Never2Fast Photography

Busy Busy

2010-06-15T21:34:00.004-04:00

It's been a busy few weeks for me shooting wise and I haven't had much time to post about it.

Things really started to get going during the Victoria Day weekend, where the World-Challenge, Trans-Am series along with the Canadian Touring Cars officially kicked off the summer with a great weekend of racing.

Conditions where better than most Victoria Day long weekends, with sun and warm weather, most unusual for that time of year. In fact I remember it was so cold last year I had about 3 layers on with a hat and my winter gloves because the wind was so cold.

But like I said the weather was much better this year!

The new combined classes in World-Challenge mean larger car counts for the races and I think that's a good thing as some times the quicker class cars have to start from the back and that creates some passing and some headaches for the faster cars, but all in all it's good for the fans.

Kenny Wilden made a one off appearance and set a new track record for a Trans-Am car at Mosport.

It almost wasn't fair to be honest, Trans-Am is a shell of its former self and the quality of the competition isn't the greatest. the VD weekend only produced about 10 cars to compete and in all fairness Kenney Wilden is the only "professional" driver that was racing.

Now guys like Tommy Drissi where there and he's a good racer for a guy with a full time job but there's a reason Wilden won the Koni Challenge Championship last season.

June 11-13 saw the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series hit the high speed Mosport track along with the F2000 Championship, the Canadian Touring Cars and the Ontario Formula Ford Championship.

It was an overcast weekend all week, which I don't mind because from a photographic perspective it's a togs dream as the cloudy creates a nice constant and diffused light.

This particular weekend I wanted to mix-up my shooting a bit. I have been tinkering with using slower shutter speeds but wanted to step it up into my everyday shooting, so I shot a lot of frames between 1/30th of a second to 1/160 to create some nice motion blur shots.

Now it's not the easiest way of shooting, especially with telephoto lenses but it can create some fantastic imagery.

One of my favorite F1 photographers Darren Heath uses a lot of slow shutter speeds and lots of motion blur in his images and they are fantastic. So I thought I would incorporate more of it into my photography and it produced some killer shots in my opinion.

If you checkout my facebook fan page you can checkout the shots that I took and see for yourself.

Not much to say about the weekend its self, aside from that it was a busy weekend as I was shooting every series and it didn't leave much down time outside of a quick lunch break.

Next on the horizon shooting wise, I plan on shooting the Legends of Motorsport event in Mont-Tremblant in mid July.

I am really stoked about this event as they have a bunch of historic F1 cars and Group C cars that once ruled Le Mans in the early nineties with some crazy top speeds that will never be seen again.

2010 Racing Season Kickoff...

2010-05-11T21:10:00.004-04:00

May 9th was the official kickoff our racing season photography. Spent a very cold and windy day out at Mosport International raceway photographing the Ontario Formula Ford Championship.

Got to the track around 8:30am to grab my credential, then headed over to one of my favourite corners at Mosport, turn 3.

I love corner 3 becasue it can provide multiple variations of shots because of the double apex depending where you stand.

If you stand by the marshall's stand you get corner entry and mid apex shots. Move down about 100 feet and you're grabbing corner exit shots with a really nice clean backgrounds which can produce some really nice pics.

Sunday's practice and qualifying sessions didn't provide for much excitment but the race was a much different story.

Sunday's pole sitter was veteran OFFC racer Dean Baker and outside front row saw hotshoe Spencer Pigot who's racing up here when not contesting the Skip Barber National Championship south of the border.

Baker lead the entire race but was challenged early by Pigot in a great battle for the lead until a gearbox problem forced him to slow in the dying minutes of the race.

UFE Spring Bash Show

2010-04-11T20:01:00.011-04:00

Yesterday I went and shot the UFE Spring Bash. For those of you who don't know what it's about, it's a fitness competition where athletes come and show off all of the hard work they out in over the course of many months and years.. It was held at a high school out in Port Credit Ontario.

Shooting a show of this type proved to be very challenging for the simple fact the lighting sucked! Do get even a decent shutter speed I was pushing my old D200 to iso 1000 to get 100th of a second shutter speed. I pretty much had to rely on all of my knowledge and things I have read about low light photography and put it to good use. I felt like running out and grabbing a D700 or D3s right after the show, for those of you who aren't camera techies, those two cameras are probably the best low light camera's on the market.

The experience overall was pretty good, not knowing what to expect I thought there might have been more opportunity to network with the competitors and to try and market my photography a little bit more. I have been getting a lot of interest with the Facebook fan page, hopefully it will translate into something good in the coming weeks and months.

Above you see one of the shots from yesterdays cometition, believe me it's harder than it looks. You can checkout the rest of the pictures on my Facebook fan page.

New Facebook Fan Page

2010-03-17T21:09:00.014-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know, that I have launched a new Facebook fan page to help showcase some of my work, and of course to help drum up some business.

Now I have had a personal Facebook account for sometime but I have been reading more and more lately how all thsi social networking stuff can really help with business. After giving it some thought and more reading it was a no brainer.

When you think about how many people can access your fan page it really is a no brainer. All it took was about 10mins of my time to get everything organized and toss some pics up and you're pretty much off to the races.

Please feel free to drop by my new fan page and say hi.

Girl with the pretty smile is Shannon. I did a shoot with her a couple of weeks ago to work on some headshot stuff for my portfolio.

Hello Again

2010-03-14T21:54:00.010-04:00

It's been a couple of years since I made my last blog entry. Over the last month or so I have redesigned my website and thought now would be a good time to revive the blog to keep everyone a breast of what's going on with my shooting.

On Saturday (March 13th) I arranged a shoot with a couple of local fitness models Amber and Leigh to help expand my portfolio. This is the type of photography I am really trying to expand in to.

It was the first time I had shot with two models on the same shoot so it was a lot of time management. I booked a great Make-up artist and she started work on the models after a quick coin toss to see who would go first.

I had planned on shooting 3 sets with different backgrounds for more variety but clearly 4 hours of studio time isn't enough when shooting two models. Something I need to think about if shooting two models again would be booking an entire days studio time. Or getting my own studio, which clearly isn't in the cards at this point but I digress.

The Make-up took longer then I expected, so after I setup the first lighting setup there was still close to 20 minutes until my first model was ready to shoot. After we had the first model finished things really turned into a breeze, as all we had to do was concentrate on clothing changes.

Below is a diagram of the lighting setup I used for the image at the top.

$1000 Power Supply

2008-03-25T11:26:00.002-04:00

Wow has it really been over a month since my last post? (Yikes) Well there really hasn't been a heck of a lot of things going on lately, outside of seems to be the endless amounts of snow and even more predicted possible for this weekend.

One notable but unfortunate things to happen to me over the past week was, what I thought was a catastrophic loss of my computer and data, when it inadvertently shut its self off and wouldn't re-start. I took the entire computer apart and reseated all the components hoping something came loose after I installed and upgraded sound card. Still nothing, fearing that it was the new sound card that shorted out my system I was quite upset that my need for better sound had cost me my system. So in a panic I started researching new computers and was looking to build a monster of a machine.

Having not really been in the "computer world" since building my last PC almost 4 years ago (besides the odd upgrade) I felt it was time to get back into it a little bit. After having talked to my brother about what's new and shiny in the computer world he suggested a few things and we complied a list of everything I would need. The only thing salvaged from my old computer was my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse.

So after my trip to Infonec computers in Markham on a beautiful Sunday morning last week, I was set with my list and cash in hand. After I get the the components home I started to clear some space and begin with the tedious task of putting my machine together. Four hours later I was up and running and starting another tedious task of installing all the drivers and software, but let me tell you it was very well worth it as this machine is lighting fast and it has made working on my images and large files a delight, no more lag and waiting for my images to open in Photoshop.
This will hopefully save me a lot of aggravation in the summer when I bring home 500 images from a race weekend.

Now for the $1000 part. Out of sure curiosity I decided to hook up my old PC to the new power supply that came with my new case ( which I didn't need). After wiring everything up, I tried to turn the computer on, but nothing. Thinking that it was toast I tried moving the computer to a different outlet, and what do you know? It worked. So I guess you could say it was the case of a $1000 power supply and power bar, which apparently has a bad outlet as well (after testing other things in it).

Now for the good stuff, after all that here's what I ended up with

Intel Quad Core 2.4 mhz processor
2 GB ram
750 GB Sata II Hard drive
512 Mb Asus 8800 GT video card
Asus P5k Motherboard
Asus Sata II Light scribe DVD Burner
650 Watt Power Supply
Brand spanking new Black case

Grand Prix of Toronto No More?

2008-02-08T19:38:00.000-05:00

Much discussion has gone on over the past few weeks about a possible merger in open wheel racing. We move forward now to the last couple of days and it appears a merger is all but done, but at what expense?

It appears as if a lot of Champ car races such as Toronto are on the outside looking in, which is puzzling because the Toronto Grand Prix was purchased by the owners of Champ Car, and you would think that Toronto would be included but such is not the case. The races that will be moved over to the IRL are Long Beach, Edmonton and Surfer’s Paradise, Australia.

My question are we willing to throw away years of racing tradition at tracks like Toronto, Cleveland, and Laguna Seca, just to name a few? I guess I should no the answer to my own question, because for the last 12 years there has been no tradition in open wheel racing.

Is this the sacrafices we are going to have to make in order to have everyone under one roof? I know that some of you are probably saying Scott, it's only for one year and after everything gets sorted out, Toronto will be back on board. The truth of the matter is, once it's off the calendar for one year what makes you think it will be put back on in years to come?

The picture at the top is of Justin Wilson coming through corner 9 at last years and possibly the last GP of Toronto.

Updated My Website

2008-01-09T21:44:00.000-05:00

Man oh man, has the winter been long or what? The last few days has brought abnormal temperatures and we have experienced a bit of a January thaw, with highs around 14 degrees Celsius.

So with some extra time on my hands I decided to revamp my website. I decided to go with a more "photography style" website with a very clean look. I never really realized that a simple clean website could look so good. (if I say so myself) I wish more websites would go back to a more simplistic look to them. Sure the bells and whistles are cool, but sometimes they can be a real pain to navigate. So feel free to look around and tell me what you think. http://www.never2fast.com/

I am also itching to get out and shoot something, so it looks like I am going to have to setup a project or something to get me through these last couple winter months.

The picture posted at the top is of one of the Flying Lizard Porsche's taken during the American Le Mans weekend At Mosport this past summer.

NASA

2007-12-13T18:26:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple pictures from The Kennedy Space Center from when I was down in Florida a while back.

Pictured here to the right is one of the last remaining structures of Launch Pad 34. This Pad is probably the most significant launch pad in NASA's history. It was at this very site on January 27, 1967 that astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, Roger B. Chaffee, were killed by fire during a test and training exercise. For more information about the Apollo 1 disaster you can go here.

Also pictured here is a heat shield or flame deflector as some refer to it. This shield hasn't moved from this very spot since the last mission some 40 years ago. The last launch from this pad was Apollo 7 which was piloted by astronauts, Walter M. Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, WalterCunningham. Ironically these men were the backup flight crew for the ill fated Apollo 1 mission. For more information on the Launch Pad 34 complex go here.

Lastly pictured here is the actual command center that was used to launch Neil Armstrong and the rest of the Apollo 11 crew to the moon.

To checkout more of my pictures from the Kennedy Space Center click here.

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN!

2007-12-10T22:02:00.000-05:00

Just received a little bit of good news the other day when I received another cover shot. This cover shot is from the Formula Car Magazine Can Am Cup that was held late in September. The cover shot is of 2006 Ontario Formula Ford Challenge winner and back to back Can Am Cup winner Shane Janzi.

This issue was probably by far my best issue, having 15 photos published including the Cover, inside cover, and a two page spread inside covering the Can Am Cup. Also included in this issue was Vallis Cup coverage from a couple weeks earlier, in which I had a few images published for.

Sea World

2007-11-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

Well it's day three of our vacation and so far the weather has been outstanding. After breakfast it was time to decide what to do. After it was all said and done we decided on Sea World. We walked over to the automated ticket both and purchase our tickets, like all the attractions down here it's not cheap, $65 bucks each to be exact. After a quick pit stop to the restrooms, it was off to see some dolphins. I suggest to anyone if you get a chance to see these beautiful creatures up close do it, you won't be disappointed.

After the dolphin exhibit, it was off to catch the tail end of one of the shows over at the main stadium. This was an incredible show full of acrobatics from both humans and dolphins. One of the coolest moments wasn't from in the tank or on the stage. They had a Bald Eagle fly in over the top of our heads. You want to talk about an impressive looking bird, it's an eagle. I am just sorry I didn't know it was going to happen because I would of loved a picture of it.

Now that the dolphin show is over, we headed over to the Sea Lion and Otter display. They put on a good show and they weren't even performing. The Sea lions are very boisterous and animated, but man do they ever stink. This is one example of when getting too close isn't a good thing.

It was then off to the Penguin pavilion. This was far and away the best Penguin display I have ever seen. They actually have a snow machine pumping in snow from the roof so it kind of looks like it's snowing and the Penguins have real snow to play in. It's little details like this, that set this place ahead of similar types of theme parks.

Lastly, one of the coolest displays was the shark aquarium that you can walk underneath and totally surrounds you. There was your standard Lemon sharks and what not but there was these two giant sharks and I didn't catch their names or get a picture of it because it was to dark to shoot in. But the had what looked to be a hedge trimmer for a nose and they were big and scary, not something you would want to see if you were swimming in the ocean that's for sure.

Well that's the low down in a abbreviated version of our trip to Sea World today. I have posted a link down below of just some of the pictures I have taken on our trip to date.

http://never2fast.com/florida

Daytona International Speedway

2007-11-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

Well as you may or not be aware, I am spending this week in Florida on vacation. My girlfriend and I flew in yesterday morning. The flight was generally good but the 2 hours through customs left something to be desired. Honestly it was easier getting into Washington DC Back in August than it was getting into Florida, but I won't bore you all with line up stories.

Today was a beautiful day. We took a long long stroll up the beach. In total our walk was 5 miles long and we were dead tired by the time we saw our hotel again.

After a quick recharge and some lunch, we headed over to the Speedway to check it out and man is this place huge and impressive. We wandered around and I took some snapshots, when I heard what sounded to be sports cars on the track. Did that sound ever get me jones'n to figure out how to get into the track so I could have a look at what was going on. After speaking to a rep from the Daytona 500 Experience she directed us to where we could get into the grandstand to watch the cars.

We went and stood on the outside of the turn 4 grandstand and watched the cars come off t-4. I'll I can say is wow. What we were witnessing was a historic sports car race. The particular cars we were watching where some old LMP600 and GT1 and GT2 cars from the late 90's early 00's. I couldn't believe how fast the LMP car was coming off 4, I am guessing somewhere in the 185 mph range. I was doubting the speed I was guessing at until I heard who was at the wheel of the LMP car. The car was being driven by Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Paul Dallenbach. Also participating in a GT2 Porsche was sometime ALMS driver and Speed World Challenge driver Cindy Lux.

Never one for settling for shooting through a fence, we drove over to the tunnel to get into the infield. Thinking we were going to be stopped and turned around, after all this is Daytona, we tried to casually drive in. Well was I ever happier to hear the friendly old lady at the gate say "go on in, it will probably be the only time you'll ever have a chance to." Once on the infield, you can really see how big this place really is. We drove over to the corner 3 hairpin and I took some nice snaps of the cars coming off the corner.

Then it was off to corner 4 to take some snaps of the cars on the banking and man is ole DW was right TV doesn't do it justice it's frigging steep.

In all, we probably spent about an hour and a half at the speedway taking pictures. I have included some other pics below so enjoy. Even though they weren't "Nascar cars." Seriously getting to see any kind of cars on this track whatever they are is cool!

These two pictures I took standing on the roof of our rental car so I could shoot over the fence.

RAPTORS EARLY SEASON WOES

2007-11-07T18:35:00.000-05:00

So as I sit and write this blog, it's a half hour to tip off for the Toronto Raptors home game against the Orlando Magic. The Raptors have so far not lived up to expectations in this very young season. They won their first two games of the season, thumping the woeful 76er's and thoroughly trouncing Vince Carter and the New Jersey Nets on the Nets home court, holding them to a measly 69 points.

That brings us to this past week. On Sunday afternoon the Raptors played one of their worst games in a long time, shooting 36% but somehow managed to dig deep and tie the game sending it in to overtime, only to lose on a last second shot to lose by three points.

Then when you thought that the Rap's couldn't play any worse then they did on Sunday, they come out and lay a huge egg in Milwaukee last night. At no point in this game were the Raptors even in it. Missing easy looks and jacking up needless 3 balls. What can you say when their leader Chris Bosh is held to one point in 16 mins. I am sure he could help his cause more if he stayed out of the early foul trouble he's been getting himself into.

It's becoming apparent very early on that a lot of Toronto's problems this year are the same as they were last year, they can't REBOUND. Everybody admits that the Raptors are a more athletic team then they were last year, it's got to make you wonder what's the problem and where's the heart and the will to win?

I give big props to Kris Humphries, who every time he's on the floor gives it everything he's got. I just wish he had more of an edge to him because I think that is what the Toronto Raptors really need. A big that won't take any guff in the paint and is going to make someone pay who comes into his house.

Oh well it's almost tip off and it's time to go watch.....

Pleasant Surprise

2007-10-26T17:05:00.000-04:00

So I received a pleasant surprise the other day when I opened the mail and seen the latest copy of Formula Car Magazine. The only difference this time around in opening the envelope was when I realized I got the cover. (whoo hoo!)

The cover picture is of Daniel Morad just after winning the Formula BMW crown at Mosport this past August. In getting the cover, it looks like it was well worth it for me to stand in the rain getting soak en wet for most of the weekend.

Figured I haven't posted in a while and I just wanted to let everyone know about the good news.

How Is This Possible?

2007-09-25T20:41:00.000-04:00

So there's some something that I have had my chest for a while, it's the price discrepancy between camera gear in the US and Canada. I first thought about this when I purchased a cable release for my camera back in June and it's been bothering me ever since.

So I book my vacation to Calgary and Banff back in early May and I am thinking I need something for my relatively newly purchased D200. This happens up until a week before my trip and then it finally hits me! I NEED A CABLE RELEASE ASAP! So I hop on the net to some of my favourite camera stores http://www.henrys.com/ and http://www.vistek.ca/ . I find my release but man is it expensive or what (as if anything is cheap in photography anyways) $220 bucks, so I keep surfing and just for fun I go on the B&H Photo website (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/) in New York and what do you know I find my release for a $100 bucks US.

At this point I am thinking how can this be so much more cheaper then the one sold here in Canada? With only a week to go before my trip I didn't hesitate to call B&H and see if they can ship it to me before Friday. I speak to a great sales rep and he assures me that I can get it before Friday and If I get the express shipping I can have it in a couple days, but it's an extra $60 dollars. With what I saved I am like get it to me ASAP, so we work out all the payment and shipping details now I just have to wait.

The two days go by and I have my notice from Fed-EX, my package has arrived at the depot so off I go to get it. When I arrive at the depot to pick up my package I am charged the GST (thank you Mr. Mulroney) but after I get it home and I go through all the calculations with tax, conversion and shipping, I still came out ahead.

What I am wondering is how is this possible?? How can it be a product sold in Canada at a store 5 mins away from me is so over priced? Is it the mass volume of product sold south of the border, is there that much more that goes in to the cost of shipping to Canada? I just don't get it, if anyone out there can enlighten me as to why it's more expensive please do.

Prices

2007-09-23T16:41:00.000-04:00

Now that I have my very first post under my belt, I guess it's time for my first rant of what I am sure will be many. So I posted on the Canadian Automobile Sports Clubs forum, it was a simple post about some pictures I took and posted on my site from their most recent Indian Summer event on September 15-16, 2007.

So I get some feedback, then I get a couple comments stating my prices are too high. So I proceeded to post a reply to justify why my prices are the way they are and the value you end up getting in the long run. The next post states that I some how insulted some of the other photographers that post on the board, but my whole point is that's a free market and I can set my prices as I see necessary in covering my expenses and to make a small profit. I simply stated that you get what you pay for in life and that I believe my prices reflect the quality of my work and the market will be the ultimate determining factor in that.

I don't want this to sound mean but I guess this is to be expected in a market where people have learned to expect less because most of the time the "photographers" at the track give their photos away, which in the long run hurts the photography industry, but then again I guess everyone now with a digital camera can call themselves a photographer.

Welcome

2007-09-23T14:43:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many blogs, where I'll talk about photography, sports and just about anything in between. Let me tell you a little about myself and what I am all about. My name is Scott Stiff and I am a 29 year-old freelance photographer from Toronto, Canada.

I mainly shoot motorsports but I love all kinds of photography. I first got into photography when I was about 19, my brother Al always shot pictures of all the races we attended together and I always thought it was kind of neat. So when I turned 19 I went out and bought myself an old used Yashica FX-7 slr camera with a 80-200mm lens. I cut my teeth with that camera for 3 years and it was a great camera but being a Yashica finding lenses for it was a bit of a trial, so being impulsive I went out and bought myself a used Nikon F90X.

At this point my photography was progressing rapidly as I fell in love with the hobby and was shooting anything and everything. At this point I started reading about all these fancy digital slr's that have just hit the market and there astounding price tags that went with them ($5000+).

So a few years later (2004) when Nikon came out with the their first affordable prosumer dslr camera the D70, I didn't heisitate to throw down my $1500 and purchase one. The purchase of my D70 was probably the single biggest help to my photography then any book, or workshop. Afterall you get to see instant resaults and the camera records all the data for you. (woohoo no more note pads!)

So that brings me to 2005 where I hook up with a magazine called Formula Car Magazine, it's a magazine dedicated to the junior and regional open-wheel formula. I have been working with them ever since and have photographed some of the biggest motorsports events in the Toronto area. That brings me to today 2007 where I have one last motorsports shoot of the year, it's the Formula Car Magazine Formula Ford Can Am Cup @ Mosport International Raceway.

I am currently shooting with a Nikon D200 and my lens line up is as follows:

300mm f4

80-200mm f2.8

and a 17-50mm f2.8

It's a pretty good lineup and it serves me well for the most part.