FWD : A Ford.Com Competition

Recently i was contacted by Isaac Sloan and asked if i could help out with taking some photo's of his Ford Fiesta. Isaac had been lucky enough to be one of 30 people that were a part of the "FWD : A Ford" competition http://www.facebook.com/fwdaford# .

Dec 09 Fast Fours & Rotaries Feature

The new issue of Fast Fours Mag came out today, and is the 2009 Yearbook. The issue features my shoot of this clean Gen1 RX7.

2x the flash = 2x the fun. "Freaky Friday" gets strobed.

Since i first started using lighting with my photography, and before i got my media pass i have often said to people "why do the guys on the track use on camera direct flash?" In most cases, as with all photography subjects, it delivers a very harsh light that gives the impression of a spot light held pointing towards the car/person which results in some not too special final images. I do say in most cases, as there are a select few that are able to come away with some great images. Even with this way of lighting. I am however not one of those people....

Another Super Compact win for TCR Racing as WSID track temps soar.

Saturday 15/11 saw Rnd 3 of the WSID Track Championship roll by, and it was no real surprise to see a familiar face take home the Super Compact trophy yet again. However, nothing was made easy for the crews as mother nature yet again played her part. No rain this time, but the extreme opposite, i mean she must have busted the air con or something, it was hot as hell on the track... How hot you ask... Hows 154°F (68°C) sound? With dry wind pushing ambients into the 40's... No fun for the silly buggers trackside taking pic's all day either...

November, what a month its been....

Well, i havnt been posting much latley due to the fact that i have been run down with various other things to do,incuding getting the flu (i dont usually get sick often, but when i do its bad) and have been spending a lot of my time at the track with a camera in front of my face.

Im finally all rigged up...

Got my material for the boom on Friday so cut it up and put it together over the weekend. I got enough piping to make a full 16' boom but after setting it up on my car i am very cautious due to the shere weight of the gear im putting on the end of it. The magic arm combined with my D300 and mammoth 14-24f2.8 its just too much to risk for me atm. im looking into a Sigma 10-20 soon to cut down on weight & so i can utilise ND filters as well.

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So we did a bit of testing late this afternoon at my mates house (not the best location but meh) with my partners VW Golf and my mates EVO9. Used a 8' section of the boom for a full car shot (just) of the Golf, and a 4' boom on the rear window of the Ev0 for a partial composition (still worried bout using it on the alloy panels)

We were all pretty amazed at the stability of the setup and the results that came out first time.

here are the results...

i did take another camera to grab some setup shots but in all the fuss and making sure the car passing through the street didnt hit the boom/car/me i forgot to snap them. Ahh well, plenty of time for setup shots next shoot.

Now all i have to do is organise some new cars and decent locations........

Fast Fours magazine feature - Alex's Monster EVO3 Streeter

Some months ago i got to shoot this awsome EVO3 GSR Street car owned by Alex Helou for Fast Fours magazine.

Rig gear has arrived!!

I finally bit the bullet and ordered the gear to make up my car rig.

2x Avenger F1000's (may look into a 3rd one down the track if needed)
3x Manfrotto Super Clamps
1x Manfrotto Magic Arm.

Big thanks to John @ http://www.rigshots.com/ for the quick turn around. Was soo much easier buying it all from one place from someone that can give you first hand advice on exactly what you intend on using it for.

Now all i need is to make up a boom this week and get it onto a car!

Stay tuned...

Jason.

WSID Bracket meet cancelled due to bad weather...

Mother Nature must be a V8 Supercars fan wanting everyone to focus on the Bathurst 1000 as she rained down on the WSID strip and put a premature end to the days racing after only a hours racing.

Time to get trackside...

Today i finally recieved my ANDRA National Media Accreditation pass in the mail and just in time for the up-coming events at WSID this month.

Sport Compact Drag Racing at its finest

August 29-30 saw the 19th running of the Fast Fours Jamboree at Qld's Willowbank Raceway. This event is by far the biggest and most anticipated meeting in the Aus Sport Compact scene. With participants and spectators coming from all over Aus and even oversea's to see some of the biggest names in the scene battle out for top spot! PAC Performance, GAS Motorsport, the Rayglass crew from NZ and even a visiting Titan crew from the USAall keen to push thier cars to the limit for our viewing pleasure. What more could you ask for??

Oz Drag Racing at its best

Over the past month we have had 2 huge drag racing events in Oz with the biggest Sport Compact meet of the year the Fast Fours Jamboree 19 in late Aug at Willowbank Raceway QLD, and over this weekend the 2009 Fuchs Aus Nationals at Sydney's WSID.

Over the next week i should have images up in a gallery on my new website, until then, get to WSID tomorrow for the last day of drag mayhem!

Jason

Import Tuner "Longshots"

Had an image selected for print in the US based, Import Tuner Magazine's "Long Shots" section. Nothing major but still happy to have my work appreciated on any level, especially from an oversea's mag. The images is top left, a tuff R32 Skyline shot at WSID "Compac Attak" Event March 09

Jason.

Trip to a little place called Tasmania...

Well, there are some times i like to take a break from cars and shoot something on a much grander scale. My fiance' and i were invited on a trip to Tassy with my brother and his partner, and as it is known world wide for having some of the nicest landscapes who were we to turn it down.

A misty start to another WSID Test n Tune

Saturday 11/7 saw another Test n Tune day commence at WSID. As i made the effort to get to the track a bit earlier this time i was welcomed by a thick fog that spread over the whole complex. There were already a lot of eager crews out and about getting cars off trailers and prepping to hit the strip.

First feature hits the stands

Today was a good day for me, my first published shoot/feature hit the stands. The feature was on the V6TT Datsun 1200 Ute that i mentioned a few posts back for "Sport Compact Drag Racer" Magazine's issue 3.

How can people be so stupid??

In my normal day to day life i am a retail manager in an automotive spares store, and like all retail stores over the past few years i have had many a customer come back with complaints about products that are apparently faulty, or they had been given the incorrect parts etc...

Steve's R6

A mate of mine purchased this Yamaha R6 a while ago as a bit of a project, the bike had been dropped by the previous owner but structurally and mechanically still sound and had very low K's.

The original plan was to fix up the plastics, give it a new paint job, a quick tidy up and sell it off, but when do things ever go as planned...

WSID Test n Tune wrap up

Saturday 14/6 saw another Test n Tune come and go with some very tuff and well prepared cars improve their PB's, test out new componants and tuning and generally give the cars a good workout in preperation for upcomming bracket meets and of course the eagerly anticipated Fast Fours jamboree in late August.

WSID Test n Tune 14/6

After many attempts to have my days off line up with a WSID test n tune i finally had some luck. Was really good to get out there and have a great selection of cars ready to hit the track.

Workin on that first published feature...

Since I picked up my first DSLR about 3-4 years ago I always thought how cool it would be to one day be able to produce images that would be worthy to go along side some of the great work I see in the magazines I buy every month. I set myself a goal to increase my skill level behind the camera and have my work published. Nothing too hard right??

I have been shooting cars in my spare for almost 2 years, mainly for friends,family and anyone else who had heard of my work and wanted some nice photo's of there pride and joy to hang on the wall. This helped me out with buying new gear and also give me some extra $$ to throw around. Each time I would do a shoot and proudly show off the results to the people around, every time I would get the same comments,"Why dont you send these into a magazine, surely they are worthy?" Why, well im my own biggest critic, and a harsh one at that...

Moving on, a few months ago a set up shoot with my mates Mazda RX3 Drag car, a very tuff car indeed that I had been a fan of for years. The shoot was a succes from my point of view, and my mate was happy with the results so I decided, what the hell, i'll send this one in to a magazine and see what happens...

I contacted the editor of a new magazine that was just starting out and was right up my alley. It was also dedicated to the specific class of drag racing the RX3 was for, awsome! The reply I got was simple " We would love to have your photo's in our mag, send them in and we will get a feature written up asap." Needless to say, I was over the moon!!

After a few chats with the editor I had lined up a few other cars for features and got started on organising shoots. The magazine is currently a quartley publication so feature spots are a premium. I have tried to source cars that are interesting and new to increase my chances of a hit.This included my latest shoot last week of a Tuff little datsun 1200 Ute that has just come onto the scene owned by Dave Wilzig.

The little ute is being pushed along by a rather odd powerplant to see in a car like this, a V6 Holden Commodore engine. And if that not crazy enough for you, it also has not 1 but 2 turbo's strapped on the side. Remember, this little shoe box of a car came out of the factory with a sub 1.5L 4cyl engine that was lucky to have enough power move anything larger that a few bale's of hay in the back and old farmer in the drivers seat, let alone cover 400m in anything even close to respectable. But this thing now punches out a crazy 600+hp and shoots down the 1/4mile in 8 sec flat.

The shoot was done at Dave's workshop of choice V&E Rigoli in Wetherill Park Sydney, starting at a cold 8am. This location worked out great as the weather outside was anything but desirable. I wanted to go for that gritty, de saturated workshop feel and have the car under the spotlight so to speak so it really popped out from the background.

To accomplish this I grabbed my 3xNikon sb800 speedlights and got to work. Positioning the flash heads low (where able) & aiming into the wheel arches to hide as much of the hot spots as possible. Shooting bare to ensure i get all the available light from them i was able to highlight the car and make it stand out from the underexposed back drop of the workshop, this really put the focus on the car. Without the use of the flash guns this would have been a difficult result to achieve and the car would have blended in with the toolboxes and other workshop equiptment. A few hours later and a lot of work to move the car around the shoot was done.

This Shoot is being used for a full feature on Daves off tap ute in next months "Sport Compact Drag Racer" magazine due on stands 24 June, keep an eye out for it and let me know what you think. I will update this with some finnished images soon as well as some from my other recent shoots.

Jason

Well here it is... Welcome!

Well I finally did it, I jumped on the band wagon and set up a Blog.
I figured why not, there may be people out there somewhere that are interested in what I do and its another way for me to share what I see and do with my life, well some of it anyway...

My name is Jason, im 26yo, live just south of Wollongong, NSW Australia, and im a car crazy, photo snappin nutter that is trying to combine his 2 favorite hobbies together.

I plan on throwing up a mix of things I see and do, including some of my work behind the camera, my obsession with cars & even some more personal things with family and friends.

So hang around, you may see something you like... All the cool kids are doin it!



Jason