Qualifying is always held the Thursday before the race, and this year BITD decided to bring back the bunny jumps in the qualifying loop. While they’ve been used the past two years in the October race, this section hasn’t been used for qualifying for quite some time. Before one of the jumps got filled in with gravel (thanks BITD) it was an awesome spot for photos.

That’s not to say you can’t get some good photos there anymore, the great thing about the desert is that the terrain is always changing, and even if you try and fill in a silt hole with gravel, mother nature and 700 horsepower always brings it back. I never like to stay in one spot for very long so I spent the two lap qualifying session moving around to a few different areas. If you stay stationary you just become complacent. Moving around, even when you know you’re at a good spot challenges yourself and makes you look for different angles.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from Thursdays qualifying session.

These are off the second bunny jump, for the first lap most racers were checking up on the first jump but hitting the second.


This is a spot I shot last year, which is a small g-out right after a slight right hand turn.

One shot that to me never gets old is the photo from outside a sandy/silty turn (at safe distance of course, that’s why we have zooms) with the car shooting a big roost in the sky. Its always very dynamic and does a good job showing what separates this sport from pavement racing.



This photo is from that same sandy corner but shot from the inside.

The week before the race we bought a 2004 Toyota 4runner, so this race was its maiden voyage. I’ve been looking for one for a while now and finally came across one we liked. Having 4wd now definitely makes scouting much better as you don’t have to worry about getting stuck and can go in places were 2wd would be too risky. Paradigm and I spent most of Friday looking for some new spots to shoot at. Parker is a great course but because the laps are so long and the course is spread out it can be a challenge to cover the whole course.

For the first lap I went right off the start to where they first get on the dirt from the start line in town. Parker is notorious for dust in the morning so this would let me get shots of all my clients and not have to worry about dust being an issue.

The next spot I went to was towards the end of the course to catch everyone one more time on their first lap. It’s a good spot because there is a small flyer at the end of a large straight away, so pretty much everyone catches air off it. Its also a good spot because you can shoot it from a few different angles.

A few miles down the course would be the next spot that I would shoot. While prerunning the day before we came across a little silt pocket. We figured come race day, and after 200+ cars go over it on the first lap, that by the second lap rolled around it would be more chewed up. Looks like we were right! Its always nice to find new spots on the course so that you aren’t shooting the same thing year in and year out.

The spot wasn’t a high speed section so it let you move around to get a bunch of different angles. That’s what is so nice about shooting in silt, even slower speeds look dramatic because the silt is so light.

The result of these shots was not only cool looking photos, but also pockets full of silt and rocks.

A few more at the same spot, but from the other side of the course. These different photos show that you don’t need to stay stationary, get up and move around and you can make one spot look completely different. All these shots were all taken within a 20 foot diameter from the silt pocket.

For lap 3 I caught the leaders one last time about 10 miles before the finish at a turn that I typically shoot at each year. I usually shoot it tight, so this time I decided to try and change it up and shoot it a bit wider.

We were planning on leaving the race from there, but on the way out we decided to stop at a part on the course that in years past was always a nasty spot, but this year it was bladed and filled in with dirt. Like usual the desert always returns to its old ways and by now a pretty good sized hole had developed. The light was starting to creep behind the mountains so it gave for some interesting lighting. This first photo is one of my favorites from the race, so I’m definitely glad we stopped on the way out.

So that does it for the first blog entry of 2012, keep an eye out for more entries as the year goes on! You can see my full gallery from this race by clicking the link below, also check out more of my favorite photos from this race by clicking the thumbnails below. Thanks for looking!

2012 BITD Parker 425 Gallery

Because of scheduling and the locations of the TORC series I wasn’t able to make it out to any of the previous races this year, but I always make it a goal to shoot the Fall Crandon race. The course is much different then all the LOORRS venues in that its spread out over a large area where all the Lucas tracks are crammed in on themselves. Photography wise the track is a photographers dream with nice dark dirt, green trees in the background, and much more freedom to explore the track for photo spots.

Here are my top 15 shots from the weekend, already can’t wait for next year!

1.

This is a shot of Kyle Leduc throwing his Pro 4 into the final turn during racing on Friday. I slowed down my shutter speed to help get a sense of motion, and luckily some of the truck is in focus so I can officially label this photo as “artsy”.

2.

What I like about this shot is the lighting, on Friday because there was the parade and they were making up a previous round, the Pro 2 race was held later in the day. While shooting the big table top jump head on I turned around and noticed the trucks passing by and the light painting the trucks and their dust trail.

3.

This is a shot of Johnny Greaves standing next to his son CJ who is about to race his prolite. It tells the story of one of the best short course racers of all time teaching his son who is a rising star of the sport.

4.

The crowds in Crandon are what help make it such an awesome track. This shot was taken during the first race of the day, and the stands are already packed with diehard race fans.

5.

For the Pro Buggy race I wanted to shoot from atop a platform where I could shoot turn one from behind, so I headed over there before the start of the Super Truck race to get into position. Well I didn’t get there in time before they came around so I hung out in a little valley in the middle of the course to wait it out. While standing there I saw a nice potential photo with a bunch of greenery taking up most of the composition of the shot. Sometimes your favorite photos aren’t the ones you planned for, I think being a good photographer is being able to adapt to your surroundings.

6.

Speaking of planned shots, this is one that I had planned out. There is another tall platform on the course used by a track official to see an overview of the track. If you hate heights its not the place for you, its about 60 feet high and held up by four steel poles that were probably welded together 50 years ago, and almost completely rusted. I wanted to get a shot with the full field in the photo and the Prolite class was the only field with enough entries to fill out the photo. The composition, the clouds, the dark dirt, green trees all make the photo.

7.

Shooting from the same platform but with a longer lens during the Pro 4 race, I was able to get this shot of four trucks all in a four wheel drift around a turn which you couldn’t get from standing track level.

8.

The story of the weekend was the weather, and during the Pro 4 race on Sunday the track became muddy as rain hit the track. Here Steve Barlow hits a puddle after he slid off the landing zone off the big table top.

9.

I think that is a Nissan, I think that’s Chad Hord, and I think its a Pro 2.

10.

No this isn’t a robot, its Rob MacCachren after the Pro 2 race on Sunday.

11.

I still argue that offroad photographers have some of the worst conditions to shoot in sports. Most sports stop with rain, dust, silt, and mud. Not us!

12.

One of my favorite spots on the course to shoot from is on the inside of turn 2. They have all their speed from the land rush start and go into a full speed drift around this corner. Its a challenging shot when you try to pan with it because they are coming by you so fast, but also because they aren’t parallel with your pan, they are coming at you at about a 45 degree angle so its harder to get that perfect pan, here is the best one from this year.

13.

Love him or hate him Brian Deegan can drive, and when he wins he always lets out his full emotions which make for good photographs.

14.

This is a shot from the last turn before the big table top, its another shot that shows the deep rich dirt of Crandon that I love.

15.

For only the second time in the history of the cup race, Chad Hord put a Pro 2 across the finish line before any of the Pro 4 trucks could catch them. If you ask anyone Chad is one of the nicest racers around so it was great to see him and his family celebrate the win, which he said was the biggest of his career.

So those are some of my favorite shots from Crandon this year, below you can view some other photos from the weekend. Till next time!

2011 TORC Fall Crandon

Like all BITD races qualifying happens before the race to determine starting positions for the Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars. I drove up in the morning to Las Vegas to the qualifying area which was off Apex Road where the SNORE Mint 400 course is ran. I knew it was going to be a long day the second I stepped out of my truck and felt the heat of the sun.

I got there a little early so that I could scope out the course a little bit, and look for some potential photo spots. About half the course was run on the mint course so I know what was there, but the first half of the qualifying loop was new. About a mile from the start line there was some orange danger markers so I made the trek to see what it was. It was a 10 minute walk, I always time myself so that I can factor that in on how long I can stay at a spot. If I know I need to be on the road after an hour, I have to factor in the time it takes to get back to the truck.

At the danger markers there was a nice drop off that was about 10 feet tall, and had a pretty good grade to it. Honestly I figured that spot wouldn’t be that great thinking most would just slow way down, but it turned out to be a great spot and I got some photos that were my favorite from the weekend. A few jumped off it, most slowed down but not enough to where they left the ground a bit landing hard at the bottom, and even those that slammed on their brakes would throw some silt at the top.

On Thursday Bink and I spent most of the day looking for photo spots since there was no prerunning before the race. I always like to be prepared on where I’ll be going race day, usually over preparing, but I think its important to have a game plan ready. We spent about 5 hours going from spot to spot to try and find the best spots that were fairly easy to get to, and would let us get our clients multiple times.

The first spot I went to was right off the highway before Pit 1 at race mile 32. Its not an exciting spot but its early in the race and far enough from the second spot that I could catch the top 20 guys, and still catch the leader at spot #2.

The next spot I went to was about 30 minutes up the highway, with another 5 minute drive down a graded road to race mile 116. I chose this spot because it was a nice 90 degree turn, and also that less then a quarter mile back on the graded road the course crossed at race mile 167. So this would let me get everyone I needed to at RM116, with enough time to run over to the road crossing and catch them again.

I started on the inside of the turn with my wide angle.

After a few more cars I moved to the outside to get a little different perspective.

After all my clients went by I drove down the road to RM167. I hiked backwards a little on the course and found a decent chicane in the road. Wasn’t anything special but was able to get everyone one more time.

The last spot that I went to was up before Pit 9 near race mile 318. Looking at the race course on google earth there was an access road that led to a 90 degree right hand turn. Like the first spot I shot if from a few different angles to mix things up.

Head on.

Larry Roeseler in the Terrible Herbst Trophy Truck came by with only reverse, just cruising by on a sunday drive. They would make it to Pit 9 and get the transmission replaced and go on to finish the race.

Congrats to all the racers who put on a great show as usual, and thanks to BITD for putting on another great event. You can check out all my photos from the race by clicking on the link below. Enjoy!

2011 BITD Vegas 2 Reno Photos

This was my fourth NHRA race that I have shot so I’m pretty comfortable how the weekend goes and know what to expect. My main assignment with Mark is to cover all the factory Toyota drivers, so I have to make sure that I get plenty of good shots of all of them. When the Funny Cars or Top Fuel Dragsters aren’t racing you’ll either find me in the media room editing or walking around the pits looking for Toyota personalities. Here are a few non racing shots that were used.

One particular shot that I like getting are the closeups of the drivers right before they head out to the start line. You can see the determination in their eyes and always make for some cool photos if you frame it right.

My best photograph from the weekend came from when I was shooting top end (area after the finish line) when John Force blew the body of his Funny Car after his engine exploded shortly after the start. Its not the best photograph in the sense of composition, lighting, etc, but getting a shot of the biggest name in drag racing doing something like that is rare.

Here is a screen capture of the same shot up on Sports Illustrated website.

Now on to the racing. Spencer Massey would end up taking the win in Top Fuel Dragster, and John Force won for Funny Car.

I had a great time out in Denver and look forward to shooting out there again, here are some more of my favorite shots from the weekend. Enjoy!

On Sunday I shot the quarter finals from up in the stands to get a little different perspective then the typical head on or top end shot.

You can only shoot a burnout so many times but luckily for this one i was able to get two smoke trails in the shot.

This photo is from Fridays qualifying session and I liked it because of the cloud patterns, and also with the sun setting got a nice flare coming behind the mountains.

For this shot I climbed up to the second story of the building behind the start line and hung over a railing to try and get a unique perspective of Tony Schumacher.

Some of the best shots come when the sun is going down and you get to see all the flames coming out the exhaust pipes. I was told I was pretty lucky since only a handful of NHRA weekends get qualifying sessions at night.

To see all our shots for Toyota from the weekend check out the link below.
Toyota Motorsports :: NHRA Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals

Here is a link to a photo blog Mark did for Toyota.
Toyota Racing Photo Blog – Denver

And lastly here are some more of my favorite shots from the weekend.

Our day (Myself, Scott Smith, and Curtis Guise) started off at the Ojos Negros road crossing, where we would be shooting for the first 12 vehicles until we had to leave for our next spot as we would be following the main pack all day. Being that it was at mile 33, everyone was pretty much in the same order as they started, except that Roger Norman didn’t come through, and Rob Mac has moved up a spot passing TSCO.

The next spot we headed to was near KM77 where they get back on the dirt from a pavement section. We’d shot there at the 1000 last year and we knew if we timed it right we’d be able to catch the leaders there for a second time. By now we were at race mile 80 and the racers were starting to get spread out, with a few people nowhere to be seen, and a few jumping or falling back a few positions. Robby Gordon had moved through the pack in his Dakar Hummer to 16h physically with BJ Baldwin right behind him, still unable to “open up the back of it like a bag of cheatos”. Also by now some of the Class 1 cars had been working there way to the Trophy Truck pack going for the overall.

After an hour went by we got in the truck and drove down to Borrego to shoot at the mini zoo road / Ojos jump. With the racers having to go through the summit, and with a lot of rough sections before the jump we knew we had plenty of time to beat them, and we got there with about 20 minutes to spare. When we first got there the crowd didn’t seem to be as big as years past, but as soon as that first helicopter came around the mountain, and dust could be seen in the distance people came out of nowhere and we were now rubbing elbows with fans wanting to play chicken with a trophy truck.

Bryce Menzies was still holding his lead strong with Andy McMillin right behind him, A funny moment came when Bryce went by and all the locals thought Vildosola was in the lead because of the Redbull paint job. When Vildosola did come through he hit the jump the best, launching his truck to the crowds delight. Robby Gordon also launched his Hummer off the jump coming in a respectful second place in the air department. At this point, which was about race mile 200, it looked as if Robby had made up the most positions again coming by 6th physically.

We shot near Borrego for about two and a half hours before heading to our last spot which was at the meadow before they cross over near Ojos, near race mile 419. By now the sun was getting close to the ridgeline and the racers were only a short time away from racing at night. Bryce still held his lead showing that in his first full season in a Trophy Truck he is a force to be reckoned with. The team of Larry Rosseler and Tim Herbst had gotten around Andy McMillin and came by in second place. While Justin Davis was the first physical Class 1 car, the single seater of Euegino was close behind on his way to the win.

Like every BITD event qualifying was held before the race, this time in Henderson, NV at the old start finish for the Henderson 300 race. The 3 mile loop was pretty uneventful since it was on a flat piece of land that was more of a man made course. Instead of complaining the course was boring, I took it as a challenge to try and make something interesting. With Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars and 700+ horsepower, its hard to make them look boring.

I spent most of the qualifying session walking from spot to spot trying to find something I liked and here are a few of my favorites from the day.

I like this shot of Riot Racing because of the different layers between the two sets of mountains. greenery, and the dust trail.

Monster Energy / General Tires’s BJ Baldwin always puts on a good show.

As the day went on the turns started getting more chewed up.

On Friday Bink and I did a quick loop around contingency in the morning, and then we headed up to Alamo to start scouting for spots to shoot on race day. I’d shot this race two years prior, but the course was a little different and if you know me I like to be prepared the day of the race and know exactly where I’ll be going. I spent time the week before “prerunning” on Google Earth to look for various access roads, so we had a pretty good idea of where to go.

A lot of the spots ended up being nothing great, but like we kept saying that day, “you don’t know if you don’t try”. We ended up spending 6 hours and driving about 250 miles for the day before we settled in Alamo for the night and slept in our trucks. We could of stayed in Vegas that night but we wanted to shoot the bikes which started at 6 am, which meant we would of had to wake up around 4 to get there in time. Did we shoot the bikes? Nope, woke up at 5:30am after waking up every half hour to stretch my legs and decided to go back to sleep. Sorry bike guys.

Race day was upon us, and the first spot we went to was around race mile 61, which was a nice sweeping turn with a good view of the cars going through the forest before it. We labeled it our “scenic” spot.

There are trees in Nevada?

Here is a shot of the sweeping turn. Its 43% scenic.

After most of the vehicles went by us, we packed up and headed to Pit 5, which was race mile 201. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare, so far our game plan was working out nicely. More on that later. We chose this spot because at the end of the pit they jumped onto a graded road, which then transitioned into a tight 180 degree turn into a sandy wash.

Putting on a show again.

Also started to get some nice cloud cover which always helps.

We wanted to catch the leaders one last time so we only stayed at this spot for about 45 minutes before heading towards the dry lake bed at race mile 290. There was a pole line road that took us right to it so it worked out perfectly, except our timing. Because the course is so fast (prerunning we only found one whoop, not whoop section, one whoop) the leaders were making great time and we missed BJ Baldwin, and just caught the eventual overall winner Kyle Conlon.

While prerunning the day before we found a small silt bed about 1.5 miles past the dry lake, so when I got there I made the not so quick hike to that spot. It turned out that the spot wasn’t the greatest, and I didn’t get that great of shots of the first 20 vehicles. But like we said before, you don’t know if you don’t try. I’d rather risk trying to find a good spot and failing, then spend my time wondering if it was. (Thats what people say when the spot turns out to not be that good ).

So after working that spot for a bit I hiked back to the dry lake bed and shot that for the rest of the day. The nice thing about dry lake beds are that it gives you a lot of options.

Here is the not so exciting silt section.

This is the right hand turn after the dry lake bed. The lighting was also getting nice since the sun was getting lower in the sky.

You can also get some nice far away shots on the lake bed.

That does it for this blog post, you can check out all my photos from the race by clicking the link below. Thanks for reading!

HighRev Photography – 2011 BITD Silver State 300 Photo Gallery

The course is a 140 mile loop filled with all types of terrain, which for photographers means we get a lot of options and variety. Qualifying was set for Thursday morning so Scott Smith and I headed up Wednesday night. The qualifying session is always a lot of fun to shoot because you get two laps so you are able to get more shots for your clients, and also the racers are going all out so you are bound to get some great action.

Before it started myself, Scott and Brian from Bink Designs was able to scout the course out and we found one area that we thought might be good. However the more we hung around waiting for the session to start, my gut told me to move to another spot down the course and I’m glad we did. For the practice lap we shot at a nice sandy s-turn where the cars would throw up a nice roost.

It was a nice spot because you could work a few different angles.

Camburg Racing

Strobel Motorsports

Ray “Ray Ray” Griffith

Another angle that I liked was after the vehicles went by they would shoot a nice roost right at you. I have the sand in my pockets to prove it. I know some people are going to think why put yourself in that position, but it was actually very safe. We never put ourselves in a position of danger for a photo.

Riot Racing

Herbst Motorsports

Bilek Racing

For the second lap of qualifying we moved down course a bit to an off camber g-out, our thinking behind it was let it get dug out more on the first lap, and that they’d also be hitting it faster this lap. It was another good spot where you could work different angles.

Here is Shannon Campbell proving us right

Adam Householder

Andy McMillin

Robby Gordon

Friday was pretty uneventful as the only thing going on was contingency which is like watching paint dry, so Scott and I took most of the day to scout out spots along the course. We wanted to try and find some new areas on the course to shoot, and we were able to find some good spots, but logistically it just wouldn’t work out. The only “negative” about having a few clients to shoot is that you need to make sure you get them multiple times. If you’re just shooting on your own you have the freedom to do whatever you want.

The 5:45am wake up call Saturday morning marked the start of a long but fun day. That alarm clock sets in motion a day of running around spot to spot, eating only nutter butters and sunflower seeds, facing the clock trying to beat cars to the next spot, and the big exhale at the end of the day when everything comes to a close.

The first spot we went to was at race mile 5, which is at the end of a long wash that has some nice sized holes that creeps up on the racers. Everyone knows its there, but in the heat of battle sometimes you tend to put your prerun homework aside.

After the majority of the race vehicles went by, we got back in the truck and headed to our next spot around race mile 130 to catch the lead group finishing up their first lap. It was another spot we have shot at before and its a nice spot to go to because the loop is so long, the majority of the vehicles are still going on their first lap. We hustled to get there and with a few minutes to spare we were able to catch the leaders.

After the majority of the lead group went by we got back in the truck and hustled to race mile 125ish to catch them once again at a quick sweeping turn. We only stayed there for a few cars so that we could run to race mile 5 which was down the road, but far enough on race miles that we’d be able to catch the leaders again.

At race mile 5 is a long sandy downhill into a right hand turn that always gives you some good action. At the bottom there is some big sand whoops, or if they go wide some soft sand to get some dirt in the air.

We finished off the day by heading deep into the course around race mile 90 that not a lot of media go to because of access. There isn’t anything too exciting out there, but its something different and is a bit scenic.

Well that wraps up this issue of “Blog post from two months ago”, below you’ll find some more photos from the race that I liked, as well as a link to the full gallery on my site. Thanks for looking!

http://www.highrevphoto.com/photos/

As time went on I slowly got better, and with the SCORE Laughlin race getting closer and closer I was itching to get back out there and do what I love. Laughlin is also a special race for my wife and I because its where we met 8 years ago. She was scheduled to come out but because she was sick she had to stay home. I also have to give her a special shout out, because while I was injured she ran the household when I wasn’t able to do anything. She is an amazing women.

The weekend started off with qualifying Friday afternoon for the Trophy Truck class. They each do one lap around the 6 mile course to set their starting position for Saturday. If it was up to me I’d have the Class 1 cars also qualify on Friday.

Qualifying was the first time I’d have to walk long distances with all my camera gear strapped to my back, so I took it easy to see how it felt. Thankfully I wasn’t bothered by it so it was game on. HighRev is back!

Here is Robby Gordon during is qualifying run, and turned out to be one of my favorite photos from the weekend. The time of day was just right to get a nice blue sky, and the dirt was lit up real nice by the sun. You always seem to get the best photos during qualifying versus the actual race.

Here is another photo from the same spot of Greg Nunley / Ken Losch. I decided to shoot this spot from this angle towards the end of the session, wish I would of shot it sooner.

This is a different angle from the same spot just more head on.

Redbull’s Bryce Menzies

Cameron Steele

Another spot I shot at was a little jump after they come around from the high school jumps.

After qualifying we went and hit up the pits to get some shots of the clients we were covering. Friday was Corky McMillin’s 82nd Birthday.

Friday night is when the Laughlin Leap was to be held. I was just going through some photos from 2005′s Laughlin race and the difference between the leap then and now is disappointing. In 2005 the jump was twice as wide, and you could actually call it a leap. The past few years its been more of a Laughlin Dropoff. If you have the most horsepower you’ll win the Laughlin Leap [ / end whining ]

My leap experience was basically a failure. Like years past I just use a Canon 550ex Flash setup on a tripod and fire it with pocket wizards. I don’t own a strobe so I use that, plus I like the harsh light it gives compared to the big strobes. One problem I’ve had with it in the past, is that when I’m far away from the light, because there are so many people lined up it blocks the signal. So this year I geeked out and setup a relay with two other pocket wizards set across the track so that I could eliminate that problem. Everything worked good in testing before the leap started, but for some reason the whole night it was very spotting and maybe only 1 out of every 10 clicks would fire the light.

The event virtually has no breaks so I just decided to use the ambient light and if the flash fired it was just an added bonus. My Canon 1D Mark 2 isn’t very usefull past 800 ISO, which left me to use a slower shutter = not many usable images lol.

This is how it was supposed to look.

And here is how it looked 90% of the time.

Here is me being artsy. Artsy is the term most photographers use when something goes wrong and they didn’t expect it to come out like that.

I headed over to the opposite side of the course to try and at least get something decent with all the other people in the background. This is me being artsy. I promise.

Race day quickly came upon us, and with having a client in all 5 groups it meant a long day of shooting and walking. My back still felt pretty good from the day before so I didn’t see it being a problem. To play it safe for Friday I shot near the infield section where the vehicles would leave and enter, so I’d have a little less walking to do then Sunday.

Here are a few select highlights from Saturday that I liked.

The story for the Trophy Truck class for Saturday’s start was Robby Gordon and BJ Baldwin first off the line together. Old Monster vs. New Monster.

Justin Lofton throwing it into a corner.

For Sunday’s racing I decided to shoot near the high school section on the north part of the course. The nice part about shooting here is it gives you a few more options as far ask spots to shoot then near the infield. I would start off shooting each group near the high school jumps, then walk around the course going from spot to spot. Here are some more of my favorites from Sunday.

Thanks for looking once again, we are excited to see what 2011 brings. Up next for me is the BITD race in Parker this weekend, then King of the Hammers, Battle @ Primm, and the first NHRA of the season in Pomona. So stay tuned!