1968 Holden Monaro 327 Chevy V8
Look closely at the leading edge of the bonnet
While I was shooting for a car show in Perth, I was approached by the wife of the owner of this car. Kyliegh asked if I wouldn't mind taking a photo of the bonnet of her husbands car.
"just the bonnet?!"
"yes please"
How hard could it be?
Lest We Forget
Look closely at the leading edge of the bonnet
When I saw the car from a distance, I didn't really understand what was special about the car, let alone the bonnet on its own. Its actually fairly well used, a testament to its owner, but still, rough around the edges and beaten in between.
The bonnet however was wrapped in a satin grey wrap that I could see was brand new. And still I didn't get it
Who Dares Wins
it took 3 goes! And 300 km
The owner of the car was a member of the Australian Army SAS and was part of a military exercise being held in Queensland 1996, when a collision occured between two Blackhawks helicopters at night. One chopper crashed immediately killing 12 soldiers. The other was able to make a crash landing but another 6 lives were lost.
After many years of struggling with the devestating loss, he decided to create a memorial to the lives by having their names, along with the Australian Army insignia and the SAS Cap Badge enshrined on the bonnet of his well loved '68 Monaro.
The whole effect is so subtle that it's hardly noticable in daylight and as I found out, took some extraordinary light to reveal in photographs.
The first effort I used a torch to create shadows, which sort of worked and they were happy, but I asked to have another go and two days later I was back.
This time I used a flash and took several shots layering them together. During this process I had an epiphony while working on the images and I asked them if I could come back one more time.
In Memoriam
A True Passion Project
They lived about 50Km from me and I was travelling there and back, determined to get the shot that revealed this mans dedication to his fallen brothers. For this third shoot, I went to bunnings a bought a bunch of polypipe, joiners, elbows and tee pieces, nuts and bolts, and duct tape. Then off to kmart for a single white bed sheet. I was building the biggest softbox I could to give me the right quality of light.
The lighting was so large I needed help to carry out over the top of the car, but it gave the most smooth beautiful light and was exactly the right amount to reveal the letters and insignias.
When I delivered the finished image to Kyliegh and her husband, they were so overwhelmed after many years of trying that he just sat and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. Kyliegh just sat quietly with him offering quiet comfort.
So there's moments, when you're doing a small something for someone and you know it's appreciated, and they're telling you how grateful they are, but you don't know that small thing you're doing, might be the culmination of something that they've been putting all their emotional energy into for such a long time.
In Memoriam