Formula Drift 2011 Wall, NJ
So I’ve been to quite a few drifting events including Formula Drift at Wall Township in NJ 2 times before this event. I do have to say if you aren’t familiar with drifting it’s incredibly exhilarating, you MUST get out to a drift event as soon as you can! I’ve shot a few drift events before. One of them being East Coast Bash, also known as ECB. This year was the first time I was able to get a media pass and shoot on the track, where all the action is happening. I was so happy, big thank you to Leo at www.stateofstance.com for getting me the media pass. So I got to the track at 8am. Keep in mind, the doors didn’t open to vendors or media till 10. I was a little antsy standing around! After being the 3rd car in the parking lot I saw a few friends of mine, as well as the www.canibeat.com crew. After getting into the gates, I started shooting a lot of the cars in the pits till about 11:30 when the media meeting was to start.
After the 15 minute briefing about not running in front of moving vehicles and making sure you don’t run onto the track while its hot. Were pretty much kicked to the track, the moment we all were waiting for. At around 12:00 practice started, it was amazing seeing these cars up close and personal and being so close to the action. When I say close I mean close. At one point this Viper spun out and came within 5ft. of where I was shooting.
Did I move? Nope. I have the photo sequence to prove! (will post at a later date)
After Practice rounds came the top 31. Following came all the finalists. At this point we were told by track officials we are able to run onto the track when the cars are lined up to get some shots of the drivers with their sponsor “models”.
At this point all I saw was a swarm of orange media vests running to the center of the track. I found my spot and started shooting. At this point we had about 3-4 minutes and then hurry and run back to your bunker, kind of like I was in a paintball tournament, except I was running with $5,000 in equipment in my hand.
Well the finals round came around and that’s where the magic happened, everyone went all out! I have never seen a track eat up so many cars at one event!
Well the event came to an end. I do have to say that it was an amazing experience to see this action first hand. To view more from the event scope out the gallery and also go HERE for all the high-resolution pictures!
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- Vaughn Gittin, Jr., unimpressed with drifting “world record,” suggests raising the bar (autoblog.com)
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- Video: Motorsports photogs stranded at DFW airport get creative (autoblog.com)
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One FAST 1946 Pick-up
This past Sunday I shot my friend Nicks 1946 Chevy Pick-up. This thing is so mean!!! It looks so innocent but packs a huge punch! This truck is packed with a big block Chevy 540 Block and a very rare EXPENSIVE set of Valley head service- thunder power 32 valve heads. This truck is fully customized out of his very own shop with his dad. no words can describe the time, patience, and sweat put into this car. To make life easier he has provided me a list of modifications and specs, hold onto your chair.
To reach Nick or Nick Sr. at Nicks Customs for any work please email them at nweber540@aol.com
To see more pics from the shoot please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/guitarplaya7/sets/72157626786104679/
Now for some pics!
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EXPOSE YOURSELF SWEATSHIRT from Zazzle.com
EXPOSE YOURSELF SWEATSHIRT from Zazzle.com A hoodie designed for my blog. T shirts coming soon!! Tell me what you think.
YouTube Video’s?!?!
Yes, that’s right, I made 2 YouTube slide show video’s. I will say, it’s quite fun but the purpose of me doing this is kind of like having a “Set” in Flickr. I’m making these videos to group different events and or genres of images from my portfolio. For all you photographers reading this I’ll clue you in. I’ve been reading more and more about photography promotion and different ways to market your work. I’ve repeatedly stumbled across the idea of making YouTube slide shows, or even behind the scenes movies. After hearing this I began a search on YouTube, to my surprise I was a little late on this idea. Apparently every photographer and they’re mother read these articles years before I did!
So, that’s what I did. I made YouTube Slideshows…heres 2 and I hope you enjoy them! The image quality sucks on them, I have to figure out why…any ideas drop a comment!
Exclusive S15 Silvia
This past weekend I did an “exclusive” shoot with the Silvia S-15. As some of you may know this car has gotten a lot of coverage over the past 1-2 years. After the shoot was over we decided to take a ride on the city, Philadelphia that is. First things first. This car breaks necks like I’ve never seen before. I do understand that when I am sitting in the driver’s seat” and I am not the one actually driving it may look a bit odd. Most of you may know at this point that the car is RHD (right-hand drive), that’s right, it’s here in the US and the steering wheel is on the right side. As we were driving about just looking for a place to get a quick snack and then load the trailer up, Sean wanted a shot of the car in a very different location that said Philadelphia all the while showcasing the car. So we set out on our 30min journey looking for that spot. Putting an image in my head I needed something that screamed Philadelphia but at the same time trying to get that in a spot you don’t see pics of cars in to often.
Well I got the spot. Dead smack in the middle of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. I just needed to find a spot and backdrop that said “That is a Philadelphia car”. So we drove a bit and decided to throw this thing in the middle of the median on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and catching a shot of City Hall right behind. Let me know what ya think!
Read up more on this car and the story behind the love and friendships that made it possible at http://www.4udrew.org/
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Hitting the Back Straight!
This weekend was packed solid for me, as well as the next few. Recently I was invited to shoot at a private track event held at Englishtown Raceway Park, NJ. Event was held by JDS Motoring. Here is a couple pictures from the event. I havent yet finished the entire shoot yet but here is just a couple for your enjoyment.
5 Tips, and then some, on being a better photographer
There are many pointers, tricks, methods, rules, guidelines…etc that many photographers use in order to get that shot they want. Everyone has their own way of going about setting up a shot or trying to make their shot that much different from everyone elses. Now seeing how I mostly shoot scenery and automotive, most of the time objects that I am shooting are stationary. Therefore I am able to access the scene and set-up accordingly. I will tell you right now…I am not the best photographer out there, and I don’t think I have even begun to scratch the surface, but I do try my best to produce that “WOW!” effect in a picture. That being said, the MAIN tip for every photographer out there is have CONFIDENCE in yourself! If you don’t have confidence or a strong head on your shoulders you will get stomped on and walked all over, and believe me, no one wants to hire a limp photographer! On to the tips before I go on a confidence rant!
Tip #1
MOVE YOUR FEET
What makes an amazing capture always starts with a base, I’ll give you a hint, it’s the first step every photographer should take before that shutter clicks. That is framing the picture and composing the shot to give the consumer that “WOW!” effect I had mentioned earlier. You want to create an angle between you and that object that will grab your customer/consumers eye and draw them in. A few things should be going through your mind as you prepare your shot. Look around and check your background, make sure nothing will be or is over powering your subject. For example: I’m shooting a sport bike at a loading dock, right next to this sport bike is a GINORMOUS 18-wheeler. Ummm that in my opinion takes away from noticing the beauty that bike may have. Yes it can be framed to look differently if you MOVE YOUR FEET but certain things in background will take away from you subject. Next! Check your reflections, and your horizon lines. Things like these can be changed or processed in Photoshop, but your goal as a photographer is to create as little work for yourself in processing as possible. If adjusting something at the time of the shoot takes you 30 seconds, you will have saved about 3 minutes in Photoshop. So if you’ve got a reflection move a couple of feet over and see if it washes out (this is if you don’t have a circular polarizer, definitely a must have). Finally, there is nothing worse than taking a picture, visualizing what you want that final product to look like then going to process and you find a foreign object behind your subject that totally distorts the picture. in some cases such as candid shots this may not be able to be prevented. I had taken a picture of my fiance. I absolutely loved this shot. I took it a couple of years back when we took our first vacation and I got my first camera. I still love it, but someone pointed out to me that it looks like a tree is growing out of the model’s head. Here is the picture to get a better understanding of foreign objects in backgrounds. In this case it couldn’t have been prevented due to the fact it wasnt a posed shot.
Tip #2
TAKE CRITICISM AND LEARN FROM IT
Unlike the first tip this one is pretty self-explanatory. Take your pictures, post them up, let the public see them on flickr, photobucket, webshots, or even facebook. Let them judge your work and your style (which yes, you will develop your OWN style). Then have them tell you why they don’t like it and knock you off of your pedestal. Then LEARN FROM IT. After this, read from the second sentence of this tip to the part where it says LEARN FROM IT, and uhhhh, do that for a couple of years, maybe the rest of your career. You don’t always have to take everyone’s advice, but you sure can take it and make your own judgement from it. Art is different in everybody’s eyes, and its on you to make the decision if what you ment to do is how you visualized that picture to look. People will go their own ways in this industry and that’s how you create your own look, your own style.
Tip #3
SHOOT MORE…PROCESS LESS
Well those of you that only own 1 2 gig card may hate this tip, but ya know what, if you only have 1 2 gig card then you need to purchase another, or better yet get a 4,8,16,32 gig card. Well a lot of people say setup your shot and shot it once. Take the time and double-check all your adjustments and shoot. I do agree with taking your time and fine tuning everything, it’s a must. I disagree, strongly about taking 1-2 shots. Those little LCD screens on the back of our cameras may look nice and pretty, but sometimes you just wont be able to totally tell if lets say your subject is in complete focus, or even if the white balance is correct for the lighting. I’ve found in some cases that I have only taken that 1 shot and it turned out to be great…but the front door was the focus point, and the front bumper was not. Or even the leaf directly behind the flower was in focus and the flower was slightly out. I can only imagine this would’ve been a different story if I had set up again to maybe take 2-3 pics instead of just that 1.
Tip #4
NEVER MAKE EXCUSES IN FRONT OF A CLIENT!
Doing this will and can hurt your business very quickly! When you make excuses in front of clients it kills your professional image that you are trying to set. That very image that you and your work use to sell YOUR BRAND. You want to show your customers that you have the confidence and the “know how” to give them what they are paying for. A customer doesn’t want to hear “only if I had…” out of your mouth, or “my camera doesn’t have that many megapixels”. This all hurts you. You are a professional and you are getting paid to be creative. SO GET CREATIVE! Think of a work around, that’s what you’re getting paid to do. Make that model feel good about themself, or present that communion or wedding and tell a story and make people get to know the people in the pictures. Think of ways to work around maybe flaws in lighting, or equipment, or even lack of help. Don’t make excuses!
Tip #5
BE BOLD AND THINK OUT OF THE BOX
Every photographer has their own style. You ask what makes one stand out from another. Well that’s simple, there’s a lot of things but 1 main point that I always look for,who has seen this picture from that perspective? Show people a picture from an incredible place they may never get to see in their lifetime. Catch that angle that no one else can, or be at that spot and frame it in a way that people will ask, “how did they take that picture?”. Make the consumer curious, it gives them the drive to want more.
This concludes my 5 Tip’s…and then some on being a better photographer. I hope you learned something new, after-all that’s what this games all about right? If you want a better understanding of what I mean when I say be bold and different a great place to see examples of this would be Flickr‘s very own Explore page.
Make a comment, tell me what you think!
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Look at my TEE TEE!
Hey guys, this weekend was pretty crazy, tons of events went on from New Brunswick all the way to the super chill Liberty VIP BBQ. This past Saturday to kick off the week I shot a good friend JG’s Audi TT. This thing kick’s ass. ALL of this work that was done to this car was done by himself as well. Well here’s his extensive mod list. Enjoy the pictures and don’t forget to check my Flickr for the rest of the pictures from this shoot.
MOD LIST:
Wheels
Keskin kt1s front 17×8.5 et 5mm overall rear 17×10 et 5mm overall
Tires
Falken 512 205 45 17 front 215 45 17 rear
Suspension
Bilstine pss9s modified for lower nuspeed 19mm rear sway
Interior
Stable energies 4 point roll bar
Vent mount boost gauge
Custom rear seat delete with remote battery located under cover
Ash tray deleted with custom 2 gauge pod aem wideband and aem tru boost
Exterior
Osir rear telson spoiler
Exhaust panel
Satin black deleted wipers
Custom heat displacement cutouts in hood
Engine
Scat rods
Apr hardware
+.oo1 calico coated rod bearings
Mahle motor sport 8.9 to 1 compression forged pistons with 20mm rist pins
Aeb large port head
Supertech single grove keeeper valves
Inconle exuasht valves and stainless intakes
Supetech hd valve springs
Rosten retainers
Cat 3651 cam set
Cat adustable timing gear
Kenetic t3 cast tubular exausht manifold
Garret gt3076 turbo .63 a/r exhaust
Custom 2.5 in intercooler piping
Garret 600hp fmic core
Custom 3 inch turbo back with magniflow mufler
Ross machine largeport short runner intake manifold
70mm drive by wire throttle body
Tial 38mm externally dumped waste gate
Tial alpha q bov
Uni 630cc base tune with seimens 630cc injectors
Stock fuel puump with wlboro 255lph inline pump
Black Chrome RSX
Well as you all know Derek has a set of sick CCW’s that have been flaunted all over the blogs. Now I think its time everyone see’s a legit shoot of Nugent’s RSX slammed and fitted on some sick Black Chrome RPF1′s (and of course the newly installed Cusco JungleGym). The talk of Stunnrstatus is the E-Famous Evo (pictures do not do it a justice, incerdible to see in person) but noone has officially seen Matt’s RSX on his new setup, except if you were at Honda Day at E-Town, he was with our boys in the CaniBeat Tent. Well we decided this weekend to do a quick last minute shoot and get the car out there to be seen! Well here are a couple pictures. Visit my Flickr for the rest of the shoot!
Slammed Miata
Well going through the archives and found a really old picture of one of my personal favorites that Derek from stunnrstatus built. This Miata kicked ass, I took a couple quick pictures of it not knowing it was going to be sold and never seen again a couple of weeks after. If I had known this I would’ve had a legitimate shoot with the car.
Derek’s Evo Sneak Peak
Well as you all know this is my personal blog aside from being a blogger on Stunnrstatus. I figured I’d share with you all a very delayed but yet very plesant addition to the Stunnrstatus Evo Viii. It is an amazing set of 18×10.5 CCW Lm20′s…SOOOOOO fresh! The whole point of me making this post was to have a teaser of the car. But this past weekend while I was at my shore house it made its debut on the new set-up at a local car event ( www.drew4u.org). Anyway here is my teaser shot of Dereks car for now. Will be taking a complete shoot of this car very shortly so stay posted!! OOOOOOOOOON TO THE PICTURE (not so teaser shot anymore now that people have seen it. I was a little late on this haha).
A GL-I Like
Well this past weekend was very hot, so that ment EXNAY for Englishtowns Waterfest, sorry. Well I went and shot a friend Donny’s VW GLI instead. Pretty pleased with the shoot. This car pretty much sets itself up in any background, but I liked the city urban look for it. Plus I really felt like shooting in Philly.
MOD LIST:
Unitronic Stage 2
FK Streetline Coilovers
OZ Pegasus FRONT 17×8.5 REAR 17×9.5
15mm Spacers
Falkin 512′s 205/45/17 in front and 215/45/17 in rear
….ONTO THE PICS!
New “I SCRAPE FRAME” Stickers
Here is a new idea i’ve been messing with and i’ve been trying to promote my photography using this website (zazzle.com) by making posters calendars and postcards and selling them. I recently realized i can make tons of products, one being 11″x3″ stickers like this
Marley’s Mi’Yata!!!
Well this past weekend there was a ton of interesting things going on, one being trying to explore and find a sick place to shoot John Marley’s slammed Mazda Miata. Well the steel mills in Bethlehem, PA are a well-known spot among many photographers in the area. So me and Matt decided what the hell lets give it a shot. Well here is only 3 of the pictures out of the many that i took. Keep posted on my Flickr for more soon, I’m really busy these next couple days so I’ll try and get more up ASAP. Let me know what you think!
SummerSlam, Englishtown NJ
Well I recently attended the SummerSlam Event at Englishtown this past weekend. If it wasnt for the 108 degree track conditions and the World Cup playing that day I’d imagine the crowd would’ve been quite a bit larger. Aside from all the horrible conditions i had a good time. It was a good oppertunity to meet a lot of people. Thanks to my friend Cliff I was introduced to the owner(s) of Syndicated Clothing , a real dope store based out of Union, NJ. Also MC Slick kicked ass at getting that crowd moving and worked up, especially in that 100 degree weather. Slick definatly keep that crowd going. Also met the guys from Eat Sleep Race and Jackie from Urban Racer. Well now for the pictures. I didnt take many but I am only posting up a couple for now. Check back soon for more pictures from the event.
4U Drew Car Show
Here’s what its all about guys, friends supporting friends, and making the “scene” more open to the public. Sean is putting together a car show/benifit for the 4Udrew foundation. Check out the flyer for information. Will be a great time, sign up for the show. Some great prizes and giveaways!
Formula Drift @ Wall Stadium
So on Saturday I took a trip down to Wall Stadium with my StunnrStatus boys. Most of they’re cars were in the Hella Flush show. This event was insane. All of the drivers were just hanging out being really social and just enjoying everyones company. Daijiro Yoshihara ended up stealing the event by taking a close 1st place and not far behind was Vaughn Gittin Jr. The crowd that this event attracted was massive. I ended up taking somewhere around 1,800 pictures!! Obviously I cant post them all but for now I have a handful of pics posted. Keep on the lookout i’ll be making a second post with more picutres and also check my flickr for more picture updates within the next couple of days as well.
Blown Euros, or Slammed Euros…
Last year, The American Red Cross recognized BlownEuros as a leader in the community for donations to the Lower Bucks County homeless shelter in PA. As far as the blown euros show/meet, I love going to this event every year. It’s not only just tons of people sharing the same interest in cars, but its more a culture that so many chill people are a part of. Everything at this event is always thought out and always pulls together to turn out to be a great event for a couple hundred people. As for me and the stunnrstatus boys rolling through with imports we still received the same amount of attention and respect that any other euro car in there got. That says a lot for the groups of people who show at these events. Liberty VIP’s Lexus GS300 although not a euro made a huge statement with his crazy setup! The “stanced movement” made the show 10 times better. We all do know that the “euro boys” have been fitting, stancing, slamming, and rolling fenders etc…since the 60′s, but now this “movement” caught up to everyone else in the scene. Here are some pics. I hope you enjoy. You know the deal, check my flickr for more pictures coming soon
DirtE30 M3!
Did a small shoot this weekend with Jimmy’s swapped E30 M3. Here’s a couple pictures from the set. Waiting to do a more complete shoot of this car in the near future.
E36…Not just a chassis designation, a work of art
As we all know the E36 was ahead of its time when it was designed by our wonderful BMW engineers. Well you know that they did a great job when you see one of these on the road and you still do a double take. This weekend I did a small shoot with Matt Cook a fellow friend and co-worker. When he’s not riding his F4i, he’s dailying his E36 328i. We had been wanting to get some shots of his squeaky clean E36 and finally it happened. There aren’t many modifications done to this car, but the little touches here and there and its cleanliness are what makes this 15-year-old car still snap necks when driving by.
Well here’s the mods.
Body
OEM M3 front bumper
OEM M3 mirrors
OEM M3 rear bumper diffuser
Euro ellipsoid headlights w/ LED angel eyes and HID’s
HID foglights
Engine
95 M3 exhaust
95 M3 rear differential
Findanza 13lb. flywheel/Sachs M3 clutch
OBD1 intake manifold conversion
Interior
Z3 M short shifter kit
99 M3 steering wheel
Dove grey interior w/Vader seats up front and added head rests in backseats (used to be all black)
Suspension/Wheels
18 inch BMW M-Parallel’s
Solid control arm bushings
Turner motorsport swaybar kit (27mm front/24mm rear)
BMW oem X brace
H&R sport springs
Bilstein sport struts
Here’s the pic’s, to view more from the shoot check my Flickr in the BMW set.
New S2000 on the scene
Here’s an S2000 thats got it all. Nice wheels, aggressive look with a factory hardtop, and all the power to back up the ear piercing noise dumped out the external watsegate. Everything about this car is immaculate. Greg DiTullio, owner of the car has put a lot of work into this car him self. Here’s the mod list:
Body:
AP2 front bumper & Lip
OEM Hardtop
Suspension/Wheels
Tein Flex Coilovers
Volk Racing CE28n (17×7.5 +50, 17×9 +63)
Drivetrain
490 RWHP, 340 TQ on 93 Octane tuned by Jeff Evans
Garrett GT3076r .82 W/ TiAL V-Band Housing
PFAB Equal Length V-Band Top Mount Manifold
TiAL 44mm V-Band WG
PFAB Stage 2 Front Mount Intercooler
InlinePro 3mm Headgasket
AP2 Retainers
ARP Manifold Studs
HKS SSQ BOV
Custom twin resonated, mufflerless exhaust
BRMS Catch can/Water over flow
ACT Street Disc/Heavy Duty PP
Fuel
Bosch Injector Dynamics 1000cc W/ Clips
Walbaro 255 intank
Evan’s Tuned
Electronics
AEM EMS UEGO
AEM Serial Gauge x2
SOS 3 Bar Map
Modifications
Relocated Battery/FuseBox/ABS Module
Wire tuck
Deleted AC/Cruise Control
Now for a couple preview shots. The whole photoshoot is located on my flickr in the honda set.
































































































































