JULY 2009 – The dirty back of a blue Ford Focus rental car carries a Nova Scotia numberplate with the tagline Canada’s Ocean Playground. Photo © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
I like to shoot the rental cars I drove on my various longer trips, and I really don’t know why. Most likely it is because I (typically) pick up the car in a clean, almost like-new condition, and return it technically OK but dirty. Not that I return the car soiled or smelly or anything – I’d hate that too! But the paint and interior are usually covered with dust and sand.
Exhibit A (the photo above) shows the dirty back of our 2009 Ford Focus SE that we had rented for the long trip from Halifax to Montreal in Canada. Fortunately, the North American car rental companies are pretty relaxed when it comes to such minor issues. (Not so the Namibian companies, by the way, who inspect your car for 20-30 minutes upon return.)
And here’s one thing I really love about the North American numberplates: the taglines that (typically) advertise your states and provinces. Here, the Nova Scotia numberplate shows Canada’s Ocean Playground which is soo true. And helpful, because driving in the city of Montreal with a Nova Scotia numberplate signalled to other drivers ‘someone from the real countryside’, and they were much more forgiving to our slow driving. At least that was my impression.
In 2002, I had the pleasure of driving a car with a B.C. registration, and I loved their tagline as well: Beautiful British Columbia. Again, sooo true.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date & Time | 11-JUL-2009, 13:47 |
| Location | Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Camera | Canon EOS 5D |
| Lens | Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM |
| ISO | 400 |
| Exposure | 1/500 sec at f/8 |
| Digital Image Source Format | Canon Camera RAW (CR2) |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4368 x 2912 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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