Hi Guys,
It's been too long....I've been so busy shooting I literally have had
no time to keep up with the list lately, which is a shame as it is
always informative and entertaining.
The motorsports photograpy gig with the pro group I have been working
with, D&W Images is coming along well. Already this year I have been
down to Laguna Seca three times, twice in January to shoot AMA
Superbike testing and Indy Car testing for two days each, with Track
Credentials. Some of you may remember I met up with Mike Veglia at
that time, which was great, and we swapped cameras for a while.
Also went back to Laguna in Feb. for another day of motorcycle
roadracing testing. It rained in the morning, so while everyone was
milling around under the canopies, I gave a couple of photos to one
of the leading racers, Eric Bostrom, of the factory Kawasaki
roadracing team. After the rain cleared up, the riders went out for
about two hours testing. At the end of the day, I showed Eric some
of the photos I took of him in the camera, and he asked if they could
put them up on his gallery in his web site. I sent him some, and his
manager wrote back, saying he loved the photos, and put about half a
dozen photos up on Eric's personal website, all with photo credits.
We were quite jazzed about that.
I've been shooting a lot of events already this year, including two
weekends of go-kart racing, dirt-track event, a weekend of
SuperMotard racing. That was kind of a rainy day, but the weather
made the colors jump out and the lighting was actually quite nice. A
photo I took there was published on AMASuperbike.com, which is the
leading motorcycle roadracing site in the U.S. I was very happy about
that, as I have been sending them photos for quite a while now with
no success.
Most I recently went down to the doubleheader weekend at the
California Speedway at Fontana for the AMA Superbike series on April
4-5th, and photographed that and wrote for www.AMASuperbike.com. It
was AMA Superbike.com that provided me with a deadline press and
photo credentials, which was very nice of them to do.
The next big event is a pro Supermotard race this weekend at Vallejo,
CA, and I hear a lot of pros are coming in for it, possibly including
Jeremy McGrath, Scott Russell, Kevin Schwantz, and maybe even Eric
Bostrom, and the weekend after that is the AMA Superbike
double-header at Infineon, known locally as Sears Point.
The D60 is proving to be a remarkably good camera, and the image
quality I get from it is very, very impressive. I've been buying some
more lenses for it, including a C*n*n 300mm f/4 IS "L" which I got
for $300 on eBay less than mail-order pricing, and the lens is
literally new-in-box.
Most importantly, so too, is an incredible lens I recently snagged,
an absolutely mint (literally used only 2-3 times ) C*n*n 70-200mm
f/2.8 L for $940. This has become, I must say, my favorite lens of
all time. Yes, I admit it.....and while I know I wil probably have
duck and take cover for all the fruit and vegetables being thrown
right now, I have to say that it is probably the most impressive lens
I have ever used (mind you, I've never used Mike V's. Zuiko 350mm
f/2.8, so I can't compare). Talk about sharp! Whew! Blows away
anything I have seen first hand, except possibly my C*nt*x T3 Sonnar
35mm f/2.8 lens.
Mike Veglia, if you're reading this, I actually think I get better
results with this lens as the non-IS version than the IS-version.
That's strictly anecdotal, but I shot with both quite a lot, and I
think I get better results with the non-IS version. I was renting
Calumet's non-IS 70-200mm f2.8 so frequently I finally decided I
needed my own and bought the one above. The "dreaded" C*n*n gear,
while often being referred to here derogatorily as a wonderbrick, has
proven to be wonderful and very easy to use, though I am bumping up
against some limitations of the D60 for motorsports, and am now
looking for an EOS 1D at a good price. I must say that I am very,
very impressed with the thought, design, and execution that C*n*n
puts into their pro gear. Can't beat it, in my book.
Those of you curious to see the photos from Fontana can check them
out here: http://www.pbase.com/pumacat/ama_fontana
On topic, I have some Agfa Scala in the OM-1 that is almost done, and
will come out soon and get processed. I am very curious to see how
that looks!
Regards from the dark side,
Darth Vader.
--
2001 CBR600F4i - Fantastic!
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