« Cochrane rally 2011 »

 Back in March I had the opportunity to shoot round 1 of the Western Canadian Rally Championship, www.cochranerally.ca. Rally is a sport that is as dear to my heart as photography is and when not shooting an event I can be found behind the wheel of my own rally car. Back in Feburary I wrote about a winter rally test day and how I got to borrow a monopod for a test drive. Well I liked it so much I ended up buying myself one. A manfrotto 680B. Nice and compact, good for when you need to hike into stages at a rally. I found that it helped me with making much sharper photos, maybe I drink too much coffee? In the uncontrolled and sometimes unpredictable lighting situations while out on the stages of a rally, I find you need to be prepared for anything.

When I showed up on the Saturday to Registration, to sign a waiver and get my media pass, I was introduced to photographer Vanessa Neufeld at www.vphotographic.com She had not been to a rally before. I was asked by the organizer to take her around to show her some good spots to shoot from. Being that I was planning on spending the day alone, I was more than happy to have the company.

 

We met up at the service park on the Sunday morning and headed out to the stages. It was a warm-ish day to spend out in the woods, lots of sun and good temperature. With a mixed bag of conditions for the competitors, I was looking forward to this day of shooting. It was some good excitement. There was a good battle between some new drivers like Max Riddle and Onur Tezcan, and the return of my biggest rival, when I am competing, former Canadian 2WD champ Kamunen Racing's Eric Grochowski. It was great to watch the commitment of the drivers pushing their rally cars to the limits and sometimes beyond.

At the end of the long day I was happy with what I got. My new monopod was awesome, especially as the sun was going down, the low light proved challenging, and also far less fatigue being that I didn't have to have a camera around my neck for the day. Shooting with Vanessa was awesome too. Go check out how talented she is and see her new found love of storm chasing at www.vphotographic.com

See my full gallery of the rally at http://bit.ly/mQxEuc