NASCAR - Jeff Gordon Pit Stop

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Although I worked my &$)#% off this past weekend (Truck race on Friday night, Nationwide race Saturday morning, Sprint Cup race Sunday afternoon) I had a seriously great weekend of shooting.

I am always impressed by Jeff Gordon's paint schemes. They are always top notch, colorful yet powerful:


I must have 50 images I could post from the weekend...

Joe

[GypsyHighSide]

Joe that is a great shot. Are you over the pit wall or just leaning over the wall? And I would like you to post your other 50 images. When you have time.

[PhotoByLeal]

AWESOME JOB!
I love the shot!

[CaptainTom]

my guess is that he has a camera on a long extension pole and operated remotely. Or, he has a camera hanging on the wall between the pits and the track ? Or, he is seriously demented and ran out into the pit lane to get this shot... All possibilities.

[AndrewCCM]

Great seeing you out there this week Joe. Love the shot! Just now getting to review my images... I have probably only gone through 1% of them so far.. Long and tiring week huh!

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Long and tiring week huh!

No doubt! I was wiped out today.

As for where I was... Jeff Gordon had the first pit box so we had quite a bit of wall to work with. I had calculated the pit window and was down there about 10 laps before getting into position. I was down on one knee shooting from the top of the wall (as low as I could get) as I wanted to get some of the crowd in the background.

Right when Jeff pulled up some "genius" for lack of the words I really want to use, squeezed in front of me (I thought I'd left no room) and leaned right in front of my shot. You can see his blue vest blur in the upper right of the shot. This guy was obnoxious and rude and I found out later was reported by more than a few other photographers for his behavior.

For this shot I was able to use my long glass. I'll upload another pit shot that I used my wide angle for (it gives a different perspective with the same kind of action going on).

Joe

[dbphotos]

Great colors in the shot!

The #'s on the blue vest are a wonderful thing when you are dealing with a$$*ole photogs. Luckily, most everyone is very cool and works well together, but there is always one.

Can't wait to see more of Joe's and Andrew's images.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

So here's Brian Vickers's pit stop where I'm smashed between two pits in a tiny space and am down on my knees 1. Trying to not get in anyone's way and 2. Get the shot. Just so you know (considering my last post) there's a light pole right behind me so I'm not in anyone's space and right after this shot, I pulled back so the crewman could catch the tire (the car behind me was not pitting at the time).

This shot was taken with my wide angle and has almost no depth of field. It has a distinctly different look to it than the Jeff Gordon shot.


Joe

[Russell]

I am always in awe of your abilities, Joe.

[Davidtxs]

Originally Posted by Russell

I am always in awe of your abilities, Joe.

ditto
Awesome shot of the Rainbow Warriors lol

[RaceImages]

Awesome shots Joe!

[Sheldon]

Simply Awesome Joe...........

[toverman]

Fantastic!

Gordon's car has to be a rolling testimony for DuPont. If the paint jobs weren't eye-catching, it would be a definite fail!

[w9ctm]

VERY good shots. I'd be curious to read what all you did to the Jeff Gordon shot in post. The colors are brilliant.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Thanks for the kind words. The staff from the Star-Telegram really did a nice job covering the race. Ron Jenkins is amazing over there. I'm pretty sure he was shooting from the condo's as he got shots no one else did (or could have)...

As for the colors, I do work on them as part of any processing but when there's little skin tone involved it does give more to work with. It's a combination of contrast, vibrance and a little bit of saturation applied and in this case, I did push it as you can tell there were clouds overhead and honestly that car just begs for it!

That and it does look that vibrant in person.

Joe