I always said I’d try to keep at least semi regular posting going, I wasn’t going to have one of THOSE blogs. Well, I have one of THOSE blogs now. Lets see if I can’t kick start things again.

Updates and stuff… in no particular order.

I am in no way an Apple fanboy. I’ve made my Apple/Mac slurs along with the best of them in the PC world, but slowly and surely more and more Apple products are creeping into my life. How exactly does that happen? I’ve had an iPod for a while, but who doesn’t. That hardly counts, even. Last year I bought an AppleTV, which makes for a pretty decent and compact video streamer when hacked for XBMC. (Though it may soon get replaced with a small Atom HTPC with even more flexibility). In September it was time for a new MP3 player and I bought a 32GB iPod Touch. My reasons for going this (expensive) route were the Nike+ integration (which I fully associate with keeping me running over the last 9 months). It turns out I use the Touch a whole lot more than I expected. Its a great little couch browser, theres some legitimately good games and apps available for it. Its got a good screen for doing video and media on planes and traveling and, in a pinch, it makes a decent ebook, though I still prefer my full sized ebook readers.

Fast forward to April and Apple finally updates the MacBook Pro line of laptops. I’ve been feeling the restrictions of my Asus 1000HE netbook for a while. Its was a good couch machine but the tiny screen and weak processor made it pretty much useless for doing any sort of photo work. I didn’t want a ginormous 15.4″+ lap-breaker system either. I missed the days of my 14.1″ ThinkPads. Anything larger than that is just too big for my purposes. I had my eye set on a 13″ MacBook Pro, fully expecting them to get the new Core i5, or at least i3 treatment with the new refresh. Unfortunately Apple didn’t see fit to go that route and continued using the Intel Core2Duo processors. After some serious thought and consideration I ordered a 13″ anyway. I don’t really need the horsepower of the i5, as nice as it would be, and the nearly $650 price difference between a 13″ and 15″ MacBook in decent spec just couldn’t be rationalized.

So far I really like the 13″. Its just the right size for a portable laptop. The screen is beautiful, even if its glossy, which wouldn’t be my first preference. The MBP trackpad can’t be beaten for control and I love the keyboard. The solid Aluminum block design is pure sexy too. I would like a bit higher res screen and an eSATA port, but at the 13″ level the only laptop that comes close is the HP Envy 13, and it costs MORE than the 15″ MacBook!

OSX had a bit of a learning curve but I’m pretty comfortable with it now. Having a Unix back end makes it feel like a Linux flavor to me. I’m not a convert, by any stretch. Its still clunky in a lot of ways and, despite what they say, I’ve had my fair number of crashes and even a lockup or two. Pretty much on par with Windows 7. I can’t say its better, I won’t say its worse. Its come a long way since the old PowerPC’s I last used from Apple.

Final verdict, pretty happy. We’ll see how it lasts longer term.

Next up on the techno-updates, shortly after my last blog post I got my Canon 7D and sold my 40D. Man, how I wish the 7D had come out sooner and I’d had it for Targa. If you had sat me down and told me to write out all the features I wanted in a Canon body for my shooting purposes I would have made the 7D. From the incredible focus modes, the speed, the feel, all the bells and whistles, there’s literally almost nothing else I’d want in a camera! I’ve only had the chance to use it at a couple of events so far, but I can tell I’m going to love this camera. Bring on the cars!

In late April, Daphne finally had her long-coming jaw surgery to fix her TMJ problems. It was a long time coming and we’re both glad to have it out of the way. Everything went very well and she’s doing great now. The surgery and recovery were pretty rough, but I think everything went as expected. There’s still some braces and recovery to go but things appear to be on the proper mend.

We head off for our summer vacation in a couple of weeks, off to Savannah, Georgia via Charlotte, North Carolina where we’re going to visit some friends. We’re going to be in Savannah for our 10th wedding anniversary. A whole decade. How in the heck did that happen?? Wouldn’t trade it for anything though. I can’t wait to get away…

More stuff to write, but I should save it for other posts so I actually keep updating.

I told myself it wouldn’t be November before I did my Targa update this year, so here it is.

Targa 2009 is on the books and it was a good one. The car numbers were down a bit but the entertainment level was as high as ever. The weather could have been better but the competition was tight and everyone had a good time. Daphne and Brian rolled their Mini into a 3rd place finish in Touring/Equipped, 4th place overall which is an exceptional result considering they’ve never rallied together, they were using a brand new (and complicated) rally computer and their competition zeroed the entire event! Other local teams also did very well with the Halifax Autosport team actually beating the Factory Mini entry!

I was back doing the shooting again this year. I felt a bit more comfortable in the role and was generally happier with my results, particularly at the Awards Gala. I’m not quite ready to take up photography full time but I’m starting to feel like I have some idea of what I’m doing.

Daily galleries of the 2009 event can be found here.

Steve Millen piloted his fire-breathing Nissan GT-R around with very little drama. It was a pleasure to see him do his stuff.

As usual the Newfoundland scenery is stunning in all weather

Frank Sprongl putting on a show at Brigus. The wet weather meant most teams were fairly reserved over the classic jump.

End of week festivities

51 weeks to go until Targa 2010. Wonder which side of the lens I’ll be on…

9 days until the 2009 Targa Newfoundland tarmac rally. We’re headed back for the 6th consecutive year so this is really the usual fall milestone for us. Its a hectic week but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The social aspect, the scenery, the people of Newfoundland… oh yeah, and the cars!

I did a little Hero Card shoot the other night for the Barbarian Mutter Werks team, of which my wife is now a member. She’ll be taking up the right seat for the event having an entirely new Targa Experience! It’ll definitely be different shooting her from the sidelines.

Seems like I’m settling in to about one update a Month. I’d like to do more but you know, maybe it just takes a month to build up something worth saying.

Big news this month is that we finally only have one Mortgage! Our previous house closed on Friday and we received a big ‘ol cheque. Though we were never stretching things to any sort of limit, its still a relief to not have to worry about it selling. Seeing it go was a little bit melancholy, really. You only get one first house and it was ours for 8 years. It was a good place to live and we had a lot of good times there. I hope it makes the new folks as happy as it did us.

I’ve been asked once again to be the official photographer for the Targa Newfoundland rally so preparations are under way. As a big change this year I’ll be doing the job without my co-driver as Daphne will be spending the week in someone else’s car. Its a great opportunity for her, it’ll definitely be interesting shooting her from the sidelines.

The last few weeks have been pretty busy, even not counting the process of selling the old house. Two weekends ago was the 15th annual Slalom at Slemon in Summerside, PEI. After a few crazy weeks I just wanted to go and relax so I decided to forgo driving and jut shoot for the weekend. While I enjoyed myself, I really should have got in a car. By Sunday I was really regretting my decision. Oh well, c’est la vie. No Slalom for me this year. Daphne drove ‘Leon the Neon’ with very respectable times for the weekend.

Pretty much as soon as we got back from PEI was back on the road, this time to Indianapolis for business. A quick trip involving 3 hours on the tarmac in Toronto because of lightning, getting a VW Bug Convertible for rental with no headlights when the Avis girl saw my reaction at being offered a Grand Marquis and a trip to a great little Camera store to buy some goodies.

I’m getting used to Indianapolis, I get sent there a fair bit, but I’m really ready for a proper vacation. Too bad there isn’t one on the schedule.

The long weekend just isn’t long enough. Especially with the week I have ahead. Yech!

Yesterday a bunch of Subaru nuts got together at a local tuners place for some burgers and boasting. It was a good time and I hope we have more of these over the summer. Its good to talk grease with like minded folks. Unfortunately it planted visions of Stage 2 tunes in my head. Especially when I started adding up how few parts I need to get there. Hmmmm. Stupid expensive hobbies!

Our last RallyCross of the year is coming up this Sunday. I’ll miss the series over the summer but there’s plenty of other things to keep us way too busy. Especially with the upcoming RallySprint events.

In photography news I ordered a pair of new generation Pocket Wizards last week and can’t wait for them to arrive. Truthfully though I have no idea what I’m doing with off-camera flash, but you can’t learn if you don’t try, right? I played around a bit with my Poverty Wizards this weekend but I can already tell I should have ordered another receiver and flash. Stupid expensive hobbies!

I’ll have to attempt this shot again soon, there’s definitely some things I would do differently to improve it. Fun experiement though.

Off to Indianapolis (For work, not motorsports, alas) next week!

Why is it whenever I’m sitting around the house itching to play photographer I shoot the cat? It shows a distinct lack of creativity. I have dozens of pics of this cat but almost none of the other one. Black cats are like the anti-model. Nearly impossible to take a decent picture of.

WTF?

Srsly, WTF?

Notice something different about the site?

Two weeks down for Targa and still no post. I know, I know. Its like every other blog on the intertubes…

Targa Newfoundland 2008 has come and gone in September. This year was a good, solid event with some significant changes in many aspects of the organization and out involvement. First of all Targa is no longer affilliated with ASN Canada/FIA. On the surface this sounds like a big deal but really it didn’t make a whole lot of change. The rules are pretty unchanged and other than having to arrange a special ‘Targa’ license it was pretty much the same for entrants.

On the TV coverage front we were working with TV2Go Productions this year rather than the previous ATV Productions. TV2Go isn’t new to Targa, having done the television coverage for the event’s first three years. As such we hit the ground running and they were a pleasure to work with.

As for us I took on a rather significant new role for Targa 2008, that of the event’s official photographer. I was pretty apprehensive in taking on this role because I haven’t don’t a lot of paid photography. Sure I’ve sold pictures before directly to consumers, to magazines and to newspapers, but I’ve never sold a picture BEFORE I took it! All in all the week went quite well, however. By the end of the week I’d taken over 10,000 pictures (some would argue that shooting that much is just compensating for lack of focus) and I came up with reasonable photo packages for just about every car. Of course I’ll be processing pictures until Halloween, I’m sure.

Once we got back home it was back to my real job for the Medusa Medical annual User Group. Once a year we invite our customers from all over the world to come to Halifax for several days for various seminars on our software, as well as networking and social opportunities. It may sound rather dull and slow but its anything but. Working with EMS and Fire agencies is a fascinating experience and its great to see customers talking to each other and cooperating for the benefit of everyone. In the end it means we make a better product and they get a better experience. Win/win!

For local motorsports the pavement competition season is drawing to a close. Tomorrow is the final ASCC slalom of the year at Atlantic Motorsport Park. This event was actually rescheduled from last week due to weather. On October 13th we’re closing out the Sedan racing season with the inagural Jack Canfield Memorial Endurance Race. A 3 hour Endurance race for all comers. We’re already set up to have more cars out to his event than we’ve had on the track in years. I can’t wait, both from a series perspective and the great photo opportunities!

RallyCross season starts up October 23rd… I guess that means we had better get off our duff and get the rally car out of storage, huh? Where does the time go?

This is where I pretend I know what I’m doing.

I get asked a lot by people who see me shooting at events what settings I’m shooting with, particularly around shutter speeds. I know photographers who are all across the board in this respect. Some shoot very fast shutters because it allows them to freeze the action with a very high ‘keep’ rate, some shoot with verrrrrry slow shutters which is much much harder but the one shot in a hundred that came out look great. Myself I try to be somewhere in the middle, generally around 1/160 for a panning shot.

Since the differences between 1/120 and 1/160 so hard to explain let me provide some examples…

These shots were taken at a High Performance Driving School this past June at Atlantic Motorsport Park. I was on the stand in Turn 9 which is a perfect spot for panning shots. The track wraps around the stand at roughly the same distance the whole way around, cars are moving at a good speed and the background is busy but not ugly.

Here’s a Mazdaspeed 3 approaching turn 9 at 1/120@f9. The background is nicely blurred and the wheels convey a sense of motion. Personally I find things a little too blurry though.

Here’s the same car in about the same spot at 1/160@f11. Personally I like the motion blur this shot a bit better. The background isn’t as blurred with the panning but the wheels have more definition. To me its a more interesting look.

As a side effect of going a with a faster shutter, my ‘keeper’ rate is miles better at 1/160 vs 1/120 as well using my 70-200 f4L lens at full zoom. Remember, the rule of thumb for handheld shooting is “Shutter = 1/Focal Length” unless you have very steady hands or good panning technique so I’m right in the ballpark.

These shots were taken in ‘Manual’ mode on a Canon EOS 40D with a Canon 70-200 f4L lens.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these slow shutters work best on a side-on pan where the car is always roughly the same distance away as it moves. If the car is moving towards or away from you it has the chance to get closer/further during the time your shutter is open making for a blurry shot. If you’re dealing with a subject head on you should generally increase shutter accordingly. 1/250 or 1/320 are generally ‘safe’. Just to be more maddening this also very much depends on the speed of the car as well. A car doing 30km/h around a rallycross course is going to have different rules of thumb from an F1 car doing 300km/h in a straight. It makes the head hurt sometimes.

I often have a hard time planning for a scene, which is something I’m very much working on getting better at. I’ve improved at looking at what the cars are doing and associating the desired results in my head with a rule of thumb for settings. It takes a lot of hit or miss shooting and paying attention to what works. You have to keep in mind lighting, perspective, backgrounds, depth of field, speeds, framing and more all at once. And to make it more fun these factors can change from minute to minute, particularly at an event like Targa Newfoundland where every car and driver is completely different.

Also bear in mind with all of this that I’m basically raving my own uneducated opinions out there. These are just things I’ve taught myself over the last few years of shooting with more manual cameras. I learn by trial and error and I’m a very seat-of-the-pants shooter. I’m sure there’s better ways to do and think about these shots, but this is how I do it.

That… probably wasn’t helpful at all, was it?

Last month, Daph and I took our Spring Vacation which we’ve been looking forward to for quite a while since we didn’t get to take one last year due to circumstances. We’d been planning in 2007 to do a bit of a New England road trip, visit various cities along the way, see the sights, work without a really solid plan, just going. That was the idea anyway. Reality is, if you’re trying to squeeze a road trip into 9-10 days, you really have to do some planning. We booked a hotel in DC and planned to drive there and spend a few days seeing the sights before heading north through New York state and then turning right at Montreal.

Of course we had to bring Steg Blomquist, our Rally team mascot.

The first day we went to the National Zoo. On the scale of Zoos we’ve visited I’d rate it a 6 or 7 surprisingly. The animals were well kept but there was very little presented information available. A few lines on each critter at best. This appears to be a surprising theme with all of the Smithsonian Museums. They’re geared much more to a ‘Look at this thing!’ concept than actual information. Kind of dissapointing.

One of the 5 Pandas resident at the Zoo.

The next couple of days we used DC’s excellent Bus and Subway system to get around and see the larger than life monuments around the city.

The Lincoln Memorial at dusk.

The Man himself.

The World War II monument with the Washington Monument in the background.

Of course DC is currently wrapped up in election fever. Come October/November the place must be a zoo.

A picture sampling can be found here.

After leaving DC we headed into the Adirondacks where we spent an evening at The Fern Lodge which was an absolutely amazing bed and breakfast that I’d found online. We had an absolutely amazing room with a beautiful view of a lake. Huge comfortable bed with a fireplace, two person soaker tub and a granite steam shower. We didn’t get much of a chance to use the rest of the facilities but there’s a 15 person theatre room, exercise equipment, beautiful great-room and a pair of very friendly Golden Labs named Hudson and Shadow.

After that we spent a few days in Montreal staying with Daph’s grandfather and of course visiting Ikea for some home stuff. We also got a chance to visit Carl at TRAC Racing which is something I’ve been hoping to do for quite a while. After that it was off to home with a grand total of 4501.6 KMs driven.

I’m glad we went and I enjoyed the trip, I’m fortunate to be able to spend that kind of time in a car with Daph and not have it be a problem. I know lots of people who would dread that sort of thing with their significant other. Overall though, I think we tried to pack a bit too much into the trip. Between the driving, moving on and the trying to do everything in a couple of days at each spot I found we didn’t get the time for just relaxing that I would have liked, or at least more slower paced casual ‘vacationing’. It was definitely fun and with gas prices going the way they are it was the time to do it before it became cost-prohibitive, but next time I’m thinking we’ll just find one place and do that properly rather than flit around so much. This is why we’ll never be cruise people, I suspect.

Now what to do next spring…?

A few wallpapers I made for Targa Newfoundland from my pictures.