I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I was never a huge fan of the Audi R8's in the aesthetics department. It was a mid-engined V8 beast with a hushed exhaust note, slits instead of eyes, and a big Egyptian stele for a nose. But in all black, I think I finally get it. It's menacing.
When you think of sports cars, you think "sexy." Flowing lines, a howling grunt or roar from an engine, and it needs to look good and come standard with exotic colors. The Audi R8 came in gray traditional Audi silver. It was "sexy" the way Germans think of "sexy," which is to say not very sexy at all. Its Italian cousin, the Lamborghini Gallardo, beat it in the desire department for me.
But now I can see it wasn't un-sexy enough. In this shot, with everything darkened, with nothing but endless gaping maws where radiator vents once were, with paint as formless as staring into a tank of pure, unrefined petroleum, I get it. This beautiful shot is how the Audi R8 was always intended to be.
Photo credit kVk Photography. Used with permission. For more of their work, check out their website and Facebook page. For a desktop version, click here.
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