It’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to just shoot a car without any time constraints, deadlines, or expectations.  Alan and I caught a break in the weather on Sunday night and despite having my SB-600 and umbrella on stand blown down by the wind, the photos still turned out great and Alan was very happy with the outcome.  I also used this opportunity to test out the Nikkor 85mm ƒ1.4G that I rented from BorrowLenses and it definitely proved the sharpness of Nikon’s pro portrait glass.  Here’s actually a good example of the testing, with the apertures going from ƒ1.4, to ƒ4, and finally to ƒ8:

Except for one of the photos below, each photo was taken by simply using the ambient available light. Perhaps the wind blowing down my flash and umbrella was a sign that I just wasn’t destined for strobe automotive photography?  Maybe, maybe not, but nevertheless I’m happy with how everything turned out:

2011 proved to be a banner year in terms of the sheer number of photos I’ve taken and how I feel I’ve grown as a photographer. I shot a variety of different subjects, helped mentor and advise a great group of photographers, and helped NWMotiv establish itself as a major media player in the local automotive scene. Rather than bore everyone with a long write-up on everything, I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves, starting from the beginning of the year. Be sure to click the caption under each photo for the full gallery.

J A N U A R Y

The Mendozas

F E B R U A R Y

Philippines

Singapore

PROPS! Vitamin D and International Mo at Rock Paper Scissors

M A R C H

Nikkor 135 ƒ2 DC Lens Testing

Erica at Discovery Park

Nikkor 24mm ƒ1.4G ED Lens Testing

A P R I L

NOS Citrus Launch

Sakura Con 2011

M A Y

Fast Five Premiere

Erica for NWMotiv.com

Erica for the Subie Girls Calendar

Finegold-Pham Wedding

UW Street Fair and Gasworks Park

J U N E

Brianna

Seattle at Night

Blue Scholars Cinemetropolis Appreciation Party

Cheeky Cafe

Forum Fest 2011

Alan’s FC3S

Lee’s Triumph Daytona 675R

J U L Y

Independence Day 2011

Big NW Subaru Meet

Evergreen Drift Extreme Night

Kaylee at Coulon Park

Formula D Seattle 2011

Hoops206

KP’s Seattle Adventures

A U G U S T

XDC Seattle 2011

DeadMau5 at the Paramount

Hagen and Natalie’s Engagement

West Coast Subaru Show 13

S E P T E M B E R

San Diego Trip 2011

Wence and Jo’s Court Wedding

Matt’s Dodge Magnum for the Falken Tires 2012 SEMA Calendar

O C T O B E R

Erica Potter

N O V E M B E R

Stephanie and Travis Maternity

Wence and Jo at Volunteer Park

D E C E M B E R

NWMotiv Toy Drive and Winter Meet 2011

XDC (Xtreme Drift Circuit) is the latest national drift series to make a stop in the Northwest, and I was happy to cover it for NWMotiv.com. Speeds were much slower than Formula D thanks to the smaller kart track, so trying to get good slower-shutter pans was much more challenging. The photos still came out great though, and I’m glad that I was able to make a lot of the drivers I’ve met happy with my photos of them. Here is the link to NWMotiv’s coverage:

XDC Seattle Drift Coverage on NWMotiv.com

And a handful of my favorites:

Formula D Seattle is undoubtedly my most favorite event to photograph every year. In previous years, I shot the event for Subiesport Magazine and Driving Sports, however this was the first year I shot the event for NWMotiv.com. Due to scheduling issues with another event I was going to on Saturday, I was only able to shoot Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions, but I was also able to get Kyle “KP” Pope to fly up from Arizona and shoot in my stead for the main Saturday races. We had an awesome weekend of shooting, with Friday trying to outdo the other with panning shots. At best, I was able to get a handful of decent 1/25 sec pans, however 1/30 sec pans like the photo above and 1/50 sec pans proved to be much more consistent for me. I shot exclusively with my Nikon D700 with my new Nikkor 70-200 ƒ2.8G VR2 lens and Nikkor 35mm ƒ1.4G lens that I rented from BorrowLenses.com. Either way, it was a great time and I feel very confident that between KP and I, we have the best Formula D Seattle coverage out of any of the other publications out there. Here are links to both our track and pit coverage for Day 1:

Formula Drift Seattle 2011 – Day 1 Track – NWMotiv.com

Formula Drift Seattle 2011 – Day 1 Pits – NWMotiv.com

And here a handful of my favorites:

It’s been a pretty busy summer for me, so I apologize for the lack of updates. NWMotiv and all the various car events have been taking the vast majority of my time these days, so I figured I’d encompass what I’ve done so far in a single post.  Each of the following NWMotiv features have photos that I’ve taken, so please enjoy!

Feature Model: Erica Leong

NOS Forum Fest 2011

Big NW Subaru Meet

]]> http://www.arminausejo.com/2011/07/19/nwmotiv-features/feed/ 0 http://www.arminausejo.com/2011/05/24/subie-girls-calendar-winner/ http://www.arminausejo.com/2011/05/24/subie-girls-calendar-winner/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 17:11:13 +0000 Armin H. Ausejo http://www.arminausejo.com/?p=684

First off, a big congratulations to Erica for making into the 2012 SubieGirls.com Calendar! I took these photos a few weeks ago, but Erica didn’t want me to publish them until the competition was over. Based on the number of forum posts she had on their forum, Erica was able to submit 2 photos and then the top 12 winners would be decided by forum voters. The photo above was the eventual winner that she picked, but we did take quite a few photos to choose from. Here is a link to the full gallery:

http://verdugo.smugmug.com/People/Erica-Subie-Girls-Calendar/

And here are a few of my personal favorites: