SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Whipped Up: the Porsche Cayman GTS shoot

1 March, 2015

I have a little disclaimer to make before I get started. This post is not about driving the car, nor is it about reviewing it. It’s more a story of the shoot and how it all comes together to achieve something like this. I’m one of the photographers/videographers here at Parkside Media and The Motorhood and I have been shooting for around four years. I’m no car reviewer — I’m more obsessed with photography than the subjects. With that in mind, I’m here to discuss what I do and how the show has come together. 

I’m becoming increasingly captivated with shooting things in certain manners or ways. I was always obsessed with perfection, but it’s become harder to achieve my ideal atmosphere when constantly shooting cars for a publication. Unlike shooting for myself or a for client, the planning is quite minimal and often everything’s done on the fly. It’s definitely challenged me and my knowledge at times but it’s also given birth to some great ideas, and horrible ones at the same time. It doesn’t help that I’m always a bit of a planning freak too. 

People seem to forget that it is a job. I am out here to work and my work is photography. It just so happens that it involves cars along the way — photos come first, however. In the time I’ve been shooting cars I’ve learnt how to make the most of a situation and capture the scene. Working in a private suburb, the Porsche Cayman was shot with a regal, expensive feel in mind; something that captures the exquisite elegance of a Porsche.

I shot this car out in the country at a location that I have always wanted to use. I drove past it nearly every day for a few years and it made me wonder if it was possible to get a car there and do a shoot. The circumstances came together and the shoot was booked to go ahead. I packed my gear, using a Sony A7S and a Canon 7D, and set out to shoot a series of portraits of the new Porsche.

Some people will not agree with the Cayman. The Cayman is a new take on the classic Porsche 911 styling and, if anything, it’s one of the only new variations in many years. The Boxer came out but was regarded as a more feminine car, and the Cayman is still trying to find its feet. This model does come with a new design, new engineering, and a revised thought process. It is truly a modernized, new take on the classic Porsche design aesthetic. 

If anything, I wonder how the Cayman will survive, and what impact it will have on the Porsche brand in the years to come. I feel that the move is bold and courageous and will only reinforce Porsche as a heritage motoring icon. With the likes of the recently released Cayman GT4, it’s hard not to appreciate the work put into the car. 

As shown in the shoot however, it’s easily a daily driver as much as it is a race car. With a few simple flicks of various dials and switches, the car can be transformed from a Honda Accord to a Porsche GT3 RS in mere seconds. It’s a daily race car — the car that people have been asking for, but only few have received. With that in mind, I feel the car will make a significant impact on the outlook of Porsche.

The name ‘911’ is synonymous with Porsche. Many will consume on the basis of having a 911 and being able to become a part of a history, which unlike the Cayman, the 911 does allow for. It’s hard to truly say where to from here but I think the Cayman is a step in the right direction and a car that needs to be shown more often. However, with the Lotus Evora 400 coming out, which vehicle is going to take the crown in this small sector of motoring?

Although it may be a higher model than the one I’m featuring, the strength of the design comes through in the video and is most definitely worth watching.

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

The writing on the wall

25 September, 2026

Deven, a digital content producer in his 20s, says it was the rear-drive Nissan and Toyota drift cars that fired his imagination in his not-so-distant youth and soon had him wanting one of his own. However, like most of us, he had to start in something less glamorous – in his case, a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. After that, he bought a four-litre V8 1991 Toyota Soarer, a big change from the Mitsubishi.
“It was my daily driver, and it wasn’t that bad to run back when petrol was affordable,” he says.
When he got fed up with filling it up, Deven bought a 1989 Ford Laser sedan, a 1.3-litre five-speed manual, to be his daily driver. It’s in very good condition, bought from a careful older driver, and he still runs it – although he will occasionally also drive the latest in a series of Nissan Laurel sedans. His current one, from 1993, has done the lowest number of kilometres yet, at 183,000. It has the single-cam version of the engine in his Skyline.
“I’ve had four different versions of that car. It was just a car I always liked. It’s really comfortable, quite luxurious. I bought it from a 90-year-old in Hamilton. It’s in mint condition, and everything is standard.”