Once again I have neglected this blog quite a bit over the past few months but I thought that to make up for it I would look back at my work from 2010 and try to pick out my favourite frames. It may seem like a simple thing to do however, any photographer would know, scanning through terabytes of files before sifting through them to pick out the best is anything but simple.
This post is more about the images that anything else so i will keep the chatter to a minimum and let the images do the talking. They are in no specific order however; I have tried to keep certain things in groups for no reason other than I figured they should go together.... Let's start shall we?
A big majority of my photographic work is event coverage and by far the highlight event for me in 2010 was the World Time Attack Challenge held at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney. The atmosphere during the event was amazing and the car; oh don't get me started about them... Their quality and performances were amazing!
The above image is of my favourite car of the event. The Pan Speed FD. And this was not just because it was a rotor either. The car was, in my eyes, perfect in every way and that's all I’m going to say.
Driver Kouta Sasaki was a cool-cat as well, having no problem interacting with the annoying media folk as you can see in this photo. This image is in fact one of my favourites from the event and funnily-enough, one of the hardest to capture due to the craziness of the pit area. It was the exact shot I was after which made me pretty happy to say the least.
You can't talk about the 2010 WTAC without mentioning gun-driver, Eiji 'Tarzan' Yamada. The man is amazing behind the wheel and watching him fly around ECR in both the awesome Cyber Evo and Tomei/Cusco WRX was a great experience for me.
Another super-tough car at the event was the wide 'n' low R-Magic FD
The Fernandez Motorsport XR6T Falcon was a car I was keen-as to see hit the track at the WTAC. Unfortunately despite a solid effort, the car was unable to keep up with the imports. It wasn't for lack of power though, that's for sure. I feel that after some more track time, this car will post lap time more indicative of its build. Check it out here as driver Jose Fernandez locks up the front brakes coming into turn two.
Who needs full racing slicks? Not these guys.
WTAC was the first circuit event I have shot and it also provided me with my first taste of drift, from a photography point of view anyway. While admittedly Panning has never been one of my strong-suits, after a bit of practice I managed to get the hand of it.
Shooting these cars as they run flat-out at high speed into the corners, sliding door-to-door was a real buzz.
Drifting into, through and out of corners at highway speeds, it certainly must get the heart pounding and the adrenalin pumping.
During the time it took me to get the hang of panning with these guys, I tried to get some different angles where possible. Like this low shot of the eventual Drift Challenge winner, Beau Yates in his AE86.
This R32 left huge smoke trails through each and every corner like it was nothing
Who say's you need a sports coupe to drift?
Nicely crossed-up if I do say so myself...
Well-known drift personality, Danny Vahoumis took this corner a bit too wide in his S15 as he tried to out-perform Beau Yates's turbo'd Sprinter
Another first for me in 2010 was shooting the 2010 Meguiar's MotorEx. As one of, if not the biggest and most prestigious car shot in the country, MotorEx provided a plethora of immaculately-presented machines for me to point my lense at.
Watching the response from the massive crowds as a number of stunning cars were unveiled for the first time was cool.
Another awesome part of the event for me was shooting the Charity dinner for Motor Active. I got to meet Meguiar's head-honcho Barry Meguiar which was pretty cool.
He is quite the TV personality and it was cool to see him at work, filming during the event for his show in the US and online, 'Car Crazy'.
Drag racing, as you would already know, is what makes up a large majority of my work and so, I have included a heap of shots from various events I attended in 2010
One of the sickest cars out there, Jeremy Callaghan's twin turbo 427ci LSX Torana is a thing of beauty!
Everybody loves wheelstands so I here are my favs from the year gone by.... My decisions were made based on my love of tough, street-based drag cars and stuff that's outside the square so to speak.
This image of the PANNIC RX3 wheels-up is my favourite. Great timing, combined with the off-camera flash resulted in an awesome image both sharp and clear. What do you think? It’s a decent effort hey!
This street-driven Mazda 1000 ute is a very cool rig. The combination of a potent 13BT engine, light-weight chassis and sticky slicks results in awesome wheelstands as you see here.
VWs are notorious for lifting the front wheels with ease due to the lack of weight over the front end and engine in the rear. Westside Muffler's Beetle, dubbed 'JUNKA', manages to scrape its bee-sting exhaust on every pass. I figured a low angle from the rear would result in an interesting shot and this was the result.
Ok, well this might not look like the wildest wheelstand you've ever seen but take one thing into account about Paul Mouhayet's Skyline. What you're looking at is a 4WD GTR lifting the front wheels before laying down an eight-second pass on drag radials. Nuf said!
The Pro Street guys love their nitrous and when they move into stage and purge the system, it can make for some cool shots with the off-camera lighting. Check out the snaps below of Peter Pronesti's Mod Street LJ and Craig Hewitt's Pro Street VL. PSSSSSHHHHHHHTTT..... Even Brian Earl Spilner would be proud!
One of the upsets of the year was the horrific accident involving Steven 'Junior' Abreu's and Anthony Daquino's RX3s. Steven is a close personal friend of mine as it was very upsetting to watch the car barrel-rolling violently several times after crossing the line at over 140mph.
This is the lauch on the cars last pass. As usual, straight-as and on a mission...
but sadly ending up like this in the deep end. Amazingly Steve and Anthony managed to walk away relatively unscathed however; the same cannot be said about the cars.
Rodney Rehayem's RX3 is my all-time favourite Sport Compact drag car and one that I cannot get enough of shooting! Unfortunately, Rodney's car also came to grief colliding heavily with the Sydney Dragway wall late in the year. Thankfully the car is repairable and although Rodney did sustain some serious spinal injuries, he is on-route to make a full recovery and will be back in the driver’s seat in 2011.
Speaking of Pac Performance. How could anyone forget the amazing feat the Pac crew have managed over the last few months of 2010. Setting, defending, taking back and extending the world record for the fastest rotary. Their determination and drive is that to be admired by all motorsport fans and it is this that will see them continue to excel in 2011.
George Rehayem's smile says it all. 6.58@208mph!
Jason
