dakar rally driver

Hitting the dunes with Miss Poland & Saluki Motors

Mark and I go back a dozen or so years. I still worked as an experiential marketing manager for Land Rover when he first came knocking on our door. He had a passion for rally driving, which we supported and had also branded his pimped up Land Rover Defender.

To me, Mark was a pure example of following your passion and doing what you love. At one stage he left his comfortable, stable corporate job to start his own car garage, Saluki Motors, which he turned into a go-to brand. Now he uses his rally knowledge for training and 4×4 experiences. A great showcase of following and evolving your passion.

Wouter-Kingma-Blog-for-Saluki-post-2 I was in Oman when Mark got in touch again and I immediately knew it would be for something good. A brief chat and he’d caught my attention with his unique combination of  former Miss Poland, Marcelina and his motorbikes. 

 Soon after, I found myself in the desert with Marcelina Zawadzka and Marek Dabrowski, a Dakar Rally driver from Team Orlen. Our gig was short and sweet. Marek and Marcelina’s brief was to rampage the Polaris buggy through the dunes. They were to go hard and fast, rev the engine and get some crazy sand flying. I got them to follow the crest up the dune straight into the sun then quickly dialled down on exposure and hit the shutter. Now covered in sand, I knew I’d banked the shot. Afterwards, Marcelina stood in for a few portraits. It’s always a joy working with pro models. 

 Wouter-Kingma-Blog-for-Saluki-post-1

Many thanks to Mark for the inspiration, the crew at Saluki Motors for keeping us out of trouble and our Polish friends for a great afternoon. Till the next.

Wk.