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.

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!

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

I’ve had plenty of fast vehicles fly by me at close distances, Trophy Trucks, Pro 4′s, Jordan and Chris on their mountain bikes, but there is something about 10,000 horsepower 6 feet from you that can’t be replicated. Its hard to put it in words, but the first time a Funny Car went by me I thought someone hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer, while at the same time reached into my brain and shook it around. Mark was looking forward to me losing my 10,000 horsepower virginity so he got a kick out of it.

Another great experience I had was in the pits when one of the Top Fuel teams were working on their car. Because of the fuel they use all the crew members have to wear gas masks so they don’t breath in too much of the nitrous in the air. You’ll see crew members 20 feet from the car wearing the mask but the hardcore fans will stand right next to their gates and watch them work. I got a pretty good wiff myself shooting some of the fans and had to walk away before I started to cry. It felt like I was in a riot and just got hit with the pepper spray.

They were prepared, I wasn’t.

One of the first things I noticed was that things run very smoothly. As soon as two cars made their pass down the drag strip the next two were already in line warming up their tires for their runs. If there was an accident or any type of liquid got spilt on the track after a run a crew would be on it right away to get things cleaned up.

Overall I had a good time shooting NHRA. It was challenging taking me out of my comfort zone of offroad but after a few runs I was very comfortable in shooting it. Its always good to push yourself and try new things, otherwise you’ll get stuck doing the same thing all the time. Here are some shots from the weekend that I liked the best, one even ended up in USA Today! Thanks again to Mark for bringing me along. Enjoy!

Here John Force heats up his tires before a qualifying run, my goal was to get a nice silhouette shot of the sun and the tire smoke.

A good place for feature shots is in the hot pits right before the drivers go out on the track. This is funny car driver Gary Densham moments before he went out on his qualifying run.

For some of the qualifying runs on Saturday I got up in the stands to shoot. From up in the seats you can get both cars while also getting the crowd in the shot.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class reaches speeds close to 200 mph as they hit the 1/4 mile.

Since this was the final weekend of the season championships were being decided, it was a good opportunity to get the teams celebrating after the run.

LE Tonglet secures the championship in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

John Force clinches the Funny Car championship as his team celebrates.

Whenever a championship is clinched, NHRA immediately does the trophy ceremony which is nice.

Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon makes his way to the podium.

My favorite time to shoot was definitely when the sun was going down, because you could start seeing the flames shooting out the exhaust from the Top Fuel and Funny Cars. It adds a lot to the images and gives you a better feel for how much horsepower they have.

And finally here are a few more of my favorite shots from the weekend, hope you enjoyed them!

Smoking the tires getting ready for their run.

In these two photos you can see the heat waves the cars put off, as well as see how much torque the engines put out by looking at the tires grabbing the pavement.

The week prior they added a steep hike-a-bike section so I wanted to photograph that, thinking I’d get some good shots of people grinding up the hill feeling the pain! However this week it was an option so I decided to skip it since I may miss a lot of people.

Rather then jumping around between the east and west side of the course this time around, I decided to play it safe and stay on only the east side, so that I’d get more photos of everyone. I like to move around a lot to mix things up, but sometimes you pay the price of missing a lot of the racers.

The first spot I went to was in the beginning of the course after a short single track session before heading back towards the lake.

Monster Energy’s Casey Curie entered this race and now plans on racing the rest.

After everyone went by I got on my bike and headed over to a small short uphill where some of the riders will catch air (only because there is a camera on them ) just a little farther up the course.

This is the eventual winner of the race, Sid Taberlay, who on his second lap already had a huge gap between himself and the rest of the Pro/Experts.

Next up I headed to the top portion of the course where there was a long straight away before they made a sharp left up another hill. This section is where a lot of people can either make up or lose a lot of time. For my race on August 31st I plan on bringing a rope and tying it to someone’s seat post.

By this time most of the Beginner and Sport racers had gone by on their last lap, so I headed back to the staging area stopping one last time to catch the lead group.

Sid Taberlay on his way to winning the Pro class by 3+ minutes.

That’s all for this week, we’ll see everyone out there August 17th! All my photos are up on my site so check them out!

http://highrevphoto.com/photos/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=2073

“I’m on a boat!”

For this weeks Over The Hump Race at Irvine Lake, CA I decided to mix it up a little and try getting a different perspective and shoot from the water. Matt from OTH was able to get me a small dingy boat to ride around in during the race so I was pretty excited to shoot this week. With the 6pm start times the lighting is great so I knew I’d be able to get some unique shots.

This week they changed it up a bit and put all the 6-10 year old’s in their separate race that started at 5:30pm. It was a nice change because you had not only the spectators, but all the racers cheering them on as well.

Derek Nye cheering on his son at the finish.

These kids were cheering for their big sister.

Off the start I wanted to get a few shots with the foreground in focus and all the riders blurry to get a sence of motion. Its a simple technique where you just pre-focus the camera and lower the shutter speed, in the case 1/60th. Just hold the camera still and fire away.

My friend Chris came along to play captain so I could concentrate on shooting. Here are a few photographs from the race, obviously my goal was to get the water in the shot so you could tell its not from land.

Being on the boat it was a little harder to get individual shots of everyone, so I did what I could, and decided to concentrate more on some overview shots.

We parked the boat right next to the water bridge to get a few shots of racers flying by.

We either inspired a wheelie, a smile, or a tongue.

A few other shots from the water.

You can check out the rest of our photos on our site, see everyone next week!

Over The Hump Series #4

Also had a nice surprise when I got home from the race. My amazing wife Jamie gave me an early Father’s Day gift and signed me up for the August 31st race. So sorry no photos from that race! I did a prelap before the race to see what my time would be and I came in just over 20 minutes, so you Beginner-2′s don’t have anything to worry about .

After shooting the Counting Coup race earlier this year, I made it a personal goal to cover more mountain bike races this year.  Due to my schedule covering other events, and more recently my wife and I having our first child, I haven’t been able to shoot any races.  Fortunately a new up and coming race series based out of Irvine Lake has their events during the week, so I was able to make it out and cover their second race.

Over The Hump Series put on their second race on September 15th, and over 350 racers came out to participate at this event.  The course is a 3.75 mile loop around Irvine Lake, and thanks to Matt @ OTH I was able to do a quick lap before the start of the race to scope out potential photo spots.  If you know me you know that I hate going to a race without knowing where I’m going to shoot, which means I often get there way too early.  Better to be early and prepared, then late and scrounging for places to shoot.

For the first lap I found an area on the course that had a lot of greenery around it.  A lot of the course has dead brush around it so I wanted to find something with a little more color and depth.

Richard Khachadoorian rides his grandmothers bike during the race.

Chris Hanson - Finished 12th in Sport 1 with a 55:39.4

CeeDubb killing it in Sport 2, finished 6th with a 51:35.1

This was on of my favorite shots from that part of the course. I like how the rider is framed in the shot, and how it looks like he’s surrounded by all the greenery.

After everyone went by I walked a little up course to try a different angle. With the course only being 3.75 miles long, it wasn’t too long that the leaders were already coming through. For this area I threw on my Canon 550ex flash and hand held it to try and light up the riders. The sun was getting low in the sky, and the area I was shooting I’d be shooting right into the sun.

I really like this shot because of the contrast the flash gave it, and also the riders expression tells the moment. Just ignore the fact that I cut off some of his body.

Chris Hanson

Wanting to keep pace with the leaders and catch them on their 3rd lap, I packed up and rode towards the end of the course. On the way there I was able to snap a cool photograph of a section across the lake where the course loops around itself.

The next area I went to also had some nice backgrounds behind it, so I set up to shoot the racers from the side to give a different angle from the head on shot I got before. Here you can see Manny Prado and Sid Taberlay setting the pace on their 3rd lap.

Lead pack battles through their 3rd lap

For my last spot I walked a little down course where there was a quick downhill left hand turn. I again shot with my flash hand held. Now that the sun was starting to go behind the mountains I wanted to hit the riders with the flash while keeping the background dark and get a little motion blur.

Here is the race winner Sid Taberlay. He would finish with a time of 56:23.4 (4 laps) and finished first overall in the series.

Sid Taberlay

This is called, “My flash didn’t go off, but it looks cool with the silhouette so luckily I can still use the shot. I mean I did it on purpose.”

After the racers made the left hand turn, they rode away from me along the green brush I previously shot at.

It started getting dark and the race was coming to an end so I packed up and headed towards the finish line. On my way there I saw a straggler riding along the lake so took a quick shot to have in silhouetted (on purpose this time) in front of the lake.

So that ended my date covering the Over The Hump race out in Irvine Lake. I had a lot of fun covering it and plan on covering the full schedule next year. May even attempt a race or two (in beginner class of course ) Thanks to Matt Wenger for letting me come out early and see the course, and congrats to all those who participated!