A Green Visitor

This photo looks like a pit stop on a road trip. It’s a pretty straightforward photo, the sort you take just to remind yourself where you are. The sports car is the protagonist. It is a bright lime green, or nearly so. It appears very contemporary and very low and wide, with a glossy finish somewhat reminiscent of a racing car. It’s just out there in a big open parking lot, neatly parked in between two lines of a car parking space. The hero of the car, but the real tale is where are they. Just behind it, you can see the cause of the stop: a sign reading “小倉山展望台 & 小倉山Cafe.” This is a viewing platform and a small restaurant which is an ideal venue to enjoy a distant view. And the views are amazing.” Behind the parking lot, the terrain falls away, and the distant crinkled shapes of mountains lie hazy beyond. The sky is light blue with soft, white clouds. This is good, clean scenery without any distractions.

The contrast is what makes the image pop. You’ve got this gaudy, man-made machine perched right on the cusp of this enormous, serene natural scene. It’s like having two different planetary systems in the same image. The car feels somewhat discomfited, if charmingly so, as if it were some kind of time traveller. The photo is not perfectly centered. The car is slightly off-center to the left, which makes it feel authentic, like it wasn’t posed for the camera. The light’s a little too flat, like it’s mid–day or something.