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

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/

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.

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.

I had the chance to sit down with McMillin Racing and ask them a few quick questions about the past year. Check out the entire article on Race-Dezert.com. One of the questions was if I could drive the Trophy Truck, find out what they said!

The weekend of October 26th marked the second to last race of the year for Best In The Desert.  The Silver State 300 is a unique race because its based out of Alamo, NV and uses parts of Nevada that don’t typically see races.  Because of this I was excited to go and have the opportunity to shoot some new areas.

My weekend started Thursday night in which I started my drive after work.  My plan was to crash in Jean, NV overnight and wake up in the morning to continue on to Alamo, NV rather then make the 400 mile drive all at once.  The normal routine at a desert race is to hit up contingency the day before the race, but this time around since it was 90 miles away in Mesquite, I decided to use my time on friday to prerun and scout out potential photo spots.

Since I wasn’t able to make the Pre-Run Fun a few weeks back, I overlaid the race course on to Google Earth to try and see if I could find access roads to different spots on the course.  I mapped out a few potential spots on my GPS so that on Friday I could spend the day checking them all out to see if they would work.

The first spot I was going to shoot at, I wanted to be early in the course so that I could catch as many racers as I could before I headed out to the next spot to catch the leaders.  I ended up going to race mile 39, which was right before the first paved road crossing.  The reason I chose that spot was because it offered a few different angles rather then just having one shot of all the vehicles.  In the below photo from Google Earth you can see the different spots, all within walking distance of each other.

Rebilas Diagram

Before the road crossing they would come from behind a mountain range.

Shot from far away

As they got closer there was a section of high speed rollers.

Shot as they come closer

A little farther up course, and after the rollers, there was a nice right hand turn with some soft silt built up on the outside of the turn.

The last option at that spot was about 30 yards past the turn, the course made a slight left. On the outside of the turn was a gradual slope, so I laid down on the ground to shoot the vehicles coming head on before they made the turn.

Looking at the next spot I was going to go to, I figured out I could stay at the first spot for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. This left me enough time to shoot as many vehicles as I could, and still catch the leaders through Caliente, which was around race mile 180.

This is where the Pigeon story comes into play. While driving through the town of Caliente, a pigeon decided to play chicken with me. He was standing in the middle of my lane eyeballing me. 99% of all birds in the road fly off before you get the chance to turn them into chicken fingers, but for some reason this bird decided to stand his ground while my truck approached. Keep in mind the speed limit in Caliente is 25 mph so the bird had plenty of time to make his move. So I’m within about 10 feet of this apparently blind bird, and I’m not going to slam on my brakes or swerve, so I think if he doesn’t move he should clear the underbelly of my truck. Well low and behold after I drove over him (figuratively) I look in my rear view window and see him flopping around on the street. I win! Next time use those things called wings my friend. (side note to the side story, driving back through the town later in the day he looked like a pancake).

Anyways, so the spot I wanted to shoot at next was an old wooden railroad bridge. The unique thing about the shot is that the Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars barely fit, with some of the cars having to put one tire on the outside edge.

I also decided to try and break my remote camera again and set it in the middle of the bridge for a different angle.

The first few cars I was shooting way too soon, but actually like the look of it.

Finally got the timing down.

I was able to catch the lead group go through the bridge, but because my next spot I wanted to go to was only 120 race miles away, and about an hour and a half drive I couldn’t stay there very long. The last spot was at race mile 308, as the course first approaches the dry lake bed. If you know me, you know that I love to shoot silt, and when I checked out the area the night before there was already some good silt areas from the prerun.

This section of the course has a long straight away along a graded road, then makes a 90 turn onto the lake bed. My idea was to shoot the cars as they pitch it onto the dry lake bed and through a large silt tail. When I got there I noticed a good sized silt pocket that formed around a wash crossing so I had a decision to make. Stay at the turn or shoot the silt pocket instead? I chose to shoot at the wash and glad I did. While some vehicles just flat footed it over the area, those that checked up or hit it wrong put on a great show.

Here you can see the left hand turn from far away.

Left hand turn before silt pocket

And here is the silt pocket.

I love silt

Earlier in the day another photographer that was there said a few bike guys went over the bars. That brings up an interesting dilemma for media dorks. If you are at a spot on course where there is a potential for a crash, what do you do? Do you hide in the bushes and hope the car doesn’t see you? Do you flag them down and have them slow down? Is it the driver/co-drivers responsibility or the spectators? Typically when race vehicles see bright orange vests its usually a sign of a danger ahead and they do slow down.

If a spot is bad enough where someone might get hurt I think its important for us to try and minimize the danger. That actually happened to me and my friend Dirk at BITD Vegas 2 Reno last year. We were at another silt pocket that wasn’t marked as a danger, and a few riders went over the bars pretty good. The dust was really bad and people weren’t slowing down so we ran to the road crossing up course and got some danger markers and marked it on our own. After we did that everyone slowed down. While it didn’t make for good photos its better then having a hurt rider.

This was my last spot for the day, so I shot here until the sun went down. Once it dropped below the mountains, the wind stopped which made for zero visibility, so I called it a race and headed home. After 1000 miles of driving, 1 pound of sunflower seeds, a case of water, 42 nutter butters, and a dead pigeon my journey was over.

Here is the last shot of the day for me, I liked it because not only is the silt being thrown, but the lighting adds a nice touch to it, and you can see a haze of dust just sitting on the ground from the last car that went through.

Here are a few more photos from the race that I liked, and you can see the full gallery up on my website. http://www.highrevphoto.com/photos

Up next for me is the LOORRS race in Surprise, AZ Oct 17-18th, so stay tuned for more photos!