2013 - My Year In Photos *56k Warning*
 

As some of you know, I moonlight as a semi-pro photographer. This year has been a great one for my photo opportunities, mostly getting to tag along with SCCA Pro Driver Brian Kleeman as he raced in his 370z NISMO around the country at Pirelli World Challenge events, a supporting event to Indy Car. Along the way this year I got to do several noteworthy photoshoots and made some new friends/clients along the way. It's been an exciting year so I thought I'd sum it all up into one post for everyone to see what my adventures have led me to. I will post a link to each album followed by my favorite shot from that event. Thanks for looking and enjoy!

-My photography started pretty early this year in January shooting a Carolina Z Club member's modified G37 IPL in Charlotte and then attending a strobe lighting workshop at another friend's studio nearby:

Jon's Infiniti G37 IPL - 1/19/13 - JPMcG Photography

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Studio Lighting Workshop Results - 1/19/13 - JPMcG Photography

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-March saw me back down to St Petersburg, FL for the Honda Grand Prix with the World Challenge team:

PWC Rounds 1 & 2 - Streets of St. Petersburg - March '13 - JPMcG Photography

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After the May Cars and Coffee in Charlotte, I rode along with Andy in his GTR (when it was closer to stock) to take some quick shots with a Cyber Gray Z06 that belongs to a family member:

David's Z06 and Andy's GTR - 5/4/13 - JPMcG Photography

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For the past four years every May you can find me at ZdayZ @ Fontana Village near the Tail of The Dragon as the Z's, G's, and GTR's descend on arguably one of the best areas in the world to drive a sports car. This year had a record breaking attendance and was, IMO, the best one yet.

ZdayZ '13 - Friday 5/17/13 - JPMcG Photography

ZdayZ '13 - Saturday 5/18/13 - JPMcG Photography

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The following weekend I attended a Ferrari Rally at Coach I's (old Clemson Soccer Coach) house in Anderson, SC.

Coach I Memorial Concours - 5/25/13 - JPMcG Photography

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The next weekend was the CIN Motorsports (in Charlotte) Carolina Z Club dyno day. My good friend Dustin also got his Amuse titanium exhaust installed with a dyno before and after gain of 16hp and 50+lbs weight loss!

CZC Dyno Day @ CIN Motorsports - 6/1/13 - JPMcG Photography

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The weekend after that I was back up in Hickory, NC (where I'm from) to shoot out at the airport with some Porsches for an advertisement in Tobacco Roads Magazine:

Airport Photos - 6/8/13 - JPMcG Photography

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After having a weekend off, Russell@Z1 Motorsports contacted me about shooting for Z1 at the NASA Spec Z race going on at Road Atlanta that weekend so I went down to hang out with my good friends at Z1 and had a great time.

SpecZ Racing @ NASA June Jam '13 - JPMcG Photography

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After working every day in July 12 hours a day and most of the days leading up to it, I finally caught up with Brian Kleeman and the DWW Motorsports team at Mid-Ohio for another Honda Grand Prix.

PWC Mid Ohio Grand Prix - August '13 - JPMcG Photography

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A few weeks later I was extremely excited to get the opportunity to go out to Cali for the GoPro Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway with Brian, my first time ever going to California!

PWC Sonoma Grand Prix - August '13 - JPMcG Photography

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About a month later, mostly due to my day job, I was able to drop by Andy's house again and his GTR had undergone a major transformation. Bigger turbos and all the supporting mods now made it an ~800hp beast that he got wrapped in gold vinyl.

Andy's GTR Quick Shoot - 9/12/13 - JPMcG Photography

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Brian asked me to do some photos for DXD Southbend Clutches, one of his car's main sponsors. This was my first attempt at studio product photography so I tried several different setups.

DXD Clutches Product Photos - JPMcG Photography

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The last World Challenge race of the year was in Houston so off I flew to the state where everything's bigger, including Indy Car wrecks... It was an interesting race, most would have called it a boat show.

PWC Houston Grand Prix '13 - JPMcG Photography

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Early in November I was asked, through my friend that works with a lot of high end Porsches, to shoot a Lamborghini Gallardo Roadster. Not rare in of itself, the color Rossa Vik and the interior options (three pedals!!) made it stand out.

2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder Photoshoot - 11/3/13 - JPMcG Photography

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Last but definitely not least, I because acquainted with Joe, owner of HodRod Dynamics, up near Hickory and got to shoot a few vehicles for Joe to use to sell his work/creations. Three this year, hopefully many more in the future!

HotRod Dynamics Photoshoots - JPMcG Photography

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As usual there are a TON of other pictures to look at in the albums so take a few minutes to look through and enjoy. Again, thanks for looking and here's hoping for an equally great year to come behind the camera!

:tup:

for the porsche interior shot was that a speedlight setup or strobe? i'm trying to get better at positioning my lighting to do better interior shots as well

i feel like the brake photo is pretty good, but the brake inside the red perimeter is a bit too dark, but that's just me and my screen is notoriously dim.

also really like the studio workshop results :tup: i want to go to one of those soon.

ummm...who is on 56K anymore??

really great pictures tho :tup:

Semi-Pro? That just means it's not full time pay I guess. Great to see someone from the upstate putting this kind of work together!

So much win! I wish you were in Cali! My car needs a proper photoshoot

I recently purchased an Asus 16:10 aspect ratio IPS professional monitor that comes precalibrated. You might want to look into it if you are serious about photography. It makes a big difference in ensuring your pictures are processed correctly. I love mine! :tup:

The only interior shot I posted was the Lamborghini so I'm guessing that's what you were referring to. I have two Alienbee B800's and I had both the owner and a friend hold them with softboxes above the headrests pointed straight down at the dash. Similar setup for all the other shots in that album from different angles.

yea well, it just means "this might take a minute to load" lol, thanks!

Yup, I'm an electrical engineer of sorts by day and this is just for fun and side money.

:tiphat: Thanks! I'll hopefully be back next year for the race at Sonoma again!

hats off to a successful year of photography :tiphat:
great work, sir

thanks lee!

Good stuff!

:tiphat:

Those are some outstanding photos. Great work. :tiphat: What is your camera of choice?

I have a Canon 5D MkII (most of the photos shown here were taken with it) and a 7D as well, which I use quite a bit for it's fast reaction time and better AF for track shots.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. You definitely have some serious skills with a camera.:tiphat: