The Camera Club Johannesburg (CCJ) hosts a curious competition they have dubbed “The Hubcap Rally.” I’m not entirely certain of the origin of the name. Perhaps the first one involved taking photos of wheels while travelling to one’s destination.
The origin of the name aside, the competition itself is a little tricky. In this day of digital photography, people aren’t too phased about pressing the shutter-release button 100 times to get that 1 half-decent image.
The Hubcap Rally gives you the finger on that approach, and says, “Take 24 photos, and submit the best 10 at the end of the day. No deleting any.”
That seems easy enough.
“Oh really? Perhaps I forgot to mention that each photo has to meet certain criteria. I’ll need one abstract, one close-up, a few external, a few internal, a landscape, some people, and so on. How you like me now?”
I still like you fine. I’ll just need to be a little more versatile in my approach. Look at the subject a little differently to how I usually do it. And hey, I’ve always got post-processing in photoshop.
“Nope. As it comes out of the camera is how you submit them.”
Dammit you’ve got a lot of rules. I’ll just have to be extra careful how I compose my shots, and make certain the camera settings are all right before I take the photo.
“One more thing. There is a theme. Your series of photos needs to stick to the theme. When the competition is judged, your ability to stick to the theme counts 50% towards your final score. The other 50% is the quality of the photos.
“Every year it’s different theme. This year I’ve chosen ‘The History of the Voortrekker’s and the Voortrekker Monument.‘”
You psycho.
As if there aren’t already ample photos of the Voortreker Monument out there.
Now there are more. I present my panel of photos. In some bizarre twist of fate, I actually won the competition (though by a very narrow margin). They say constraints stimulate creativity, and the Voortrekker Monument would have been a constraint for me by itself, even without the other limitations.
The Waffle Group 
Wow Neil. Very impressive. You produced some awesome shots. How did you take the shot of Moerdijk and you, or rather, how many of your shots did you use getting that one right?
Thanks.
Tripod. Line up the shot with space for me to fit in. Quinn’s advice on my facial expression. Shutter-release delay.
I just took one — guess I was lucky.
’twas a most cunning challenge indeed. Personally I’m just glad we didn’t completely embarrass ourselves 😉
Those are really good photos Neil! And congrats for winning the competition!
Neil, well done. We commented on how impressed we were with your pics. Your triumph was not a bizarre twist of fate, your panel of photos was most definitely worthy of 1st Place. Congratulations! We look forward to your next artistic creation. ….
Why thank you. You are my parents, so that probably introduces some bias into your opinions that may need to be corrected for. Still, your encouragement is much appreciated.
Hasn’t changed much since I was last there in the 90’s! I liked the story you told with the pictures. Did you plan that up front or work it out afterwards? What prize did you get for winning?
The place is in a nature reserve now. Now sure whether that was the case in the 90’s. There is also a museum downstairs — moved there from some other locaton. But yes, in general, pretty much an unchanging monolith.
Telling the story was an important part of the competition, so I was keeping it in mind the whole time while taking the photos. Then it was a matter of sticking the best ones in the right order.
Prize. Hmm. I think photography was the prize. 😛