Automotive Photographer | Automotive Photography | Car Photos | Car Photography
For those of you who follow my blog – note that there have been some interesting developments as of late.
#1 – I am now part of the crew over at http://www.motormavens.com – check out the intro here
#2 – I have a feature up about my own ride here
I am in the company of some industry titans as well as some up and coming talent, so stay posted to my blog here as well as Motor Mavens for the latest info!
So if there is anything to be said about attending what is one of the world’s most storied races in the 24 Heures Du Mans it is simply that endurance is truly the name of the game. After an incredibly long flight, several train rides, a taxi ride, and a great deal of walking, you finally arrive at Circuit de la Sarthe a bit thirsty, a bit off, and wondering just who the hell speaks enough English to tell you where exactly you are supposed to pickup your credentials and photo vest. After figuring all of this out you have to prepare yourself both mentally and physically for what is one of the toughest assignments in all of motorsports. To that end there was also the small amount of gear to lug around, namely the five thousand pound Canon EF 400 2.8L IS with a tiny 1-series body hanging off the end.
But enough bitching and complaining – the images to come away with are perhaps some of my favorite of all time, and it is an experience I will never forget. For all those fans who are currently watching the race on the tele, I encourage you to somehow someway get your ass all the way to France, ride the ferris wheel, enjoy the race, and stay up for the entire duration too. The Le Mans experience is truly one of a kind.
The pit stops at Lemans are carried out to a fine degree of perfection. The sheer energy and buzz before, during, and after the car arrives is something you cannot feel on television.
As the race went into the night most of the available light had diminished to the point where you almost felt bad about flashing the drivers as they sped past the start/finish line.
As the sun gave just a touch of morning glow to the latter hours of the race, clouds moved in and the light rain really mixed things up. Luckily the 1D Mark II and 400 2.8L IS are completely weather sealed and I continued shooting through the rain. By the time I had finished shooting both the body and the lens were completely soaked, but still in 100% working condition. On the other hand, I was dripping wet, exhausted, and still had to try to lug the gear back to the paddock area to shoot the end of the race and the podium finish. As a tip for any potential Le Mans shooters out there – buy, borrow, beg, or steal a golf cart. Your body will thank you later!
Just to keep this one relatively short and sweet, the images below are set to run in an upcoming motorcycle mag that is highlighting the competitive nature of a certain 14 year old female racer featured in the images below:
Dad races, son races, daughter races. Furthermore, I’m told that not only does she race; full on knee-dragging, hard-charging cornering and blistering straighaway speeds are just some of her characteristics. Watch out world!
When Ford called us with a last minute opening and an invitation to kick the tires on a 2010 Mustang GT at the Ford Proving Grounds, we openly embraced the offer. An aptly sized skidpad would be at our disposal to approach triple digit speeds and we would also be receiving expert instruction from none other than Tommy Kendall. However, there would be a small twist thrown into the mix as part of a larger production effort that would give journalists an insight into the world of Roger Keeney. Since Roger, 62 of Athens., GA lost his sight and thought he would never experience the exhilarating rush and the tactile sensations that arise from being behind the wheel, he had always dreamed of one day driving again.
We would be given the chance to perform acceleration and braking tests, as well as our favorite exercise on skidpads (massively smoke filled donuts), all while driving completely void of all sight, just like Roger.
As Ford set out to allow Roger to live out his dream, we watched with much excitement and admiration as Roger, under the direction of Tommy Kendall, took the center stage and confidently whipped the 2010 ‘Stang around the skidpad. You couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and joy in watching someone truly live out what they had once never thought possible. Then it was our turn.
Things started with a rundown of the safety precautions, including a “release” command that, when shouted, meant we had to take our hands and feet off the controls and relinquish them to our famed instructor, who would in theory regain control with e-brake and steering input. This was a production car after all, which had not been modified in any way for the visually impaired, thus in an emergency situation the Instructor should be able to take over and bring things to a halt. Not to worry though, we had the advantage of seeing everything beforehand and unlike Roger, it had only been mere hours since we were last behind the wheel. That all went out the window as soon as the blindfold went on.
Nearly hitting the windshield of the convertible ‘Stang upon entry, even finding the seatbelt on the car became somewhat of a chore. Seat adjustments were made based solely on comfort and not sight, and there was a far greater connection to the steering wheel than ever before. After being given verbal directions on how fast and exactly where to proceed, the 2010 ‘Stang was on its way to the edge of the skidpad for a raw acceleration test.
3…..2…..1…..GO! And we were off, but now instead of seeing the landscape starting to streak by, there was simply the rush of the wind, the growl of the exhaust note, and the chirp of the tires as we were pushed back into our seat. By the time we hit 60, the palms were sweaty, at 70 there was a bit of a pucker, and by 80 we had apparently run out of room and were told to mash on the brakes, hard. ABS kicked in and brought everything to an abrupt conclusion, as apparently we were a little hard on the pedal. That was weird.
Next up we were guided towards the middle of the skidpad for some good old’ fashioned donuts, which the Mustang never has a problem with. Experiencing lateral g’s without any sort of visual makes for a bit of a roller coaster ride, it turns out, but as there was no fear of flying off the skidpad, this simply meant that it was more fun than scary.
Heading back there was a greater appreciation for the one thing that every one of us takes for granted not only when driving, but when living. The gift of sight is one that should not be taken lightly, and the next time you put yourself behind the wheel, whether it be the car of your dreams or your mother’s Camry, remember that driving is a privilege that not everyone has. Few if any visually impaired individuals will ever get to go through Roger’s driving experience, but we certainly commend Ford for giving him the opportunity. For readers who think that they too have a dream experience that the 2010 Mustang can fulfill, head over to htpp://www.the2010mustang.com and submit your own idea for the “10 Unleashed.”
So I found myself waiting at the drugstore and had to hit the magazine section up for some new reading materials. Since Modified Luxury & Exotics is no more (and will be sorely missed) it appears that SIM has reallocated some of their resources; Heavy Hitters is an up and coming magazine featuring exactly what the title implies. Think DUB, RIDES, Lowrider, and a touch of MLE all rolled into one magazine and you have Heavy Hitters. It’s not exactly my personal style but there is obviously a market for this stuff, so if any of the content of the aforementioned titles interests you, don’t hesitate to pick up a copy!
Cutting right to the chase, this was another random instance (like the Spirit Magazine post below) where I just happened to be flipping through a mag and found one of my images. This particular image was used as an ad for Koda Creative, an AZ based ad agency specializing in “brand marketing and strategic development targeting the affluent.” I had worked with one of their clients, Breden Forged, on shooting a series of images for their new wheel company last year. The guys over at Breden were awesome to work with and have some sweet wheel designs, not to mention the fact that their entire product line is based around a custom made 3-piece forged design – sweeeet!
So without further adieu, feel free to check out some of the images and tearsheets below, and if you like any of the wheel designs and happen to be in the market, check out Arizona Auto Werks!
For those of you who fly Southwest on a regular basis and just happen to leave all your copies of Modified Mag at home, I encourage you to pickup the latest copy of Spirit Magazine, which is the official mag of Southwest Airlines. No, unfortunately I did not shoot the cover, nor have I ever met Magic Johnson. Buuuuut…
…besides the insightful travel tips and colorful destination photography this month, be sure to check out page 26:
Just a little something I did mid-last year; documenting the new world’s fastest production car (besting the Bugatti Veyron no less) with the crew at Shelby Super Cars (SSC) on various closed down highways in and around Wendover, Utah. Here are some behind the scenes photos from some of the shakedown runs (yes, that would be 221mph on the Nuvi on their shakedown run):
Breaking a top speed world record is no short order, as there are but a small handful of places in the country where you can actually attempt this feat. The Nevada D.O.T. was on hand to route traffic and close off the road for each attempt, and I also snapped a pic of the local sheriff as a souvenir for what is almost certainly the strangest car he’s ever come across. I sent him some prints at no charge!!
And here is the final image setup and then sent around the world when they broke the Guinness World Record. For the strobists out there – image was shot with a 1D Mark II, 70-200 2.8L IS and 3 580EX’s, triggered via pocketwizard and held by human light stands (the best light stands ever):
Not content to rest on their laurels, SSC has made some interesting announcements in the past year.
1) They have announced plans to release the SSC Ultimate Aero EV, allegedly powered by twin 500hp electric motors and holding a charge of several year(s)(!)
2) The original SSC Ultimate Aero is now outdated, as they officially debuted the much improved 2009 Ultimate Aero at the 2009 Abu Dhabi International Motor Show. The car will now do 270+mph and will have 1287bhp(!!)
So I am fortunate enough to have two mag covers this month, one of which got me in a fair bit of trouble, but we’ll save that discussion for another day. Regardless, the February 2009 cover of Modified Mag is something that came together after a good amount of planning and some help from our friends at Tomei USA. Tomei has been at the forefront of JDM tuning since way back in the day, and honestly I can even remember an old issue of Import Tuner (2002ish??) where Non-Fujita’s Tomei crate motor powered car was on the cover. That was apparently one of the first cars in the US to have an actual Tomei crate motor installed, and even today it is a rarity to see the trademark Tomei blue under the hood. Anyhow, Riki and Eiji had been helping us secure some awesome shop tours and feature cars for an upcoming trip to Hong Kong, and as we were discussing their worldwide distributors and partners, the name Zele International (pronounced ZEEL, but not to be confused with the other Zeal) came up. I had seen the car on a couple blog sites and the Murcielago orange paint and the forged Gram Light R57-GT’s made this thing stand apart from the rest of the GT-R crowd. After talking with Kamata-san we learned that the car would be here for the SEMA show and figured we should jump on it before the masses caught wind on the show floor.
Here are some behind the scenes photos from the track portion of the shoot at Buttonwillow Raceway. Back in October at one of our creative meetings down at Source’s LA office we realized that amongst the last few years of cover shots we had neglected the rear 3/4 image quite a bit. It was decided that we should go for one of these on an upcoming cover, and the R35’s distinctive rear end would provide plenty of recognition on the store shelves regardless. So after the long journey to the middle of nowhere (Buttonwillow) we had some time set aside after Super Lap Battle to do essentially just that – setup on a nice corner where we could incorporate rumble strips and photograph the R35 blasting off into the sunset. Since this created a backlit situation in terms of lighting, Peter and I lit the rear of the car with strobes so that we wouldn’t lose the oil cooler and exhaust, and then composited the shot together with the long rig exposure creating the motion blur.
The other portion of the shoot took place in the SIM Studio in Gardena, which is a fully equipped (Chimera F2 Overhead Light Bank) + 30 + packs and heads with some major wattsecond output. I always love setting up shots with the actual gear as part of the composition. Here is one such sample shot that did not make the mag:
Here is a shot of me snapping some details in the cove (if you look closely you can see the booties over my feet to keep the footprints from ruining the white floor). I also added a pic of the folks over at Zele International for good measure:
Right after we finished up with Zele they were back off to Japan to prepare for the next big show, Tokyo Auto Salon 2009…
by Mike Maez
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