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/

Since this year is coming to a close, I thought I’d share with you what I think are some of the better photos from 2010. This year I shot the usual desert and short course races, along with King of the Hammers, some mountain biking, and the NHRA finals thrown in towards the end of the year. In total I went to about 28 events, and took around 40,000 photos. So be patient! Its a pretty long blog but hopefully worth the wait!

Before I begin I’d just like to thank my wife Jamie for putting up with another busy year of photography. I’m usually gone a few times a month which leaves all the responsibility of running a household on her while I’m gone. She is incredibly supportive and unselfish to let me do what I love and enjoy, and she is the backbone of our family.

First off I’d thought I’d show some of my favorite photos from mountain bike races I went to. I shot one endurance race called The Vision Quest / Counting Coup, and also covered a local series out in Irvine called Over The Hump Series. I started riding bikes myself the past few years and I’ve grown to really love the sport. Its man versus nature at the basic level, and the time you spend on the bike can be very relaxing.

The Counting Coup runs through the Santa Ana Mountains, and gives some great backgrounds and also some really good light in the morning.

The Over The Hump Race is held at Irvine Lake and also gives you some great backgrounds to chose from. OTH is a local series with great support from the community, and is a lot of fun to shoot. Its held every Tuesday for about 2 months so you get a lot of opportunities to play around with different angles.

The races are held during the end of the day so you get some nice lighting to work with.

Among short course racing, Crandon Offroad Raceway is the grandfather of all tracks. Its where the traditions and backbone of the sport started. Crandon is a great track with its wide open speeds, great scenery, and even better people. Here are a few from this years Labor Day race that I liked.

Here are a few of my favorites from this years LOORRS season. At the Surprise, AZ course one turn I like to shoot at is this photo below. Its a wide sweeping turn and during the race the sun is behind the corner so it gives the light a cool look to it.

Robby Woods flies through the air and into the sunset.

A course worker flags down the field silhouetted by the sun.

Ricky Johnson has the Santa Ana Mountains in the background has he hits a jump at Glen Helen Raceway.

Sean Geiser goes for a ride in his Prolite Truck.

Here is one shot from the King of the Hammers, this was taken at one of the more popular spectator spots called Sledgehammer.

At a few races this year I was able to mess around with remote flashes and cameras during the race, and was able to get a few interesting shots. At the SCORE Laughlin Leap I set up my Canon 550ex flash to the right of the trucks and walked farther down the landing area to get a nice head on shot.

At a LOORRS race this year Kyle Leduc let me put my flash inside his truck, so that I could fire it from the track. My goal was to get some interesting shots with the background and truck dark with the cab and him all lit up. You can see my blog about it here.

Here are two shots that I liked the best from the series.

That same weekend I also mounted a Canon 20D on the back of Kyle Leducs truck. Here is a blog about that as well.

I also had the opportunity in 2010 to help out a friend who runs the company Dirtbagz with some product photography. It was my first time doing product shots and I enjoyed it a lot and hope to do more in 2011.

Shooting desert racing is my first love. Its not just going to a track and shooting photos, its the adventure of racing from spot to spot to beat your client. Its prerunning before hand to find the best spots along the course, and the logistics of putting it all together with a game plan for race day. The course is constantly changing as more vehicles carve into the dirt. At a Nascar race you can go to the media center for lunch, in Baja you live off the local taco stand and Doritos.

I’d say overall one of the best desert races of 2010 for photos was the SNORE Mint 400. The course is rough with a lot of great spots, but the qualifying session the day before the race was a photographers candy jar. One spot along the qualifying loop was a jump at the bottom of a long downhill and the racers put on a great show, both intentionally and unintentionally. Here are three photos, one of Cameron Steele crashing his Trophy Truck after landing in a deep hole after the jump, and Roger Norman launching his truck in the air, and a Class 1 car who surprisingly saved it and just ended up breaking his front a-arm.

Here are some more of my favorite shots from the 2010 desert racing season.

Another photo from the Mint 400 where Zorba Racing blows their front bumper into the silt.

Overlooking contingency at the SCORE San Felipe 250 race.

Wilson Motorsports races down the town of Ensenada at the Baja 500.

Mastercraft’s Robbie Pierce and COPS Racing blast through a silt bed in San Felipe.

KING Shock using a Macro Lens.

BJ Baldwin launches off a jump at the BITD Vegas 2 Reno race.

Andy McMillin during qualifying for the BITD Parker 425.

Well thats it for the best of 2010, thank you for taking the time to look over my blog and photos for the past year. I enjoy showing my work to all of you and hope you enjoy checking them out. 2011 looks to be an even busier year then the last so make sure to keep checking back for updates! Thanks again and see you at the track/desert/mountains/dragstrip/rocks and more!

Jason Zindroski
HighRev Photography

For this race the usual team of Digm & Rev was joined by the crazy German Klaus and Brian “Dirty Feet” Bink. (No one knows Brians real last name, it has the letters b i n k in it by its unknown what it actually is.) Scott, Brian and I met Klaus in Barstow the morning of qualifying, where we would leave the Jetta there and hop in Klaus’s 4Runner. The goal was to let it get stolen before we got back but that never happened.

Qualifying was for the Trick Truck and Class 1500 class, and was being held in Primm, NV on the Wednesday before the race. We always like to shoot qualifying because its a good chance to get more quality photos of the teams before they get beat up and dirty during the race.

The first spot along the course I went to was a fast sweeping turn with two lines in it. Some racers didn’t quite know which line they wanted to take so they’d end up hitting the berm in the middle.

By moving to the other side of the course would offer you a different view.

At the same spot your could get a shot with the cars going over a jump. I think the factory in the background makes the photograph more interesting.

For the second qualifying lap I worked my way down to the actual jump and snapped off a couple photos.

Overall winner of the race Rick Johnson.

Andy McMillin

After shooting the jump for a while I could see in the distance that a corner was getting some good roost action, so I hiked in the heat to go check it out. Whats so interesting about shooting desert racing is that the course changes so much throughout the day. A spot that is hard packed in the beginning of qualifying will be a soft silty area after a few cars go by.

There are drivers in offroad that you know will always put on a good show because of their driving style. Its like taking a photo of a baby, you can’t get a bad shot. (Well that not true, there are some ugly babies out there its just taboo to say it. Telling someone they have an ugly baby is like telling them they failed as parents, since most babies are cute. Its just not right and better to keep it to yourself.)

BJ Baldwin always puts on a good show. And for the record has a cute baby.

Chuck Hovey as well. (On the good show part, don’t know if he has kids)

For race day our game plan was pretty simple. We planned on following the lead group of Trick Trucks and Class 1500 cars till about the halfway point before heading home. A lot of people ask me why I don’t shoot some of the other classes every race, and the simple answer is that our clients have to come first, and our priority is getting them as much coverage as possible. Unfortunately that means that if our clients are a Trick Truck or Class 1, we most likely won’t get shots of many other classes.

Its not that we don’t care about the other classes, or don’t have any interest in shooting them, its just that my baby needs diapers and gas isn’t free .

For Vegas 2 Reno, you for the most part just have to go to the pits and find a good spot because of the nature of the race. Its a point to point race with a fast average mile per hour, so going deep into the course isn’t reasonable if you want to get them multiple times. The majority of the pits are right along the highway, so it makes better sense to go there so you have a fast entrance and exit.

Our first spot was at Pit 1, to get them early in the race while they were still somewhat clean, and possibly not broken down yet. It turned out to be a good spot, not because there was a big jump or silt bed, but because you could catch them twice in the same spot. Still the photos weren’t anything special so we’ll skip to our next spot.

Next we hit up Pit 3. We timed it just right so that the lead car at the time (Sam Berri) came by us a few minutes after we got there. If you’ve read previous posts on my blog you’ll know that shooting a desert race can be tricky in that you need to time everything right or you’ll miss people.

Pit 3 had a nice high speed sweeping turn that started to get chewed up the more racers that ran on it.

Roger Norman / Armin Schwarz

Andy McMillin

General Tire’s Rick Johnson

BJ Baldwin

It was a little dusty there. Proof #45 desert racing is hardest on camera equipment.

We jumped back on to the road once everyone we needed to shoot went by and headed to another pit. This time we stopped at Pit 5, never being there before we weren’t sure what to expect. By this time the lead pack was starting to spread out with gaps between racers sometimes of a few minutes.

We figured we had some time before the leaders would come through, so we took the time to hike down course and see if we could find somewhere to shoot. We came across another spot that would create two shots in one. First shot a overview shot in the desert.

Sam Berri

Then when they would come by closer you could get another angle. It was a small rise in the course with a slight left so some racers would hit the berm on the side of the course.

Andy McMillin

Bryce Menzies

Our final spot on the course, and the farthest north would bring us to Pit 8, which was about race mile 330. We originally were going to head farther north up to Pit 9, but as we passed Pit 8 Scott wanted to give it a look and check it out. The detour proved to be a smart move.

The course came through a small valley to a short up hill before makings its way through the pits. Everything seemed to come together, the light was lower in the sky and in the right spot, the backgrounds were nice and clear, and a few racers did what we hoped and put on a good show.

Here is a view of BJ Baldwin coming through the valley to the uphill.

And lift off!

Monster Energy’s Shannon Campbell launches is 4 Wheel Drive Class 1500 car.

Class 1500 Winner Chris Kemp

It was a nice way to end the day after a long trip of dust, dirt, and sweat.

All our photos from the race can be seen here, till next time!

2010 BITD Vegas 2 Reno Photos

Here is a link to a video Scott did of Andy McMillins qualifying lap, as well as an overview of the whole race.

2010 BITD Vegas to Reno Highlights from Scott Smith on Vimeo.

Known as the second biggest desert race in the world, the SCORE Baja 500 is a warm up race for the grand daddy of all offroad races, the Baja 1000. Held every year in June, the 2010 Baja 500 started in the town of Ensenada, and would work its way through the Baja peninsula until it finally came back around and finished where it started. This year saw a huge entry list in the unlimited classes, with 39 Trophy Trucks starting and over 20 Class 1 cars.

As usual I made the trip down with friend and fellow media goon Scott Smith of Paradigm Productions. We decided to make it a quick trip, so we headed down early friday morning to get there for contingency. We made good timing and arrived in town just when they started letting race vehicles through the contingency line. My main goal for the day was to get shots of my clients vehicles going through town. At a race like Primm or Parker contingency photos aren’t that interesting, but the flair of Baja always makes for good photos as the trucks drive through the streets of Ensenada. Here are a few shots from the day.

Canidae Racing passing out “steekers” to the crowd.

Klaus Rasch from Race-Dezert.com passing out flyers with the race course map.

Tried something different with a technique a lot of wedding photographers use. You lower the shutter speed, and using a flash you rotate the camera. The result is a photo that makes you dizzy when you look at it too long. The idea is to get something in the center in focus. Close enough!

Taco Meat

After only a few hours contingency got surprisingly dry with race vehicles, so we decided to just rest up before the big day. We headed over to the Coral Hotel and hung out with the McMillin Racing crew as they made last minute tweeks to the vehicles, and so Scott could get all the GoPro incars setup. Both Scott and Andy McMillin were presented with rings by BFG Tires for their win at the Baja 1000 last year, so I took the opportunity to snap a couple photos of it along with a few other feature shots.

Male model Dan McMillin

We didn’t have to shoot the bikes this year so we were able to get some decent sleep before the start of the race (sorry bike guys your race starts too early). We got up, headed to the truck, made sure our Baja survival kit was all set, and headed to the start line. A Baja survival kit consists of the following:

1. Case of water
2. Cheeze Its (midday snack)
3. Nutter Butters (lunch)
4. Nacho Cheese Doritos (24 hour snack)
5. Sunflower seeds (afternoon snack)
6. Chocolate Donuts (breakfast)
7. Cash for tacos (carne asada con queso por favor)

Oh ya, satellite phone, gps tracker, race radio, blah blah blah.

We started the day at the start line to get some dirt nation shots before the start of the race.

Cameron was tired.

I decided to shoot the start of the race at the second turn of the course where they are still on the pavement before they hit the dirt and leave town. I’ve never shot there before, and you always hear stories about someone spinning out or hitting a fence. No such luck this year, but still managed to get some cool shots in town.

Vildosala Racing

I moved around a bit to get some different angles.

Once the last car that we were covering went by we hauled ass back to the truck and made our way threw town. The plan was to head down to Borrego and shoot the area before the popular jump that we shot at last year for the 1000. Its a great place to shoot because of the jump and the large crowd there, but since we’ve shot there in the past we wanted to change it up a bit.

As we were heading down and got to the road crossing at Ojos, the military decided it would be a great place to setup a checkpoint. Ojos at 11am always has pretty slow traffic but this caused even more delays, so we were starting to get a bit worried that we’d miss the leaders where we wanted to shoot.

Back home my mom was following the race on IRC and the weatherman stream, so I asked her to start texting us updates on our Satellite phone. This proved to be a big help because we knew where they were about every 10 minutes, and if we didn’t have the updates we would of for sure missed them. When we were getting pretty close to Valley T, the updates showed what we feared, in that they were getting very close to Borrego. We made a judgment call and decided to pull off along side of the road sooner then expected so that we didn’t miss the leaders. Its always better to get a so so shot of someone versus missing them all together.

We stopped at a spot on the course we’ve shot before right next to the road. It was a straight away with a little drop down into a wash where the trucks will catch a little air. Here are a couple shots from that spot, the leaders came by us probably about 5 minutes after we got there. Close one!

Overall 4 Wheel race winner Andy and Scott McMillin of McMillin Racing

Monster Energy’s Robby Gordon

Bryce Menzies of Menzies Motorsports

Roger Norman of Norman Motorsports (he went the farthest)

We stayed at this spot until the lead group came through, then we headed back a little ways up course to where the course crosses a dirt road. There is a nice little rise when it crosses the road so makes for some good air shots.

General Tire’s Rick Johnson

All German Motorsports Armin Schwarz

A Class 1 car bottomed out at the base of the jump slamming the skid plate into the ground.

Mr. Tecate was in the crowd.

Borrego was one of the farthest points from Ensenada, so we knew we couldn’t stay too long there if we wanted to catch the leaders for a third time. The next spot we wanted to shoot was near the highway again when they cross back over through Ojos at about race mile 400.

On the drive we stopped for a little bit to shoot the road to Mikes Sky Ranch.

We kept getting updates back home as to where the leaders were, and we were going to be playing it pretty close on time. A lot of the pacific side of the race course is pretty fast, but luckily a section called Urapan is a slower and more technical part of the course, so that would help us on time. We arrived at the Ojos crossing with about 30 minutes to spare so we timed it pretty good.

This part of the course the racers come down a small hill and drop down into a little valley before crossing the road and heading towards the last 30 miles of the course.

Jesse Jones (also known as the guy who buys a trophy truck after each race)

Wilson Motorsports

By now the sun had started setting giving some pretty cool lighting.

Adam Householder

TSCO Racing

On the walk back to our truck there was a Dan McMillin sighting.

And thats all she wrote! Congrats to Andy and Scott McMillin and the whole McMillin Racing for another overall win. Next offroad race is the LOORRS race in Salt Lake City, stay tuned!

To see all our photos from this race check out our photo galleries.

2010 SCORE Baja 500 Photo Gallery

This past weekend marked one of my favorite races of the year, the BITD Parker 425 race. What makes this race so great is that its a nice break from the typical Nevada desert, and offers some great scenery and shooting spots. The weekends event always starts off on Thursday with qualifying for the Trick Trucks and Class 1 cars. I always make it a point to shoot qualifying because you typically get great shots because the teams are going all out.

Here is a shot of Andy McMillin airing it out at a jump during qualifying. He had the lead in the bag, but being a rookie he got caught up on a berm on the last corner and had to settle for the back of the back . I personally blame Todd his codriver .

A lot of teams put on a great show and I came away with a lot of shots I was happy with.

Here is a video from Paradigm Productions of Andy and Todd in qualifying.

Later that night back at the Blue Water Casino, Andy was presented with the 2009 Driver of the Year award from Dirtsports Magazine.

He’s so dreamy.

Friday both Scott and I spent most of the day driving around the course checking out potential photo spots. Our goal was to come up with a game plan to catch Andy McMillin and Steve Sourapas in the Corona #6 Trick Truck as many times as we could since we were both covering the event for the team. Its always a fun but challenging time figuring out how many times a race you can catch them, getting down how much time you have at each spot, and waiting there as long as you can do get other racers.

Our first spot for race day we went to the start of the race around race mile 2, so that we would get some clean shots of all the cars. The first lap in Parker is always dusty so we wanted to make sure we got some good shots incase they broke early.

John Herder

Sproule Racing

Our next spot lead us to around race mile 134 where the course comes near Shea Road. We chose this spot because it offered a few different shooting angles, and after #6 went by us we could cross the road and catch them again at mile 7.

Sam Berri

After Andy went by we jumped over to catch them on the start of the second lap at race mile 7 which was down in the wash off Shea Road with some decent sand whoops.

Norman Motorsports

We planned on staying at mile 7 for a while, but the spot didn’t turn out to be what we expected, so we jumped ship and headed to race mile 138 a little early to catch the stragglers on their last lap. We shot this same spot last year and it turned out to be pretty good, a plus is that its only a few minutes from the highway.

BJ Baldwin

Class 5000 Car

Andy McMillin

Tracy Rubio

A little after we got to this spot the rain decided to show up, here is Scott sporting the full rain setup via Walmart.

Our last spot for the race we wanted to head to race mile 108. The problem was that the only way to get there was to pass through a road closure on Shea Road. When we got to the closure we showed the volunteers our wrist bands and acted like we knew what we were doing and they waved us through. Sweet.

I’ve shot this spot before a few years ago, but that time they wouldn’t let me through so I made the ridiculous decision to walk to it. It was ridiculous because it was about a 5 mile walk. This time was much more enjoyable driving to it.

I climbed up a power line to get a nice overview shot of a vehicle coming down the course. In retrospect it was also raining, probably not the best idea.

Tracy Rubio

Overall it was a great race and both Scott and I came away with photos and video we were happy with. Here is another video by Scott with some highlights from the race. You can also check out all my photos by clicking on the link below. Enjoy!

2010 BITD Parker 425 Photos

Corona Extra Trophy Truck #6 @ BITD 2010 Parker 425 Highlight Video from Paradigm Productions on Vimeo.

This past weekend I made the trip out to Laughlin for the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. This race always has a special meaning for me because it was the first I went to as a “photographer” 6 years ago. However more importantly, 7 years ago, its the place in which I met my wonderful wife Jamie. She’s been my biggest supporter with my photography, and she has no idea how much she means to me.

Here is my favorite shot from the 2004 race, you’ll never see a photograph like this at a SCORE race because they no longer use the road crossing.

If you want a good laugh you can see the full gallery on my site.
Old Skool HighRev

First on the agenda for the weekend was to hit up contingency Friday morning. After spending 10 minutes there and realizing it was a bust we headed over to the pits so that I could snap some pit shots of a few teams I would be covering for the weekend.

Fast forward to 1:30pm and it was time to shoot the qualifying session for the Trophy Truck class. Each racer would get one lap around the 6.25 mile course to set their starting position for Saturday. I decided to shoot at mile .5-1 because I knew during the race I wouldn’t have a chance to shoot there.

Andy McMillin

Robby Gordon

I tried to take advantage of that spot to get as many different angles as I could. I moved up on top of a small hill to get more of a birds eye view of a few Trophy Trucks.

Andy McMillin would get top qualifier for the day, you can check out video from his lap that my friend Scott Smith of Paradigm Productions made. Its all filmed with GoPro HD cameras and the footage turned out sweet.

SCORE made a great decision this year by moving the Laughlin Leap from Thursday night, to Friday. That meant that more spectators would be able to make it, and more importantly that I didn’t have to leave so early for the race. It was scheduled to start at 7pm, so I got there early to set up remote camera and lighting setup.

My friends Matt Kartozian and Art Eugeino both brought some Alien Bees and did a good job of lighting the vehicles up. I still don’t own any strobes so I opted again to just fire my Canon 550ex flash remotely. Its not as strong as a strobe but can still light the car up. I actually like the look it gives the photos, its more harsh of a light and gives a dramatic look to the photo.

For a few shots I walked well past the landing of the jump and put on a 2x Teleconverter on my 70-200mm lens. I wanted to get a shot from far away with the background all black and just the car lit up. I tried a few times but it seems with all the people lined up and blocking the Pocket Wizard, I only got it to fire once. Luckily it was of the winner of the Trophy Truck class.

The winner of the night however was Josh Daniels, who went 111′ feet in his Class 1 car (Note last years winner went 160′, but since SCORE decided to build a smaller flat “jump”, there was no way anyone would be able to beat that). Here is a shot of him after the event.

I also set up a remote camera to get a different angle of the jump. I clamped it on to a light tower via a magic arm and had it angled the opposite way I would be shooting the jump. I didn’t have the right setup so that it was in sync with my camera and flash, so I was just hoping to catch another photographers flash with mine. From about 60 frames there was 3 usable, with this being the best. I like how you can see all the photographers in the shot as well.

The nice thing about this race is that you get to see all the Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars 8 times each day, but being that the course is only 6.25 miles long you have to hustle to your next spot or you’ll miss them. For Saturdays race we decided to stay near the infield which always has some good spots to shoot from. The hill right off the start line is nice because they start two wide and its always a mad dash to get there first.

Chad Ragland drove BJ Baldwin’s Trophy Truck on Day 1.

Right after the hill there was a nice hole developing that if the racers took the inside lane they’d pop out of it.

The last part of the course before they get into the infield section they go through a small canyon where some big holes always develop. I was in the right place in the right time when Ed “Clyde” Stout came through and his truck bucked on one of the holes.

It wouldn’t be Laughlin without a token Leap shot.

You can see some more photos from Saturday at the end of this post.

For Sunday I went out on the course near the high school section. Its nice out there because there are a few different options as far as shooting spots all within walking distance. I decided to shoot out here on Sunday because I figured the course would be much rougher. I was wrong. The first part of the day they bladed most of the course leaving the majority of it flat. But as always you make due and do the best you can.

There was a corner that I liked shooting at last year and was looking forward to shooting it again this year. It always has nice light, and the way the turn is, you can use the berm in the shot to make it look like you’re shooting at ground level.

If you followed them past the turn you could get them entering another turn.

Another spot from last year that is always good to shoot is yet another corner in the middle part of the course. Whats could about it is that it has one of the few long straight always before it, which means they would carry more speed into the turn. In years past the corner would be very whooped out, but since they bladed it, the corner wasn’t all that exciting. I ended up laying on the ground to try and get a different angle and shoot wide open.

Like the other spot, if you followed them through the corner you could get a nice shot of them leaving.

Something about this shot I like, between the colors, the depth of field, the angle, and the lighting, it works for me.

Earlier in the day I decided to give my remote a try, turns out I should of waited till the Trophy Trucks. Gerardo at work made a sweet trigger button using spare parts at work. Typically you can find them online for about $65, and they wrap around your lens so you can trigger a remote camera while still shooting your hand held camera.

So the camera lasted about 6 vehicles before it got clipped. The only real damage was where the battery makes contact, so it won’t turn on. Camera insurance is a good thing!

Below you can check out some of my favorite shots from the weekend. Up next is the BITD Parker 425!