Elephants Trumpet

One of things I love about what I do is getting an email from someone - particularly a stranger - inquiring about a print to hang in their home. I’m always so surprised and touched by these requests, as it let’s me know I must be doing something right.

Most recently, for example, Louise Hermann, the step-daughter of Edgar Hermann, the famous Kenyan rally driver, contacted me. She wanted to know if she could buy a print of this image of Edgar’s race car. Edgar had just died and she wanted to get a large print as a gift for her husband, Edgar’s son, as a way to honor their father.

Wow. I was kinda blown away by Louise’s story. That her father-in-law is Edgar Herrmann, a hero of mine. That she lives in Thailand and somehow found me. That she wanted MY image of her father’s 240Z. Language was speechless to describe how I felt. Of course we sent her a print.

The photograph, by the way, is of the classic Datsun 240Z which Edgar Hermann and his co-driver, Hans Schuller, raced in the East African Safari Rally in 1973. It was beat to s**t, which was no surprise given how insanely punishing the race is to both man and machine - 3,300 miles over 4 days, in which 89 crews started but only 18 finished. Unbelievable. These guys were crazy. I think camels were the least of their obstacles. Shot as part of an amazing opportunity I had to photograph the cars collected in the Nissan Heritage Museum in Japan.