted the first of many competitors' cars; a nice green Holden LC Torana.

After going through some side streets due to the closed main street, I found a car park, grabbed my cameras and started walking into the town centre.

Nearby was this clean Mustang, complete with a soft toy version of the car's namesake on the rear parcel shelf.

This E36 BMW M3 had a far from subtle spoiler attached to the bootlid.

As I walked the couple of hundred metres towards the main street, competitor cars rumbled by to line up along the sides of the road. By the time I arrived the racing part was over, but I still got to hear all the awesome cars idling. 

Visible in this short lineup (front to back) are a Mazda FC RX7, Porsche 944 and a Ford Escort.

A hot 964 Porsche 911. Now I'll do my best with correctly identifying the cars in these, but I can't be an expert in everything with such a wide variety of cars, so don't take the captions as gospel.

Rounding the corner onto the main street of Tanunda, I almost had to sit down as the scene came into view...millions of dollars of Porsches lined up side by side, for what must have been nearly 100 metres.

An angry sounding rotary engine from behind turned my head; the noise was coming from this early model Mazda RX7.

These tough 911s were close behind.

Turning back to the Porsches, I took some more photos of the mouth-watering lineup.

This 997 GT3 RS was one of my favourites.

The Boxster Spyder is a fairly new addition to the Porsche range.

Cool cars continued filing past, including this Nissan R32 Skyline GTS-4...

...and it's tougher brother; the 'Godzilla' R32 Skyline GT-R.

A very lumpy V8 caught my attention, emanating from this HRT Holden VL Walkinshaw, originally competing in the Australian Touring Car championship a couple of decades ago.

I'm not sure if it was the genuine article or just a replica; but if so, they did a very good job.

Another R32 Skyline GT-R burbled past as I kept walking.

I then joined a small crowd of people around what was probably one of the most expensive cars there; a Porsche Carrera GT. I'd never had the opportunity to see one in the metal, and spent some time staring and drinking in all the little details.

This matte black Jaguar XK-R was very cool too.

There were more Porsches scattered around.

There was also a late model Mustang, the driver serving as Chaplain for the event.

I took some more photos of the Japanese Motorsport sponsored R32.

It was parked right next to the Supaloc 911.

Nissan Gazelles aren't exactly popular in motorsport circles, so this example must be one of few.

The bright red Just Jap R32 GT-R looked good in the bright sunshine.

As did this Holden Monaro.

It was hard to miss the green striped R32 GTS-4.

The Supaloc Lamborghini Gallardo certainly received its fair share of attention, especially when it was started up.

Getting a bit tired after walking around for a little while with two heavy cameras, I decided to head back to the car, snapping a few more photos on the way back.

Not that I'm even close to being able to work yet, but it was a little bit depressing some of the other professional car photographers in action. 

I feel like it was something that was taken away from me by my health, just as my career was really starting to take off with constant shoots and articles for mags such as Truckin' Life, Extreme Performance, Street Fords, Zoom, High Performance Imports, Power Torque, Street Commodores, Hot 4s, Australian Street Rodding, Caravan & Motorhome, mixed in with some people and architectural photography, and licencing some images for advertising use by Mack Trucks, amongst some print and image CD sales.

Hopefully I can get back to at least doing a little bit, I really hate having to be stuck at home 20 hours a day while my feed machine is pumping the liquid nutrition into me. That said, I'm in the middle of editing my photos down to put together an official portfolio site. Which I'm hoping will help lead to further licencing opportunities for some more passive income, that doesn't require me to physically do things that I'm not up to.

Anyway, I got back to the car with my arms and legs aching a bit, and sat down for a while to do some water, as it was a warm and sunny day,

After sitting down resting for a while, I headed out again, pulling onto the road behind a cool old Bentley convertible. I'm not sure of the model or year, but I would guess it was made in the 1930s or 1940s.

I took a few more photos in a nearby park.

Since it was such a nice day, I went for a long drive through the Barossa and back through the Adelaide Hills. After hearing all the awesome cars in Tanunda, I was curious as to what my car sounded like from the outside. Apart from idling in a workshop or carpark, I'd never had the opportunity to hear it.

So after stopping on the side of a 110km/h signed road, I set up my D90 on a tripod, and proceeded to take off down the road. 

It was worthwhile finding a 110 zone, as it allows you to stretch the car's legs a bit without doing anything illegal.

I think it sounds really good, but I'm obviously a little biased. I took a few more pics, then continued heading back south towards some of my more familiar haunts.