| The principal of the School sets the standard
(Yet Again!!): |
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| Sometimes as a photographer
luck is on your side, sometimes not. Sharkman got lucky with the
Smax photo sequence a couple of years ago (Right place, right time)
and was in the right time and place again at the Tball. As Cannon
punched top gear on the Funnybike it banged hard onto the bars and
stayed there as he came past. Sharkman was ready, tracking the bike
through the view finder and hit the shutter release and at that
point his luck ran out. Its not badly blurred, but just enough to
spoil it. Oh what might have been....... |
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| What a classic. Roy Wilding
bought out the Hemi Hunter slingshot and Sharkman got off to a great
start by finishing up on the wrong side of the track. Undeterred
Sharkman figured he'd just shoot across the track, after all, its
not like theres anything to get in the way is it? Apart from the
christmas tree of course. Roy laid down a storming burnout and Sharkman
was there to ruin the shot. Not content with just getting the tree
in the picture (and probably inspired by Andy Marrs, surely the
greatest graduate ever, see the class of 99) he managed to position
the christmas tree right over the most important part of the picture,
the cars cockpit! |
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| Now whats this all about?
Its not like Super Street Cars are the fastest cars Sharkman takes
pictures of is it? Not phased by that he managed to completely ruin
what would have been a great picture of the closest race of the
Thunderball weekend, the Super Street car final, by adding a large
helping of camera shake into the photo taking equation. |
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| Another stunner from the principal, added
12/05/01 |
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| And Sharkman is on a roll
this year as the very next race meeting yields this stunning composition
of Ian King charging hard just past half track. Sharkman decided
he would try and do some "semi head-on" shots to make a change from
his normal side on stuff and as you can see from this shot, the
change paid immediate dividends. Extra bonus points are awarded
for cutting the subject off, blurring the subject so badly you can
barely see what it is and correctly exposing the track and not the
bike. all in all one of Sharkmans better efforts lately. |
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| Returning to study for another year at the
School is our very first Graduate, Tog
from Togs Drag
Racing Page |
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| Tog goes for a candid portrait
of one of Gordon Smiths crew on the startline, only to have the
subject move and spoil the composition. Bonus points for blurring
the subject as well. Shame about the funnycar burning out in the
background as well, distracts the viewer from the crewman. |
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Our first new graduate of the year, welcome
please, Gareth Evans
from UK1320 |
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| Obviously inspired by some
of the stunning work the principal of the school has been producing
this year, Gareth Evans, webmaster of the well respected UK1320.com
website has decided to enrole with the elite of Drag racing photographers.
Gareths submission is this lovely composition of Peter Beck launching
the fueler at Santa Pod's Main Event. As Gareth himself says "its
a graphic example of what happens when a fueler launches before
you expect it". I think any startline photographer will say Amen
to that! |
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| Our first International graduate of the year,
and our first ever Female graduate is Hannele Höydén
from FHRA |
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| Hannele is the webmaster
for the FHRA and as such has been taking pictures for 3 years at
the drag strip. She opens her portfolio with a nice startline burnout
shot of Pelle Lindelöw, managing to combine picking the wrong
lane and having to shoot across track with bad timing and also managing
to get stuff in the way as well, a fine opening effort. |
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| For her second composition
Hannele stayed with Top Fuel but went for a shot of a UK Top Fuel
hero Barry Sheavills coming into stage. Unfortunately she finished
up with a shot of what looks suspiciously like another Uk Top Fuel
hero, Gary Page, wandering aimlessly into the middle of the picture! |
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| Hannele's final shot and
the one that secures her membership into the school is a new style
of picture for the school, a trophy presentation shot. The composition
is significantly enhanced by the unexpected shower of bubbly from
off camera which has caused both winner and runner up to look away.
A stunning shot. |
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The principal pays tribute to BJ |
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| Sharkman has been trying
to capture a shot of BJ riding the rear wheel through the top end
for ages. He's done it on the digicam for Eurodragster, but never
on the slr. With this been BJ's last meeting he knew it was his
last chance and delivered by capturing this stunner of BJ with both
the front wheel and the wheelie bars off the ground. Inspired by
that man Andy Marrs again the principal rounded the shot off by
getting the only obstruction the whole length of the spectator banking
smack in the middle of the shot! |
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Togs back again with a mid term project |
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| Ahhh, a beautifully executed
wheelie bar shot, this time from Tog. Bonus points to Tog for the
synchronised wheelie bars disappearing off to the right. Togs defence?
"I have no idea on Earth how this happened!" |
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Please welcome to the school, Turbo
from Turboville.com |
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| Bike specialist Turbo takes
a break from his numerous other enterprises to debut in the school
with a classic startline shot of BJ at the European finals. As Turbo
himself says "Boy, that BJ is quick!" |
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Our first graduate from Down Under, Luke
Nieuwhof
from www.wadragracing.cjb.net |
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| A great effort from our
first Aussie graduate as Luke manages to get the Altered way off
centre for a pleasing composition and also blur the car and if that
wasn't enough, hes managed to include that old favourite, the christmas
tree obscuring the car as well! way to go Luke. |
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The principal delivers some of his best work
for ages... |
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| What can I say? The Principal
of the School used the 2001 Flame and Thunder (or in his case, Blunder)
meeting to return to absolute top form, after a fairly subdued year
and prove beyond doubt that he has no equal when it comes to the
art of cocking up pictures. In this opening shot the Principal has
managed to combine bad exposure with an out of focus subject (naturally
using an auto focus camera) to produce this pleasing composition
which believe it or not is actually Dave Cherrett launching the
Dark Revenger van! |
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| Now this, by the Principal's
own high standards would not normally get a look in as it is a simple
out of focus picture of Barry Sheavills burning out. The truth is
far more interesting though. As the Principal was peering through
the viewfinder as Barry emerged from the gloom he thought "thats
funny, why isn't the camera focusing?" A quick check revealed nothing
obviously wrong so he carried on composing the shot. Barry hit the
throttle, the car got up on the tyres, the Principal half depressed
the shutter button and still no autofocus! Then that age old human
instinct which goes "just do it, it will be all right" kicked in
and he hit the shutter release. Needless to say, it wasn't all right!
a full post-mortem as Barry was backing up revealed the source of
the problem. If you have set the lens into manual focus mode instead
of turning the image stabiliser off, the lens isn't going to autofocus
is it? All these years and the Principal is STILL finding new ways
to cock things up! |
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| Thought it couldn't get
any worse? WRONG. Look at this absolute stunner! Great light, a
full banking in the background and one of the most colourful top
fuel cars really up on the tyres in the burnout with plenty of tyre
smoke trailing behind. Oh, and Nigel from the fire crew smack in
the middle. Perfect. |
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| Finally for the 2001 year
the Principal will leave you with this surely award winning picture.
The principal decided that for too long Andy Marrs has been the
king of pictures from the tower with his shot of Showtime, so he
rose to the challenge by producing this work of art of the Fireforce
one jet car performing its flame show! There are just so many things
that I could tell you about this picture, but frankly, its just
so bad, to break it down into little parts would not do it justice
at all. Simply enjoy it for the stunning piece of art it undoubtedly
is, and realise that this is the sort of standard that will be needed
to gain entry into the school next year! |
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