NASCAR Nationwide Series – Trying something completely different

This post is from the March 2, 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series practice session at Phoenix International Raceway, and when I say “trying something completely different” I mean slow, sloooooooow shutter speeds. For me it was about trying to get something that looked a bit different from what you see from these sessions and I’m not talking slow shutter speed panning shots where the car is in focus but the background is blurred, but super slow speed shutter speed panning shots where almost the entire image is a mass of blur and color.

02 March 2012: Denny Hamlin (18) takes hot laps during a practice session for the running of the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 Nationwide Series Race at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale Arizona.

Most of these shots are taken at shutter speeds between 1/8th of a second and 1/12 of a second, some are blurred more than others and some work better than others. I found that shooting at f22 or f32 on a bright sunny day showed every dust speck you could possibility imagine on my sensor so there was a fair bit of Photoshop dust clean up that had to be done.

To see more blurry images remember to click the more link below:

NASCAR Nationwide Series – WYPALL 200 from Phoenix International Raceway

The boys, and girls of NASCAR stop by Phoenix International Raceway twice a year and the November race looked to be an exciting weekend of racing because Phoenix had been called “the wildcard” by most of the media due to the new track surface and “configuration.” From my perspective there didn’t seem to be much of a change to the shape or distance of the track however, they did raise the back part of the track several feet allowing fans to see the cars on the back straight from the grandstands along the front straight but, the shape and distance didn’t change.

10 November 2011: Sam Hornish Jr. (12) takes hot laps during a practice session for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Race, WYPALL* 200 powered by Kimberly-Clark Professional at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale Arizona.

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NASCAR images for your viewing pleasure

Everyone is deep into basketball and baseball this time of year so I thought I would post some Motorsports images for my viewers. I’m sure putting “for your pleasure” in the title will get me a few views, but maybe people who use the search phrase “for your pleasure” aren’t exactly my target demographic.

I enjoy shooting Motorsports and would like to shoot more. I enjoy a number of different types of Motorsports events and I am constantly trying to improve my shooting skills so here are a few shots for you to check out and comment on.

Here is a nice shot from 2010 of Brian Vickers siting in his car during practice for the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600 Sprint Cup Series Race at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale Arizona.

To see more great NASCAR images click the more link below.

Press Room Portraits

There are a ton of other photographers out there so I try to set myself apart from the others by doing something different. I like shooting portraits of people in the interview room because you can sometimes get unique expressions and often times the portraits can make “larger-than-life” celebrities seem a tiny bit more human. Having now said that and posting my images here, I’m sure someone will copy my idea and everybody and their brothers will start shooting in the press room.

At any rate, here are some of my favorite press room portraits.

Arizona State Sun Devils basketball Ty Abbott.

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NASCAR Nationwide Series – Wypall 200 Nov. 12, 2010 from Phoenix International Raceway

Wow, long headline. At least my long headline will help readers find my blog and images.

I didn’t get many views or comments on my truck race coverage, granted it was somewhat un-inspiring image-wise and the fans don’t seem to be very interested in the Camping World Truck series anyway, so I guess I shouldn’t expect too much.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series is a little bit more popular than the trucks even though a lot of the drivers are the same.

I still struggled a bit with my creativity on this set, in some cases resorting to just getting cars-on-track shots, but at least I tried to use shots with nice afternoon sunlight or flames coming from the exhaust. So, on with the show.

Some would say this was the Carl Edwards show, and rightly so as he was fast all day and took home the big prize.

Carl Edwards jumps out of his Copart car in victory lane.

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