--------thanks, Jim ! That's great - Doug sure can drive front wheel drive cars pretty darn good! Got any more of that car?

Thanks again!

 

Some more from Monterey:
















Mark

 

Hey, I recognize that DS/DS Mini with the FSM bumper sticker! Nice shot of us in "Twiggy" way off the racing line destined for a trip into the kitty litter. Good thing we were only going, what... 10MPH at the time. (hard to show wheel motion at that speed ) The parade lap was fun, but I'll save my excitement for a track day instead where I can follow the proper lines.

Cheers Jim!

 

I've got quite a few more I'll post later once I've decided which photo to use for this month's contest.

Until then, here's another one of Doug trying to drive the tires off of the rims...

 

Kurt, I used a monopod which made a world of difference in my mind. This is the third time I've ever tried motion shots of cars and the first time with a monopod. (First attempt was 100% throw aways into the trash, 2nd time was 2% keepers, this time was ~20% keepers) Still need more practice! What amazes me as I look at Mark S's photos is the composition. I'm used to photographing landscapes with water being the only dynamic element. Composition is easy in this environment. Not only are Mark's photos tact sharp, but the composition has been well thought out. I'm hoping some time spent with Jim will help me make more progress.

Compliments of Ms. Speednut, this is me at turn 5 on Sunday. Davez64 and fortunately was able to clear the fence. Much easier to take paning photos without standing on a cliff edge and prikly pears at my back, eh?

 

That Ford Capri was insane. The said it had a ton of Cosworth power and as it came thru turn 2 ( my only vantage point ) the inside front wheel was going up to a foot off the tarmac. Wild ride indeed !

 

For the classic mustang fans out there, here are two more photos. They are large (~250k) desktop size I created for a coworker, so I'm not displaying them into this post, but they are quite nice IMHO.

Mustang fastback 1

Mustang fastback 2

 

You've done great. That you've done these with so little practice and without full access makes it even more impressive. And it is one of those things where practice really helps. I'm really rusty for the first racing shots of the year after a long break without shooting that sort of thing and it shows. It looks to me like you've got the physical stuff (focusing and panning) down very well and I like your compositions, too. You nailed the Toyota F1 car, for instance, and that thing is very hard to shoot because it accelerates, turns, and brakes so quickly.

I focus manually and that helps me with the compositions. I don't like having to worry about what focus sensors are active and trying to compose around that; I have better luck setting up the composition and focus beforehand and waiting for the car to reach the spot I want. With multiple cars you can try to shoot when you have a pleasing pattern (I had no luck with that during the MINI parade laps, btw--there were cars all over the place). The two Bugattis made me happy, for instance, and it took a couple of laps for them to align themselves so nicely.

Anyway, big congrats and I'll look forward to seeing more from you. You're lucky to have Jim local to you!

Mark

 

Oh, and I like the Mustang shots a lot. Again, you're doing great with the panning. Lots of mine are throwaways, too (the nice thing about photography is you don't have to show those to anyone), and there's always a tradeoff with slower shutter speeds/more motion blur and having a lower hit rate. Sometimes keeping both eyes open so you can see what's coming works well. And I like Mrs. Speednut's shot! Gives a great view of what turn 5 looks like.

Mark

 

Get advice and cool car pictures at the same time! I tried a monopod with video. Works okay for a pan less than 90 degrees, but any more and I was dancing with the camera.:impatient

Why did I even enter the contest this month knowing the Historics were happening? *duh*

 

No problem. I have a few more. I'll try to get them up in a day or two.
Jim

 

Speednut and Jimz68 TOWERED over me, I really felt short watching them have no problem working the shots OVER the fence. Their height really helps at events like this. I didnt make it over to turn 5 for the great shots you guys were posting. My goal was really the driving shots to and from the event. I havent even started editing any, just did a quick conversion to internet sizing, but will get on it later this week. Dave it was great meeting you and your wife + soon to be addition to the family, and wish we could have hung out more. Hopefully we will meet up at Santa Row in the next few weeks

 

Awesome shots, guys!!

 

Nice !......I'm looking for a view showing a liiiiiiiitle bit more of the side of the car, where it reads Cooper Car Co.
Sorry - I jest feel the need (the need for speed) - couldn't resist saying that!

 

Hmmm, somebody's getting picky... You're lucky I took quite a few of all the classic Minis. So maybe one of the two angles below is what you're looking for?

Anyone else who's reading this tread that wants to see more of another classic Mini, feel free to chime in. BTW, what happened to Mini Cindy; I only got a few photos of her?



or


Monthly photo contest entry reject:

 

Dohh, I wish I had seen you. On Sat. I dragged a 4' ladder (Davez104 ) over the hill near the corkscrew only to have it lean against the fence the whole time. Ditto on Sunday at turn 5. You would have been more than welcome to borrow it.

No need to hurry. We'll be looking forward to seeing your motion shots when they're done. I know how you feel as I'm not exaggerating when I say I still have several thousand photos to go through from the weekend. Just yesterday, I finally finished going through race 5b photos that had all the classic Minis in it. :impatient

It was great meeting you too. We'll look forward to seeing you at Santana Row or some Nikki Runs in the near future and we can talk photography more.

 

Thanks for all the props Mark, I really appreciate it.
Regarding the Toyota F1 car, I think statically I had to get at least one good shot. Continuous shutter was set to high and I did a ~45 degree pan with Zonta doing six passes. Almost all of photos taken were discarded, but I'm thrilled that I got 1 or two that look just like the ones on the F1 website.

This is where I really need to practice. I need to use good old school techniques to get a good shot hit rate as opposed to dependently relying on the camera technology to do what I expect.

Absolutely!

 

That's pretty nice for a reject! And another great Toyota shot you've got there.

Some people can deal with autofocus just fine. Jim, for instance. Go with whatever works well for you. Try different techniques and learn how you like to shoot.

I always come back from these vintage things with far fewer shots than I'd like, despite shooting all weekend. It's a bit hard when they're only out there for ten laps at a time, and when they run different cars on Saturday and Sunday. I love the huge number of cars and the variety but I end up looking at the shots later and thinking "how could I have missed *insert cool car in cool location here*"?

Mark

 

very nice, speed nut, thank you! He is one of my favorite drivers, and I know the guys who built the car - so I have an attachment!

 

Cindy had the piston in her clutch slave push out so she was done after just a few laps of the race.
And yes, we (I) want to see all the original Mini shots that people dig up.

Cheers
Dennis

 

Great images!!!!
Thanks for sharing.

 

Well, after putting in 2,256 miles on my MC from my home in the L.A. Basin to Monterey, to Amarillo, then back to SoCal, I was pooped.
I'm getting around to catching up on threads here when I found this. How cool can motorsport photography get! There are some outstanding images here.
Speednut Dave, those are awesome shots. Mark, as always, your photos are inspiring. It was great to have talked with y'all at Laguna Seca.

As for my contribution to this thread, here is the pic I had just shot right before I met Mark S in the paddocks.



If you have time to check out the set, just click on the image above.

Thanks.
-Juan

 

Hi there - i am the owner driver of mini #120!, what an awesome series of shots of all of that week-ends action. how can i see more ????

 

Hi Nick!
Jim Williams here. You know, the tall guy with the cameras at the CSRG races. I'll put together some examples for you. MarkS and Speednut (Dave) got some great shots,too.
Both Mark and I were shooting for "Vintage Racecar Journal" so maybe you'll be in print!
Jim

 

Hey Jim, many thanks, all the shots on this site are awesome !!!

I you feel like sending a couple here's my e-mail

nljmartin@hotmail.com

we'll all be back there in a couple of weeks for the SCCA vintage event (22- 24th sept) - we think there will be over 11 classics and a couple of GTL / GT5 cars as well, always a good event . . . .