Remote Photography

As my camera collection has modernized, I have ended up with a D100 which is really not used that much. Along wiht that are a few lenses that while usefull at the time, have also been upgraded to more "workhorse" style lenses.
With the use of Phottix remotes, I've had the opportunity to set up the old camera as a remote.
Now, I shoot the Nascar Canadian Tire Series, for Inside Track Magazine, so it can be a bit dangerous to use a remote.
My first version was at Mosport, but I found that it didn't really provide me with what I wanted. The camera was too far from the action.
When I went to ICARs last weekend (in Mirabel), I had an opportunity to set up the camera on the inside of a turn.



It was well protected by a fence and a hunk of concrete.
It produced some nice images, but nothing spectacular.





After all, the thought of using the remote is to but it where I couldn't normally be. In both Mosport and ICARs, I didn't have that perspective where I set up the camera.
This past weekend I was at Delaware Speedway outside of London. Now, for practice of the NCATS guys, I had it strapped to the fence in turn 1. Once again, nothing to great.
My original thought was the tire that protects the pit wall. It's set in concrete, and pretty rigid. But, I have to admit I was nervous about it.
After setting it up (you can see it here, inside the tire),



I took some shots of the NCATS cars as well as the Street Stock cars of Delaware, all during practice and qualifying.
The biggest issue I had was timing. Its very difficult to predict "where" the car is in comparison to the angle of the lens. So, for every shot you get like this,







you end up with 4 times more of these kind of shots!





After the qualifying, I debated removing the camera. But heck, it should be easier to capture some action during the actual Street Stock race, as the cars would be grouped together. The odds of getting a good shot would increase a lot!
Or so I thought. Cause on lap 2 of the race, one of the cars nailed the tire a glancing blow. And with it went my camera, flying to pit side of the tire.



Fortunately it was off the track, and did not impact the race, but within a few laps, there was a accident that brought out the red flag, so I took that opportunity to recover my camera. The Manfrotto arm and vice were fine, as was, suprisingly, the camera. The lens, an 18-70 Nikon, did not fair so well. In fact, I never did find the rest of the lens!



But heck, it was definately fun while it lasted!

Go Green

I was down at the Direct Energy Centre for the Green Living Show. Samsung was offering free admission if I dropped off some old electronics, which I did. Got rid of some drives, an old cell phone, and even a mouse I haven't used in years.
Once in the door, there were lots of booths advertising how ecological or better for the environment they were compared to other products.

One of the reasons I was at the show was that a Nascar Canadian Tire driver, Joey McColm, had his car on display, and also gave a presentation on Saturday.





The car carried the sponsorship of Esper, a company which makes vehicle heaters, for both the vehicle and the driver/passenger.

I found it interesting that at the show there was a group called Green Box Rental, which apparently is the first group to provide plastic bins for moving, instead of traditional cardboard boxes.



And just a few aisles over was Frog Box, which apparently was not the first, but probably the more famous group, as they were on Dragons Den!



One of the display cars at the show had the new Green License Plate, which is supposed to allow you to drive in the HOV lanes on some of the major highways.



One of the more bizzare things at the show was the large number of car manufacturers who were selling their "green" cars. I could be wrong, but really, does the idea of a "green" porsche really fit the typical demographic of the person you would see at a Green Living Show?



On the same theme, I watched a round table featuring tips on green beauty items, and one of the comments that stuck out was that there are no "rules" as of yet when it comes to lots of claims like "natural", "organic", or even "green", and that many of these claims were not to be believed. What would these same people say about the majority of the items currenlty on display at their own show?!?

And on top of that, I was shocked to see this sign at the Lexus display.



Really, just cause you walked onto a carpet, your suddenly giving up all your rights to your own image??