March, 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race from Phoenix International Raceway

During the March 2012 NASCAR visit to Phoenix, I was on this “trying something different” theme, and if you remember the images I posted from the Nationwide practice session here: NASCAR Nationwide Series – Trying something completely different you will see a bit of a continuation of that “something different” theme. In the past I would get tons of shots of cars-on-track and for the most part I would spend my time outside the track shooting cars with long glass. These images from the race aren’t different from anything you’ve seen before, but somewhat different for me, in that the style is a bit different from what I normally shoot and my shooting position is different. I tried to look for a different perspective with this race, but in many cases during the heat of the moment and all the excitement of the race I tended to slip back into my old habits of getting “traditional” style images.

I realized I use the word “different” about a thousand times in that first paragraph so maybe I should just stop typing and show you the images.

During the race I tried some slow shutter speed panning like this shot of Elliot Sadler and Kyle Busch but I can’t say I was really excited with the results so I didn’t spend a whole lot of time shooting panning shots.

To see the rest of the story, click the “continue reading” link below:

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:

2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Kobalt Tools 500 from Phoenix International Raceway – part 2

When we last left our hero’s they were hurtling at break-neck speeds towards their doom . . .   Oh wait, that’s not right. Both Tony and Carl were fighting tooth and nail for every inch of track position they could get. That sounds more like where we left our story.

At this point it was anybody’s guess who would win, Tony is a proven champion, but Carl has won here in Phoenix in both his Nationwide car and in his Sprint Cup car, and all on the same weekend.

See the rest of the story by clicking on the more link below:

2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Kobalt Tools 500 from Phoenix International Raceway – part 1

I know this post is a bit late, but as they say better late than never. After having wrapped up another NASCAR race weekend here I thought I would go ahead and post my images from the November 2011 Sprint Cup race, you see the first part of 2012 has been a bit crazy for me and I just haven’t had the time to post all the events ‘as they come’ so I’m getting around to it now.

The big theme for me this race weekend was ‘cars on track’ so my goal was to get good clean shots of as many cars on track as possible. Let’s see how I did.

12 November 2011: Jamie McMurray (1) takes hot laps during a qualifying session for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 Race at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale Arizona.

I started with qualifying and found some success shooting into the sun, not always the best option for good shots but it was giving me an interesting effect and I managed to get some great shots of a limited number of the cars/drivers in their qualifying runs.

To see more great NASCAR Sprint Cup images click on the more link below:

NASCAR Sprint Cup tests the new surface at Phoenix International Raceway

Phoenix International Raceway had a massive re-paving project where the entire surface was replaced, as well as some other changes to increase safety and make the fans experience much better.

I expected the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars to be primer grey and with very few markings so I anticipated mostly working the garage for good shots of the drivers, well that wasn’t exactly how everything turned out.

I saw some photos from the construction phase and was interested in how covering the upcoming race in November would be effected.

To see the rest of the story including the rest of my images, click on the more link below.

Hot sun, hot fun, sweat and dust at another weekend of Lucas Oil Off Road Series racing

The Lucas Oil Off Road series racing crew rolled into Surprise Arizona for round 11 and 12 of this fun-filled, hot, dusty action at Speedworld, and I was lucky enough to be there to try to capture the intensity and excitement.

I love covering LOORS (Lucas Oil Off Road Series) racing, although it’s tough on camera equipment, lots of dust and dirt, as well as hot, bright sun and sweaty, sunscreen covered faces pressed into the viewfinder and on the LCD screen.

To see more hot sweaty images from the weekend’s racing, click the more button below.

Lucas Oil Off Road Video

I covered the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – April 15-17, 2011 Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise Arizona and talked about shooting some video during the weekend. I am finally able to share that video with you here.

As mentioned in the following post: MORE Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – April 16, 2011 Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise Arizona  I split my duties capturing stills and shooting video and learned a great deal about what to do next time I try shooting video.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Feb. 25, 2011 Practice – Lucas Oil 150 from Phoenix International Raceway

These images aren’t particularly difficult to capture or photographed amazing well on my part, just good clean stock shots of trucks on track. The images are useful to illustrate stories on either the drivers or the Camping World Truck Series teams so from that standpoint they have value and interest.

I liked the look of the lighting on former AMA Supercross Champion, Ricky Carmichael’s number 4 Monster Energy Drink truck and having the trucks in the background helped give some perspective to the image.

To see the rest of the images click on the more link below.

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – April 15-17, 2011 Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise Arizona

Holly cow, that’s a long title. I’ve got a bunch of Motorsports posts and a few different events to catch my viewers up on so let me start with some Lucas Oil Off Road racing from Surprise Arizona. Speedworld Off Road Park in Surprise Arizona hosted rounds 3 and 4 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series (LOORS) and this was the first time covering an event at this track. A great facility with an interesting and exciting track as well a lots of great shooting positions. I spent the weekend trying out different shooting positions and angles for the best light, cleanest backgrounds and best shots. I’m still working the bugs out of shooting at this track but here is a sampling of the images I captured during Friday’s practice and Saturday’s round 3 action.

Friday’s mid-morning practice session had me shooting through the fence and in harsh-bright-sunlight so I tried some cross-processing on this shot of Brian Deegan (38) putting the power down.

See more dirt-slinging action photos by clicking on the more link below.

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.