Orcas - Where can I find some Orcas?

I'll come clean:

• I have an engineering and business degree;
• I operate best with structure;
• I routinely have to check with my wife to make sure my choice of clothing "works" - or at least doesn't scream, "I got dressed in the dark this morning";
• I think in bullet points;
• My doodles are geometric shapes...

In sum, I live in a left-brained world. And that is the problem with this blog.

Why is this a problem you ask? Well, as I have grown-up I have noticed that Uncle Bill has dual citizenship in the left and right brain. And, often, when it comes to choice in cars, he pulls out his passport for the right.

So how do I speak the language of a right-brained person? How do I communicate the appealing aesthetics of the Ford Fiesta with only words and pictures? How do I convince my Uncle to buy a car he has not seen in person, when visual appearance is the main deciding factor?

The answer came - unexpectedly - in a conversation with my boss.

I had previously told him about my opportunity to drive the Fiesta and that I welcomed any input about how I could sell Uncle Bill a Fiesta through a blog. Later, he mentioned that he had read some of the write-ups of other Ford employees who had test-driven the car and there was one in particular that he liked.

"Have you seen the one with the killer whales?" he asked. "You need to find some killer whales."

Thoughts of some crazy, over-zealous Ford employee who had driven the car into the ocean just so he could get a photo-op with Shamu, went through my mind. He could tell I was puzzled so he said, "Check this out."

This is what he showed me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41107624@N05/3794152374/in/photostream/

Ah! The secret is orcas.

No problem - find some orcas, snap a photo with the car in front...done.

Except where do you find an orca in Detroit? Or Southeast Michigan?

Don't worry, I didn't spend much time really looking for orcas (aside: orcas is one of those words that if said multiple times really starts to sound odd). But the message from my boss was clear. I needed to snap some photos of the Fiesta that somehow had a few shards of artistry to them - pictures that would appeal to the right-brained folks out there - like Uncle Bill.

On the Saturday that I had the car, I loaded up the family and we took a road trip through the back roads of Michigan. During the car ride, we started seeing barn after barn. Some old, some new and a lot of them refurbished.

So here is my attempt (however feeble) at a few right-brained pictures in front of my favorite barn (with special thanks to random guy Chris who let us drive on his lawn and snap some pics):


My apologies to Jed C. (Uncle Bill's nephew) who is quite an accomplished car photographer - but this is the best I could do.

My boss was partly right - I needed some appealing photography - but perhaps not orcas.

Didn't find them

Didn't need them

Oh, and one more photo that I need to include. This may not have much artistic value, but I liked it anyway - I call it the "angry insect."


I've got a few others to share - but I'll save them for the next post.