AMA Superbike Racing @ Road America

As summer begins, the track heats up. I was fresh off buying a new lens for myself, and this was the perfect spot to make its debut. Scott Machin and I left bright and early and immediately went to our favorite spot, turn #6 where I had a great spot as the riders were coming into the corner. Getting down to their level was the goal of the day, and having the longer reach of the 300mm lens made for a few great photos. There is a big difference between shooting cars and motorcycles. With the bikers moving into the corners, everything is moving. Getting a steady image while panning can be difficult, however using a solid monopod really helped.

You can check the entire collection out on flickr.

ALMS Time Warner Road Race 2010

Our yearly trip to Road America was once again a blast.  There is always something special about the smell of the race track, the roar of the engines, and the sound of the camera on high speed shutter.  As each year comes and goes, I always try to concentrate on on getting that shutter speed down to give that fore and background blur showing the most amount of motion.

MFBA Rally @ Road America

In the summer time, there is nothing better than spending a day at the track.  Too bad its not summer yet.  It was a cool Saturday morning, however once the cars hit the track no one worried about the weather.  The day warmed up nicely, and walking the track always helps.  I’m used to being at Road America for races during the summer, so attending the MFBA Rally was a first to see actual street approved cars running the track.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day.  You can see the entire album here.

Roush Performance

I like cars, and honestly most guys do.  My good friend Scott Machin belongs to a bunch of car forums around the Internet, and was given the opportunity to shoot a few shots of a 2005 Roush Mustang for a magazine.  He asked if I would like to tag along, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  We used a lot of the daylight and sun, but towards the end of the day broke out some of the lights to highlight some of the areas covered by shadows. I also was able to see the new rig that Scott had recently purchased for creating motion shots.  The rig is very impressive, and delivered just as he explained it.  It does need a little bit of work to make sure the shutter speed stays open long enough to make sure you capture the car movement, yet not too long to capture bounce from the boom.  Its amazing how the image makes it look like the car is driving 100mph, yet we are merely pushing it around a corner.

Chicago Air & Water Show 2009

I was asked to attend the 2009 Chicago Air & Water Show, and after missing the Milwaukee show, I knew that I wanted to go. Took the Metra down from Kenosha, costed us $1.50 for parking, and $5.00 round trip. A steal, right? It took a little over an hour on the train, and about a 30 minute walk to the beach.  I prepared as I always do (being an Eagle Scout has its cons) by bringing a cooler full of water and Gatorade, as they predicted close the 90 degrees at the lake.  I also was bringing my camera along to see if I would be able to get some good shots. I knew going into this that the far end of the 70-300mm IS lens was soft, but was going to push it to grab shots that far away.  I was able to get a fair number of usables, and a few nice Lightroom effects to some of the more obscure pictures makes for a very nice artistic set of pictures.  Overall, a great day…

Time Warner Road Race

Went up to Road America in Elkhart Lake.  I like to try and get up there at least once a year.  I’m not much of a fan of oval racing, but “Racing at its Best” where I would rather be.  The ALMS race was held on August 16th, and I was able to convince a good friend to join me.  Its always been hard to get someone to go along because my friends arent generally into racing.

Stonefire Car Show

In the area there is a huge pizza place that offers entertainment for kids….kinda like Chuck E Cheese.  The food is decent for the price, and there are a lot of activities for the little ones to do. My wife must have gotten on the mailing list because we got a card in the mail advertising their car show.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to play with my daughter inside, and walk the parking lot afterwards and grab a couple of cool shots of the classic cars that showed up.