The Foyt-Hornshaw Wedding, Lake Orion, Mich.

in weddings on

I just returned from the Foyt-Hornshaw wedding and their gorgeous weekend in Michigan!

I’ve known Caitlin and Phil since college at Central Michigan University. We all worked for CM Life, the school’s newspaper. I have a ton of great memories from my time at CM Life even though there are only a handful of friends that I still keep in touch with.
Caitlin and Phil are two of those people.
During college I knew Caitlin a bit better than Phil, I think mostly because her and I always seemed to be in the office at crazy hours. We also both put in long nights between her writing and my managing the photo department. I remember her always sitting at one of the computers writing something or working on her classwork while waiting on stories to appear (via the police scanner or otherwise). This is also why we ended up joking around or talking to pass the time.
It led to moments of the utmost productivity, like this gem:

asdfh389

Clearly we were working very very hard that night.

Quite similar to how hard me, Phil, and the other editors were working this afternoon….

1m23sA
We got some serious distance with that launcher. Don’t worry, no one was around. But that fruit cup…um… didn’t survive.

After graduation I returned home to California, and then about a year later I moved to LA. An about a year after that was when Phil and Caitlin decided to move west and head to LA themselves.
It was still quite a while before our schedules and lives slowed down enough to a point that we finally crossed paths, but that’s LA for you. Everyone is busy a lot of the time and really you just need to schedule time to have time… plus it’s fair to argue that I’m not around that often, either.

Well, fast forward a bit and Phil and Caitlin are engaged! And I’ve been asked not only about their wedding photography, but also engagement photos, too!
Sweet! And we’re going to the Color Run in San Diego for them! Even more awesome.

IMG_7396-2

You guys might remember seeing these. It was a pretty fun morning but these were definitely the highlight for me. Something totally different for their engagement shoot!

IMG_7419

Well, since that day in November (wow! it was a while ago now, wasn’t it?!) the wedding has come and went.

Michigan turned out to be a bit chilly (for my Californian blood anyway) and I found myself turning on the heater in the morning when it was 58 degrees out and I left the house to go get my iced chai tea… Yep, I’m that guy at the coffee shop – the one that doesn’t drink coffee.
But the wonderful thing about Michigan in the Fall is the light. Hell, most of the year there is such incredible light to shoot with. I don’t know if the people there realize how great they have it. Blue skies and white puffy clouds are totally normal. We have to photoshop things like that back in Los Angeles.

I’ll get to the pictures here shortly and let them do the rest of the talking with some captions here and there. Save to say that my weekend with the Foyt and Hornshaw families was pretty awesome. I had such a wonderful time getting to know everyone. I had met a small handful of Caitlin and Phil’s friends back in LA, and a couple of them were there at the wedding, too. But to have more time to hang out, talk, and laugh with everyone was a blast.

So, with that… I’ll shut up. Click past the break for the remaining images in this 250 photo blog post about the Foyt-Hornshaw wedding out at Lake Orion, Mich.

Read More

The Flagg-Fasbinder Wedding – Half Moon Bay, CA

in recent work weddings on

Last weekend I had the pleasure of shooting the Flagg-Fasbinder wedding in Half Moon Bay!
It turned out be a gorgeous Sunday for a beach wedding after several hot days earlier that week. It was overcast most of the afternoon which kept things at a comfortable temperature, and also kept the lighting pretty diffused – which is never a bad thing as a photographer.

Now I had originally met Jenn three years ago at Amy and Michael’s wedding. Jenn was Amy’s Maid of Honor at her wedding, and last week when Evan proposed Jenn contacted me immediately to check on my availability to photograph her wedding, too. And a few months after that, once they had made their decision and I had a chance to meet Evan, it was clear that this was going to be a very easy weekend with both of them. Both seemed to very collected and very excited about the wedding weekend. “We’re having a hybrid wedding” Jenn said to me. It would be a half Catholic and half Jewish wedding. And despite the frustrations that they were describing trying to mix tradition from both into one ceremony, they seemed surprisingly calm about the whole thing.


-Jenn giving her speech at Amy and Michael’s wedding, April 2010-

Another thing that was great to hear from Evan was that he had spent some time researching and really looking at the different photographers that Jennifer had picked out as her final choices. This is really important in my opinion. And it’s a huge relief for me when the groom (or sometimes bride) hasn’t met me previously to know that they took a long look at my work and decided I was right for their wedding.

Well, when the wedding rolled around the weekend got started at a small rehearsal in San Jose. Jenn said she didn’t want everyone to have to drive all the way to Half Moon Bay just for the rehearsal since most people weren’t staying there and would have to drive back that night and then back out again the following day.
But it was a great warmup for people to get both an idea of how the ceremony would go, as well as time for everyone to socialize and catch up on life. This is always a perfect time for me to get know people too. Then the following wedding day they’ll see me, but mostly ignore me since I’m not quite a random a person walking around with my camera. Haha!

On Sunday the morning started out very relaxed at the salon with some of the girls. Lots of laughing and joking with the stylists as they asked me about photography and my career. I suppose sometimes my direct answers come across a little strong since I answer quickly when I’m shooting and am focused on things other than the conversation. haha. Whoops.

Later that afternoon we all made our way out to Half Moon Bay – where there was a ton of traffic because it was such a pleasant day at the coast.

The ceremony was held at La Costanera Restaurant on their patio overlooking the water. It was a pretty great location, and despite some initial concerns there wasn’t too many people walking by as people originally feared. And since there was a cloud cover that day it kept the temperature comfortable enough for people to not have to worry about overheating in sun, or needing sunglasses. There were several prayers mixed into the ceremony to be able to do things for Evan and the Jewish half of the wedding. What was great was that the Rabbi would explain some of the traditions to everyone so they understood the meaning behind things since he was aware many of the people there were not familiar with Jewish weddings. It was interesting for me, too, since I had never been to a Jewish ceremony.

The rest of the evening went great with some family photos down on the beach, lots of dancing and laughter at the reception, and even some time for me to chat with the family members a bit more during some of my down time that night.

I’ll save some of the rest for the captions. But please click the break and read on! I’ve uploaded just over 250 different photos from Jennifer and Evan’s wedding weekend!

Read More

CAMERA TESTING WITH THE SONY A77 (4 OF 4)

in sports surfing on

Part four of my four part write-up on testing the Sony a77 DSLR in various sports setting that I typically shoot  with my job. Please check out the previous post for details on the first test and a bit of an intro to this multi-part project: here

Surfing photography and the US Open.

My last test of the gear was at the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. This would also be a bigger test of the longest lens I had with me to use, the 70-400 zoom. Combined with the 1.5 sensor I would have an effective 600mm of reach at the longest end.
Overall the lens and camera seemed to perform pretty well. I still wasn’t exactly in the best position to shoot the competition, but that’s my fault and the beach was ridiculously crowded for the main event.
Focus and tracking seemed to work pretty well. I was using a monopod for stabilization. And while I’m sure using a 600mm monster lens from another company would have resulted in pictures that were a bit better, I certainly can’t complain about the quality of the shots from this lens and camera combo.
I’m leaving out a lot of small details that are similar to what I wrote last week in Part 3, from the Lucas Oil Off Road Race. You can click back to that one if you’re curious.

So, what were my overall thoughts on using the a77 as a sports camera:

Focusing – I think there are several things I would change if this were to be a dedicated sports camera (which it’s not designed to be, please keep that in mind). I personally didn’t like the cross shape of the focus points. I’m accustomed to a diamond shape that allows for some point selection in the corners. But this is just related to how I like to shoot. Biggest annoyance was the seemingly slow adjustment of point selection. Also, the selected point “glows” grey. I want it to glow red. It was very difficult to see the grey selected point when looking through the viewfinder or at the LCD, especially on a bright day.

Continuous focus seemed to work really well as long as your subject was in the center of the frame. And when shooting slower moving sports the tracking focus worked well enough to be used, too. For motorsports though the subjects moved too fast or were too erratic. Again, the tracking/registered point option is likely best for people in groups (like the bride at a wedding) or with slower moving sports subjects that are high contrast against the background.

The lenses – I thoroughly enjoyed the lenses themselves. They were sharp, quiet enough to where I didn’t notice much of a difference compared to my gear and seemed to focus fast. While they turn and lock clockwise like Canon glass, they zoom opposite, like Nikon glass. This only threw me off a few times after years of muscle memory. haha!
Price-wise they’re not far off from the other major brands like Canon/Nikon for their respective focal lengths, as well.
The rear lens caps need to be redesigned somehow. There is only one way to screw them on when swapping lenses. So I feel time was wasted at several points when I was trying to do a quick change and fumbled while trying to line up the cap on the lens just-so. Picture it this way… if the face of the lens cap is a clock and there is notch at 3’oclock, you HAVE to line up the cap/lens exactly at 3’oclock or you can’t put the cap back on. Compared to a Canon cap which would lock at, say, 3 AND 9… you are more likely to re-cap quickly. Does that make sense?

The Digital Viewfinder – this was a big adjustment for me, Sony was right. I liked the internal leveler, and things like the option to show you in-the-viewfinder what the exposure will look like. But on overcast days like two of the race days I shot, when it was “bright out without being bright out” the digital viewfinder was hard to see and seemed dim looking at it compared to outside. Think of when you’ve taken a photo with your phone on a cloudy day… you know how it looks muted/dim on the screen but through your eyes it’s bright out? It’s exactly like that. (Yes, I know what 14% grey is, I’m not going super technical in explaining it here though). Do note that the viewfinder was also at the brightest setting, too.
The flip out LCD was handy – which I didn’t think I would like. But it was a nice feature to have when standing there, camera on monopod, reviewing shots.

Body Design – The design of the body was what I had the hardest time with. This has everything to do with muscle memory and personal preference. So take what I’m about to say with a very big grain of salt.
I had a hard time getting used to using the camera body. I’m not a fan of the “power button by the shutter” design. Nikon does this too… I’ve always thought it seemed silly. I always leave my cameras powered on and in sleep mode. This way they can be started quick and I never have try to shoot and think “oh, I didn’t turn it on”. But with the LCD’s of the Sony I felt the need to turn off the camera more often than I normally do. Startup seemed a tad slow for my taste, especially when I was turning off/on to conserve battery.
I didn’t like the sensor placement for auto-switching the LCD to the viewfinder, but I don’t know if that’s really a design change that is even possible.
I’ve already mentioned to Sony that there should also be an option for “no quick preview on screen” after capturing the photo. Also, I think there needs to be an option to set “preview for 2 seconds on LCD ‘ONLY’”. This way you get your quick preview looking at the back of the screen and then can go back to shooting. Currently if you use the “Preview for xx Seconds” feature it will show up in the viewfinder, too, blocking what you’re trying to shoot until it times out or until you tap the shutter button to return to shooting mode.
I’m not a fan of front adjustment wheels. This is also person preference. I find them too easy to hit/roll between shots and mess up your settings. But I understand this is something other shooters would say “well just don’t do that!”
Another design issue I had an unexpected problem with was the Video button. There is a large Video button on the back that if you hit at any time it will start recording. Great for videographers, bad for photographers. I knocked this many times and unknowingly started recording and didn’t realize it til I lifted the camera to my eye to shoot. I also did this a lot when I went to flip out the screen since the button is right above the corner of the screen most right-handed people would pull on to release the screen. Note: This CAN be turned off in the menu, I simply didn’t look long enough trying to figure out how to disable the button, however Sony clarified that it is an option.

Battery life – overall it seemed pretty great. I was just doing long days and only had one battery. However it also charged very quick.
Size of weight of the camera is nice and light, certainly a comfortable camera for all around shooting day to day.

So what was my overall impression of the camera? I enjoyed my time with it, but it’s not perfect for heavy sports shooters.
This is pretty much what I went in expecting, and from my understanding this is also what Sony was looking to learn more about by loaning me the gear to try out. There is no way that a sub-$2,000 camera will do what a $7,000 sports body will… This includes Canon and Nikon cameras in the $1-2,000 range.
Who would I recommend this for? Wedding Photographers, Portrait guys, Hobbyists, Weekend Warriors, and Amateurs alike. If you shoot “a lot of everything” and occasionally might do some sports work, it’d be a great system. There are some awesome lens options (let’s be honest, plenty of Nikon and Canon shooters pay top dollar for Zeiss glass for their cameras, too). The camera is light, feature rich with things you didn’t even know you’d need (like facial programming for your kids school performance, or that wedding you’re shooting).
I don’t think that it’s ready for the big sporting events – not for action photography just yet. But what’s cool to see is that Sony is working on it and doing the research they can to create a better system for everyone.

Click the break for photos from the US Open of Surfing

Read More

CAMERA TESTING WITH THE SONY A77 (3 OF 4)

in off road racing sports on

Part three of my four part write-up on testing the Sony a77 DSLR in various sports setting that I typically shoot  with my job. Please check out the previous post for details on the first test and a bit of an intro to this multi-part project: here

Taking the Sony a77 to the track

This is where I was most curious about the a77 and lenses… the racetrack.

The first chance I had at the track with the Sony system was with the Formula Drift race series. I was in Seattle for one of my larger clients, Falken Tire, who I handle a portion of their motorsports photography for. The first day I arrived earlier than I normally would for a race, which gave me a couple practice sessions to get out and test shoot a bit with the a77. I would be using the 300/2.8 that I brought out with me.

While I was, again, happy with how the lenses performed I was a little bummed with the speed of the focus tracking. I was getting a bit of motion blur even when using faster shutter speeds. But again, this could also have been human error, I won’t deny that either. The 300 & a77 combo gives and effective 450mm/2.8 reach – this is VERY far for Drift and Seattle was a smaller track (proximity of photogs to cars) compared to Atlanta or Jersey.
But more frustrating for me as a sport shooter were the delays of the camera itself. When bursting at 10fps (or just shooting anything in general) the Sony system puts a brief preview of the image you just shot up on the screen or viewfinder – whichever one you’re using at the time. There is no way to turn this off. In the menu you can turn off previews (or set them for 2, 4, etc, seconds). But even after turning my previews to Off, there is still a brief moment the image is on your display. I think this is the camera’s way of telling you “Hey man, I took a shot!” compared with a Canon or Nikon you’ll have that brief moment of black while the mirror and shutter are up to exposure the sensor. So, I am guessing Sony put this there as a way to reassure you the photo was captured.
Note: This is something that I’ve already talked to Sony about to try and clarify, with them, what I mean by the screen pausing. Now I wouldn’t compare the pause to the brief flash of black from a shutter on a Canon or Nikon – that’s too quick to affect your shot. The image pause on the Sony I found distracting enough to screw up my framing. This is something Sony also said they’ll ask about since it’s not a complaint they’ve heard previously.

But I want it turned off – or the ability to turn it off. That fraction of a second that there is an image in your viewfinder of something that JUST happened is long enough for your subject to move a bit and your framing to get messed up. So while it doesn’t affect the AF or anything like that, you might still not-get the shot due to accidentally cropping part of the subject out.
Now, I know that nothing will be as fast/accurate about what’s going on in front of your camera compared to a mirror, but if you’re looking at a screen you’re definitely going to want that screen as close to real-time as possible.

Another issue that I had with this camera in a race setting is the inability to “chimp” efficiently. As much as that term bugs me sometimes, it’s the perfect word to describe the action of “looking down right after a shot to see what it looks like” like a chimp inspecting something in front of them.
We ALL do this at the track CONSTANTLY. This can mean the difference between sorting through 500 photos when you download your card or 800 photos.

Now, I wasn’t using the most expensive SD card out there, so I’m sure there was some margin of error (read: slow) due to a cheaper card. But I don’t own SD cards since all my cameras use CF cards. So I’ll take some blame for the possible slow speed of writing to a less-expensive card I bought to save money.
However the camera seemed to write very very slow despite using a class 10 card as I was told to do. It was so slow, in fact, that I actually gave up trying to look at the photos I just shot because the camera was buffering them slowly. This won’t work for those of us who are used to quickly sorting through photos right after we shoot them, deleting (quickly) the bad/OOF shots, and being ready for when the next cars come by.
Note: After discussing this with Sony as well they pointed out the the horsepower of the a77 and it’s processor can’t compete at a level that’s near the power of the dual processors of the 1D lineup. It’s simply something that you will have to deal with at the price point of the a77. This was something I hadn’t put a lot of consideration to those days at the track because I don’t shoot with a 60D, ever.

Also another downside to the camera and the digital viewfinder setup was the sensor. On a bright and sunny day we all will put our hands around the LCD when reviewing shots. The light sensor on the back of the a77 always thought I was putting my face back up to the camera and would switch the view mode back to the camera’s viewfinder. This made it impossible at times for me to review photos without turning my entire body away from the sun (and action) to review photos in my own shadow rather than just use my hand.
Note: I discussed this with Sony, also. There are two options to handle this that were pointed out. First is to set the screen option to manual. So, using a button you can switch from viewfinder mode, to LCD, and back again. I personally would not like this option since it involves additional key presses and I’m sure that at some point I would put the viewfinder back to my eye quickly and forget to turn the viewfinder “on” by switching modes. The second option is to un-click the second the hinge of the LCD screen. This would lock the LCD into the “on” mode, however I have a feeling that there would be the same problem with not auto-switching back to the viewfinder when you try to use it again unless you click the LCD all the way back into position. Both of these simply would take practice and getting used to on the part of the photographer – they’re not something I would consider an end-all to using this system by any means.
My experiences with Off Road were similar to that of Formula Drift, so I won’t ramble on too much about it here.
However out at the off road track I tried the focus locking a bit more to see how well it would track a subject.
The way the focus lock works (put most simply) is that it would lock onto whatever was closest to the center and then track it as it moved around. Think of it as facial recognition tracking for large groups – that’s an easy way to describe it.
However when you have a bunch of trucks crossing paths and everything kinda blends together I think the system because overwhelmed. So, instead I stuck with Continuous focus and found that I got a bit better results as long as I kept my subject in the center of my viewfinder.

Overall thoughts on racing photography with the a77: Overall… it’s a very usable system. I think my initial experience shooting Drift with the a77 was hindered by the too-long lens combo on a track that was smaller than I expected. Below you will no photos from Drift, actually, because I’m just simply not happy with any of them.
I had much better luck at the Off Road track during the Lucas Oil Off Road race. The first day I was there was mostly practice which allowed me more time to shoot around and text. The system here, and longer glass worked very well, and with a larger track (both in size and distance) there was more time and flexibility when reviewing photos after shooting them.

Click the break for photos!

Read More

CAMERA TESTING WITH THE SONY A77 (2 OF 4)

in bmx recent work on

Part two of my four part write-up on testing the Sony a77 DSLR in various sports setting that I typically shoot  with my job. Please check out the previous post for details on the first test and a bit of an intro to this multi-part project: here

BMX – faster moving subjects, first tests with longer glass.

The week following my first test with skateboarding at Black Flys I met up with one of my BMX friends, Michael Rodriguez. We headed out early on a Saturday morning to Chino Hills BMX park where he was going to get some riding practice in that day with his cousin who also rides.
We arrived at 8a since it was going to be triple digit temperatures that day and finishing before it got that hot was the goal.

The 12fps speed of the shutter was great, again. But this is was when I first started to find a bit of frustration with the video viewfinder. Sony had told me that one of the biggest things to get used to for people was using a view finder that was a video screen since there is no mirror in their camera.

For those that aren’t familiar with how a SLR/DSLR works… the image you see in the viewfinder is a reflection off the mirror inside the camera of what is coming through the lens. The Sony system doesn’t have a mirror, so you’re looking at a small LCD screen that is showing you what is hitting the sensor.

dslrdiag

Here’s a diagram I found online from “nobadphoto.com for a quick reference. The green line is the path of the light (the image). You can see where it reflected before it hits your eye. Well, Sony has illminated the mirror (item #2 in the diagram) so the image goes right to the sensor (#7). Does that make sense? I’m going to assume that it does so I don’t have to get too much more detailed since this writeup isn’t about how the system produces an image. haha.

One benefit of this is that there is an option to see the exposure of the image in the viewfinder – a preview of how the shot will actually look. Although I could see this being much less useful in dark settings. And it proved to be a bit frustrating when I photographed racing a week later – that’s in the next blog update.
The viewfinder also was constantly running a leveler on the screen while shooting. This was something I (surprisingly) was able to ignore while I shot but used a few times when I was framing a shot and noticed, “huh, I’m not level”

For the majority of the BMX shooting I was doing I shot with the 24-70/2.8. The lens itself was sharp, felt comfortable to use, and was smaller in size compared to my Canon lens. I also had much less OOF shots with a smaller lighter lens than with the telephotos this particular test because it’s much easier to move a smaller lens quickly and track people/subjects.
But shooting in a sport/servo tracking mode I still felt like the focus was a bit slower than I’d like and dropped focus to the background more often than I hoped. BUT the park we were shooting at was made up of bowls that Michael was riding in and out of, so there are plenty of things that were coming in/out of the shot as I was shooting. I also don’t know how well my DX would have exactly handled it since I didn’t have it that weekend to try.
After looking through the photos and thinking about why this may have occurred I realized that I was being a little loose on my shooting. What I mean by this is I’ve become very used to a wider “spill” area around the focus point that the Canon 1D systems allow for in their 61-pt auto-focus system. So, if a person/object drops out of your focus point for a second or two (depending on your sensitivity settings) the camera will not lose focus on the subject, nor will it quickly focus on the selected point again – which is now likely the background of the image.
So, while going through images I realized this is what was happening with my images. It’s not that the camera was doing something wrong, it’s that I was relying on a system that wasn’t part of this camera. However, I know that when I shoot with my Canon 5D2 I’m very aware I don’t have this option with that system either and need to remain locked on my subject at all times.
This was something I was more aware of during my next test and OOF shots proved much less of an issue because of it

Overall thoughts for BMX – Works well enough. The speed of 12fps (of course) is great. I will accept fault for some of the focus system issues – and I realized after I didn’t try out the subject lock feature. This would have possibly helped improve many of the shots, as a rider in a cement bowl is a higher contrast compared to something like a car on a track. Below are a ton of different photos of Michael, his cousin Victor, and a couple young kids throwing some tricks on their scooters, too

Click the break for photos!

Read More

Camera Testing with the Sony a77 (1 of 4)

in black flys recent work skateboarding on

Ready for some sports – but not all.

As many of you know I spent a part of July testing out the Sony a77 DSLR camera system and a variety of lenses in various sports environments that I would typically encounter on my job.

I was approached by Sony Digital Imaging about giving feedback on their system and how it handles “doing what I do” for work. Not many people would consider a Sony system for sports shooting when they’re shopping, and I was going to try and get an idea of how well their system worked in various sports environments.

The Events

The tricky part of this overall test was going to be time and access for me around my normal schedule of races. It also happened to be during a month that I would be relocating from San Diego back up toward LA.
However, I reached out to a couple friends around the industry for credentials and help with various events, and also several athletes I know to see when and who would be practicing.
As it worked out, I was able to test shoot a bit of skateboarding, the Formula Drift race in Seattle, the Lucas Oil Off Road Race in Glen Helen, the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, and also some BMX in Chino Hills.

Click the break for photos and thoughts after my first test shooting some skateboarding at Black Flys Sunglasses Headquarters.

Read More

Formula Drift Round 5 – Seattle

in automotive drift racing racing on

Another Drift race of the season for the books – and a disappointing turn of events for Team Falken.

I just got back from Seattle a few days ago where I was out shooting for Falken once again for Formula Drift. This time around I was on my own covering the weekend’s events since the the rest of the creative staff was in Canada for the ALMS race. And while I got plenty of great photos from the weekend, the actual race itself didn’t go all too well for the team.

I arrived much earlier than I normally would for a race. I selected a super-early flight for some reason… I was trying to remember why I chose a 630a flight when I was just going up north to Seattle versus cross-country. Typically I seem to handle a lot of the far-away races for Falken. So that means long flights, and lots of travel on my part.
But for the life of me and I can not remember why I chose an early flight that put me in Seattle an entire day early.

No bother though, it was a chance to test out the extra Sony camera gear I brought along.

Thursday for me was a long day… not because I was busy, but because I wasn’t. I wasn’t there to work, so I was just hanging out. I didn’t bring my rental car since I rode with the team. Which left me plenty of time to do whatever I wanted. So, I shot around and took a ton of Behind the Scenes kind of photos of the guys setting up. Getting to know the crew is honestly one of the best parts of my job. Sure, taking pictures is great, but meeting and talking to everyone is seriously the best part. Whether it’s BS’ing with the crew during setup, asking the mechanics about what they’re doing and hearing them explain their job, or sitting at dinner talking with Dai about racing (his job), photography (my job), or fitness (mutual interest), it’s just plain amazing that this is what I get to do for a living.

But anyway, you came here for photos… so, read on!
Tons of images after the break from Setup, Practice, and Race Day. Also, Falken said “go ahead and play with lighting”… so, the photos are a bit different than I normally take.

Read More

Formula Drift Round 4: New Jersey

in drift racing racing recent work on

Just got back from New Jersey Formula Drift Round 4, where I was out shooting for Falken Tire again!

I wasn’t originally planning on being in Jersey for Round 4, but after contacting Falken on a whim it turned out they needed additional support that weekend. So that worked out great for me since I still had that weekend of June open and am always down to fly to a race to photograph.
So after what will likely be my last direct-flight to an East Coast race (you’d be surprised how many tracks I can fly to direct from San Diego) I met up with the video guys and headed out to grab a bite. This was actually the first time I’d really seen the Falken video crew this season. The other races I had be on, Le Mans Sebring, Atlanta Drift, Long Beach, etc, were all for other clients or Falken bookings where I was the only media support.

It’s always a blast being out with the team. They’re such a busy company that I don’t always get to see many people from their crew, which makes catching up on life less frequent. Plus, BS’ing with the video guys is fun since we can nerd it up and talk about cameras, software, hardware, and debate all the stupid things that none of my family or friends in SoCal really care about. Creative Cloud for Adobe?! Ripofffffff, what do you guys think? lol

The race weekend was great, and went by pretty quickly. Overall Falken did pretty well. Justin took second place. Darren barely missed third place, finishing fourth.

Next up I’ll be heading out to Seattle for Round 5 in Monroe, Washington. Looking forward to that since Falken has said I can go ahead and start being as artsy as I’d like with my imagery from the races. That “they have plenty of action shots” so I can feel free to be more creative with everything. So I’m stoked for that.

Also, I just talked and met with Sony Digital Imaging, I’m going to be testing some of their gear! This is pretty exciting. I was given a bunch of gear to test during the month of July! So I’m currently working with Black Flys sunglasses to set things up with their athletes for some awesome shoots with their athletes. Stay tuned. July is going to a lot of fun with all this new gear….

Anyway… on to the Drift photos!
There’s a bunch for you guys that just want to see a lot of photos of cars/etc. You will be able to tell the images that are straight from camera and don’t really have any heavy editing applied to them.

Oh, also, I’m trying something different for this blog and all the photos that follow are going to be 800 pixels at the longest edge… I’m trying it out to see if I prefer photos a bit larger than my typical 650 pixels at the longest edge. Let me know what you think in the comments about the size change. I’ll need to adjust the right column links though I realize.

More photos after the break

Read More

The Thesing Wedding – Clearwater, FL

in weddings on

So, last month I was at the Thesing wedding – pronounced “Tess-ing”…
Did you guys know that we’ve all pronounced Aaron’s last wrong for ten years and he never bothered correcting us?! I’m completely serious. Aaron NEVER corrected us… ten years… TEN years, guys. Joe and I couldn’t believe it.
Seriously. We – as in “all of us from lifeguarding” – have pronounced it THES-ing… apparently the “H” is silent. Ha! Joe and I, in shock (TEN!!!) asked Aaron why he never said anything. Aaron laughed and said “Well, how often do you guys really use my last name… and it’s not like you don’t know who I am. So it didn’t matter”.

Just wait til my wedding, guys. You’ll find out that you’ve pronounced my name wrong all these years, too!

So a little back story for those of you who don’t know much about me and my past. I lived and worked in Florida briefly during college. While working as a lifeguard and lifeguard trainer for the Disneyworld Water Parks I made some of my closest and best friends that I still keep in touch with and visit to this day. The choice of going to Florida during 2003 was easily one of the most significant impacts on my entire life.

rbjrat

Above: Ryan, Me, and Aaron – somewhere on Disney property. I’m fairly sure it’s at Disney Quest. 

Anyway, because of that decision I have friends scattered all over the country. Most of them I still keep in touch with to this very day. And quite a few of them I’ve even done photography for.
But the coolest part, for me, is the amount of weddings of these great friends I’ve been able to attend. When Aaron proposed to Danielle and then invited me as part of a very small list of friends and family I knew I would have to figure out how to get out to Florida for what would be my second of three trips to Orlando in 2013. It didn’t take long for me to convince myself to just put the trip on my credit card and go have a great time with my friends out there. I’ve been to pretty much every wedding of all my Disney friends that have invited me (in Texas, Boston, Oregon, Calif., etc.).
I wasn’t about to miss Aaron’s.

While working as lifeguards in ’03 Aaron and I were carpool buddies for several months. It worked out well since Aaron had a car in Florida and I’m punctual and always wake up on time for work. So, I would knock on his door at 6:45 each morning, and he’d wake up grab his things, and we’d leave for work at 7:30 at Blizzard Beach. Haha! He’s also been a great host to me over the years when I would visit Florida on Spring Break or during various trips. I crashed with him at his place two or three times – including during my move to England for school when I stayed at his place for several days before leaving the US.

After seeing Danielle and Aaron in March when I was in town to photograph the American Le Mans season opener race I knew I had to solidify plans for the weekend of the wedding. Danielle gave me permission to bring Joe as my date since he’s another Disney friend of Aaron’s and I don’t have a girlfriend/wife to bring anyway, lol. The week that I went out to Orlando – and eventually Clearwater – for their wedding I spent most on my laptop working and doing email.
But regardless of how busy I was with email/calls on the weekdays leading up to the weekend, the actual ceremony and two days in Clearwater with Joe, Aaron, Danielle and their families was a blast.

I had permission from both Danielle and Aaron to take some photos during their wedding, too! Which to me, is great. I’m all for enjoying the ceremony, however photography is enjoyable for me. And, more importantly, I want my own photos of such an important event in my friends lives.

So I’ll stop rambling and reminiscing about Florida, Disney, and all my great memories with my friends there. Click past the break for over 150 photos from the Thesing wedding!

Read More

Barnes Wedding – A Beautiful Ceremony In Triple-Digit Temperatures

in weddings on

Who would have guessed that the Saturday of Vu and Thanh’s wedding would turn out being one of the hottest weekends of the year?
And at 107 degrees out at the hottest point in the afternoon it tops any other wedding I’ve shot for high temperatures… haha!

But regardless of the weather the entire weekend with their families was a blast! I’ve known Vu for several years – he’s one of my good friends from the Bay Area S2ki crew. And even though I can’t hang during conversations about suspension and engine stuff when the guys all get together, I certainly can take part in the photo-related talk that goes on since Vu and several other guys are photo hobbyists themselves.
To be perfectly honest, when Vu first contacted me about possibly booking me the weekend of June 8th I assumed it was for a track day with the car guys and they were hoping I would be available to shoot for everyone (something I’ve done in the past).

Turns out that Vu and Thanh decided to get married and were quietly planning a wedding ceremony that almost no one was aware of! Woo hoo! Secret wedding! Haha, well, sort of… Everyone found out fairly quickly once plans were solidified.

As the weekend approached I was getting excited to head up to the Bay Area for the wedding since I knew it would not only be a great time with an awesome couple, but that there would be quite a few old faces there that I hadn’t seen in a very long time.

So, on to the photos! There are a ton of them. I decided to just do a massive, massive post with around 275 shots from the weekend. Click past the break, and read on if you have the time to kill

Read More