Well a slight change of format for the school this year, with the principle deciding to hold on to publishing the year book until the end of the season mainly because, er, cough, he was too lazy to do it before! It doesn't mean that its too late for you to apply though theres still plenty of time to graduate. This year saw the principle make the move to a full digital set up which initially lead to some problem as over zealous use of the delete image feature saw some potential classics lost forever, but like a true pro I soon adapted to the new equipment and have gone on to produce some fine work with it.
All potential applicants should be aware that simple out of focus or badly framed shots are no longer going to cut it. You will still be accepted into the school, naturally, but to score highly or achieve honours then you will need spectacularly bad pictures.....
If you wish to enrol in the school then simply email me your finest photo disasters (only one or two please) and a few brief details (including the URL of your website) and if I think they are bad enough I will publish them here for everybody to laugh at I mean admire. Please note that the captions are supplied by the school principal, Sharkman, so by submitting photo's your are exposing yourself to any sort of embarrassing caption!!!!

The Principal's first year of proper digital work:

Not only was it my first year of using a full digital outfit, I also got the opportunity to take some shut down area parachute shots for the first time. Things got off to a good start at Mantorp when the fire crew told me that last time they had held a race meeting there a super stocker had slid through the spot I had chosen to stand on its roof after a finish line mishap! Confidence suitably boosted I then went on to quickly master the art of the parachute shot as you can see. Naturally the art is, if you are taking PARACHUTE pictures, to not get the parachute in the shot......

Inspired by my success at Mantorp park I decided to try for some parachute shots from my usual spot at the pod. Obviously they would be a bit different from head on stuff but I thought there was potential there. I wasn't mistaken either as a little practice saw me take this fine example... Well i said I was taking parachute shots didn't I? I never said anything about them having the car in as well..... Notice that appalling composition and blurring coming naturally to me now!

As anyone that has followed my reports through the year will know I purchased a new lens mid season and me and it have been getting on famously for the rest of the year. Until the doorslammers meeting. Bored of watching the wheelie car (like any stunt vehicle, you see it once and you've seen all there is to see) I decided to try and capture a slightly different image of it as I noticed that soon after it crossed the finish line at Shaky it really kicked up a lot of sparks off the skid plates. Unfortunately it seems like the new lens had also had enough of the wheelie car as it steadfastly refused to focus on it, the end result being this superb composition, that large blue blob really is the wheelie car, honestly! Now that's how you do out of focus, get it so badly wrong that the subject is not even recognisable as a car.....

LOOK AT THIS! Just look at it! This is what happens when you are unused to doing start line photography, decide to change lens and being the thoughtful type, crouch down to avoid spoiling the view for the spectators. Unfortunately whilst crouching and fiddling about for the other lens I started to over balance and as I regained my balance I caught the shutter release..... When I checked the outcome I found this absolutely stunning self portrait of myself reflected in the Halfords hoarding! Shows how good that Canon D60 is as its got the focus and exposure spot on, probably because I wasn't interfering with it!

He's back again, for the second year running its Tog from Togs Drag Racing

Tog originally enrolled in '99 and after taking a year out in 2000 has returned to study again in 2001 and 2002. This year has seen Tog move to a digital Minolta, which has definite potential for School use as it has a horrible shutter lag on it and the autofocus can't cope so you have to pre-focus manually. Given this its remarkable to see that stuff Tog has produced over the year, but it couldn't last for ever and he finally produced something worthy of the school at the Euro Finals. Loses points for managing to get the wheelie bars perfectly in focus when blurred would have been preferable, but shows potential. Hopefully next year when he is more used to the camera we will see some better work from him. In his defence he claims that "I guess that under the stress of doing the Eurodragster reports I forgot it was the big silver thing with a bloke on it which I was meant to be photographing."

Our second Australian graduate steps up to the plate, welcome Shane Walker from www.walkerdragracing.net

Following hot on the heels of Luke Nieuwhof last year comes Shane Walker, our second graduate from down under in as many years. Shane opens his account with a fairly low key affair, a simple wheelie bar cut off and startline crew obstruction shot. Nothing fancy, but demonstrating a good grounding in the fundamentals of School photography

With the the basics covered off he then steps up a level and introduces blurring and poor exposure into the mix with this shot from Calder Park

Before clinching his spot in the school with this belter! Opportunities like this one come along very infrequently (thankfully) so when a motor lets go big time you have to be able to make the most of it, which is exactly what Shane has done here. He has started by carefully positioning subject up in the corner and then added in under exposure and a nice out of focus effect, making this a picture truly worthy of the School, way to go Shane!

Please welcome to the school, Carl Wadkin-Snaith from www.thefang.co.uk

Carl specialises in pit side photo's and opens his account with a strong pit picture. Absolutely no composition to it what so every, with stuff leading your eye all over the place but no main point of interest is a good start and is backed up by a very shallow depth of field, with the focusing point appearing to be the back in the engine bay somewhere meaning all the foreground is out of focus. Carl says of this picture "every now an again I wonder, why the hell did I snap that. Nothing of relevance in focus and nothing of interest whatsoever in the frame." Sums it up nicely really, the only way it could be improved upon is if it was one of those accidental pictures where you lent on the shutter release while tying your shoe lace or something!

What's going on here? Either someone is warming up a nitro engine just out of shot or someone has let some light get into the camera and fog the film a little turning the burnout smoke yellow....... As this is the School of Excellence I know which my monies on!

Flying the Pro Stock flag is Magnus Cato from Malmgren Racing

Well, what can I say? The first time a member of a FIA European Championship winning team has joined the school! Magnus crews on the AC Delco Camaro of Michael Malmgren (and always makes sure I have a beer in my hand when I see him in the pits!) so you would not expect him to be the type of person to make it into the school, after all, it takes many long, years, er days, oh well a few minutes, to learn the photographic skills needed for this exclusive group and he is a busy man working on the race car. With one picture though Magnus firmly removes any doubts about the standard of his photography, not just getting the camera strap in frame, but strategically positioning it to obscure the wheelstands from the Super Stockers. Brilliant, just brilliant.

Back for his second year its Luke Nieuwhof from www.wadragracing.cjb.net

Luke's back again for his second year and is our second graduate from Down Under in the 2002 class. Luke opens his account with his take on the classic "B*****d Crew Bloke" shot. There's few things more satisfying to a School photographer than having the shot nicely set up, a nitro burning bike burning out at you and just as you hit the shutter, there he is, "B*****d Crew Bloke" comes galloping into the frame! You know you are on to a winner. Luke gets bonus points for the geezer in the background as well, he just looks so happy to be watching a fuel bike doesn't he!

Lukes secures his 2002 diploma from the School of Excellence with this exquisite picture of a fuel funny car. The shot is made even better when Luke reveals that it was the car's only run of the night where he had all 8 lit and bunny ears (see terminology on the lefthand menu) from both sets of pipes. Luke set up nicely for this by not using flash and from there things got worse (or better depending on your point of view!) when the driver left before the tree ran catching Luke unawares!

From Pro ET Champion to School graduate, its Carla Pittau from Heaven & Hell Racing

Not content with snagging the Pro ET championship in 2002, Carla, one half of Heaven and Hell racing (although no-one knows which half), decided to set her sights on an even higher achievement (!?), membership of the School of Excellence. Carla attended the Super Chevy event at Vegas in November and what did she bring me back, well these two pictures! Carla opens with a shot of what I'm sure at the timne was a highly polished, chromed and generally impressive looking engine bay. Unfortunately refelective surfaces don't like having their picture taken and Carla has finished up with a mass reflectiosn, highlights and shadows, combined with a passer by or two and part of her reflected back at her.

Carla rounds off with this impressive effort. At the time I'm sure it was a stunning composition of a highly detailed underside reflected to the admiring viewing public via a strategically placed mirror under the car. Of course when Carla gets home, in the cold light of a British winter it finishes up looking like she dropped the camera and it landed upside down and on the shutter release....