More of Matt’s 350z

I stumbled upon this location while running around buying parts for my bike. I can’t believe I never looked around that area. All the local industrial parks have been used and used and used. They all look the same, cue the garage doors and concrete ramps. This spot however has none of that. I pretty much forced Matt to clean his car up and follow me to this spot. Weather was amazing that day. Almost felt like a spring day. Man I can’t wait for long days and warm nights.

 

 

 

Photographers Block

But here are some recent and old found photos.

Formula D The Gauntlet 2012- The Drifting Photos

Let’s see…how can I compare this last weekend at Wall? Well obviously fun, exciting, and refreshing. But maybe if you can imagine the surface of the sun with high humidity and rubber raining on you, then thats how Wall felt. This was my first time shooting FD, and going into it knowing the weather report almost put a damper on my enthusiasm. Maybe its just me, but carrying around a bunch of heavy camera gear in 97 degree and 5000% humidity isn’t exactly the best weekend ever. Those negative thoughts faded fast. I wanted to do this forever. I haven’t even been to a FD event before, how could I not want to go? Especially with having the chance to use my passion of photography? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited.

Like I said, it was about 99 on Thursday. Everyone was trying to stay cool one way or another. Even in the shade, because of the humidity, it was still 99 degrees.

Daigo had the right idea. I don’t want to know what its like sitting in a race suit, in a race seat, in a race car.

Thursday is the day teams get to practice and dial in their settings and for a lot of drivers this year, learn the course.

Friday was just as hot as Thursday. This time I had my media vest and could go on track. I used that day as a scouting day. Trying to figure out where to shoot and get the best shots. The grid was nice, it was shaded and I got to get up close to the cars as they would heat up their tires and do sweet burnouts. Probably took a few years off my lungs though.

I love the Watanabes, they look like huge spooling turbos.

JLowe love tapping the wall. Love him and his car <3. No homo.

Later on in the day, Mother Nature decided rain would be a great idea midway through qualifying. This put a damper on photos. No smoke, no speed, no fun. It was interesting watching the drivers compensate for the wet conditions however.

Points had to be adjusted for the drivers that had to qualify in the rain and after the drivers meeting, the fun started. Top 32 practice. The tire smoke made a return as the track dried and drivers ran hard with some close tandem practice.

Saturday Top 32 battle and onto the finals. Thankfully the rain forest humidity let off and temps dropped a bit. I was pumped. The drivers turned it up to 20 battling for a spot in the top 16 and hopefully more. So many great battles ensued during the day. I’ll stop boring you with my writing and let the photos finish this post off. It was a great time for me personally and can’t wait to go back next year.

Quick visit to R/T Tuning

Stopped by R/T on Tuesday since some Formula D teams were storing their cars their. Pat Mordaunt was their with his SC430, RS*R and their S15, Tony Angelo and his Scion Racing TC, and local boy Nick D’Alessio and his S13 were all getting things dialed in before practice on Thursday. It was nice to get up close to these cars without the rush of the crew during an event. And I got to see one of my favorite FD cars, the RS*R S15. Its such a good looking car and getting to see it made the day worth it. Make sure you check these guys go all out tomorrow on the driftstream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shawn’s Low A4

Shot my friend Shawn’s Audi today. Liora kept telling me she needs cars to shoot to practice, so I told her to shoot Shawn’s. Also got to use my rig today. First time using it and I learned a bunch. I am going to make a few adjustments to it, more stability/safety changes. I totally forgot to lower my iso after the test shot. I couldn’t figure out why the camera wouldn’t go slower than 2 secs. It dawned on me about 3 hours later of course. Oh well lesson learned haha.

Club Loose Opening Moves and Spring Moves

Spring is finally here! Along with nice weather and longer days comes the drift season. Its a nice way to dust off the camera gear and get the creative mind going again. The opening event “Opening Moves” from Club Loose takes my 2nd sentence and throws it out the window. It was cold, miserable, and wet. Regardless of the conditions, drivers still came out to rip. I didn’t stay long since I had to work, but still got some decent shots. Now before I post the images, I have to say this. The people on media have to be dedicated. It is not a fun job to do at times, especially this event. Like I stated before, it was cold and wet. Not just wet, but raining. It was horrible. At one point my 70-200 wanted to give up on life. So next time you drivers get sweet shots, just remember what we media people had to go through to get it. I would be lying if I said I had fun because I didn’t. I wasn’t going to go after waking up at 7am to a downpour. However I wanted to see my friends I don’t regularly see. It was nice seeing them, even if it was just a hi/bye moment. Anyway here are some shots from Water…I mean Opening Moves.

Now skip ahead to a month later. Sunny skies, warm(ish) weather, leaves on the trees, hell yea this is what I’m talking about. Spring Moves was more like it. Liora and I got there early so we could get some pit shots and bs with people. After the media meeting we got out on the track and got to work. After a bit of looking thru my previous shots, Sal got a lil to greedy and spun into the jersey barrier before the 2nd turn. He hit pretty hard and smashed up his e36 m3 pretty good. Luckily it wasn’t too bad and he drove off. He’ll be back soon ripping again. I had to peace early again for work and missed hop driving like a maniac into the bank. This might also be the last event I shoot photos at. I’m trying to move into video and been buying equipment to better assist me. I have no idea how to use an video editing software so we will see how it goes haha. Wish me luck.

52 Week 6 & 7

 

2011 Look back…

So I never have gone back after the new year and looked over my images from the now past year. I usually just forget about the past stuff and keep shooting. Well this year was amazing for me. I was in another slump and forgot what I did with a camera. However midway thru 2011, my girlfriend and family got me off my ass and out of my photo block. I am so happy they pushed me back into it and got my creative mind back. I have truly amazing people in my life.

So I was looking back thru my Lightroom  catalog and found shots I really enjoyed. Here are a few…

I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings. I will tell you what it won’t bring, the end of the world.