NHRA Drag Race Advice

[dennybeall]

You may want to keep some sort of cover for your gear when not shooting as there can be a lot of debris flying around at times.

 

[nerwin]

Alright, got the tickets for tomorrow. Looks like it might be a little crowded, but I'm going to try my best to get the shots I want. Hopefully my 24-85 will be good enough, might bring my 70-300 just in case though. Wish me luck!

 

[nerwin]

I'm probably just going to bring my 70-300 instead. The downside is that I may want to shoot wider sometimes, especially in the pits. I dunno what to do! Ugh. I don't have a proper bag, just a messenger style and it's annoying to wear. If I had a smaller backpack, then I could bring my other lenses..but I don't. So I'm sort of stuck between 24-85 and 70-300.

 

[HaveCameraWillTravel]

Don't forget to get a few shots of the Force sisters.

 

[Braineack]

I'm probably just going to bring my 70-300 instead. The downside is that I may want to shoot wider sometimes, especially in the pits. I dunno what to do! Ugh. I don't have a proper bag, just a messenger style and it's annoying to wear. If I had a smaller backpack, then I could bring my other lenses..but I don't. So I'm sort of stuck between 24-85 and 70-300.

You'll hate life when not shooting the cars on track.

using tapatalk.

 

[jaomul]

A fishing vest (or similar but 10 times the price because its photography, photo vest) might be handy for carrying a small amount

 

[nerwin]

I made it back home! What a crazy day, totally not what I was expecting. It was really hot, about 90 degrees. The track temp was 144f. But I have never seen a car go past me doing 321mph before, that was INCREDIBLE. Earplugs and fingers were totally needed for the top fuel cars and I was standing close to them, the feeling in your chest is woah.

Anyways, pictures wise..not too bad. Our seating was messed up..no clue where to go. No one wanted to explain, lol. Ended up sneaking up on the reserved seats when no looked and quickly grabbed a few shots of cars going down the track before they caught on. There was not many spots for decent shots, if there was..it was crowded by people. My friend's team was having a rough day, so didn't get a chance to get on the track with them. Oh well.

But I did manage to get some good shots and tried to think outside of the box. I'm not very good at this event photography stuff. But I tried settings everyone recommending which helped a ton. Ended up using my 70-300 VR which I am glad I did.

The dragway was getting overcrowded, it was nearly elbow to elbow and camera kept bumping into people, just waiting for the lens to get smashed off. So around noon, I ended up bring my camera back to the car and enjoyed the rest of the day without my camera. Glad I did, oh man..it got EVEN MORE CROWDED. (I hate crowds in case you didn't know) If I go next year, I'm not screwing around. I'm going to get VIP passes and get to the better spots for photos. But I had lots of fun anywho.

I got about 40 keepers which is plenty. I scanned through Flickr to see what other people take photos of and there seemed to be a pattern..so I really kept trying to think different.

Hey, I did get one of these shots

Tried to get some different type of shots.

Coming back from a run.

In the pits

Waiting...waiting...waiting..

Oh, in case you were wondering. This is my friend's car.

These were some of my favorites. I'll post the rest here in a album. Feel free to check them out. Album NHRA New England Nationals Photography Forum

Overall, I had a great day..something different to photograph..something I never seen before.

 

[midgeman]

Looks like you did a good job