Formula Photographic - Action, Adventure, and Automotive Photography & Video

NASCAR in a nutshell - from the Onion

NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast'

Link: NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast' | The Onion - America's Finest News Source.

Why I Live in BC: Reason #456

My new favourite trail in Squamish is "Credit Line" up above Alice Lake.  I'm loving the XC rides lately... [More Pics]

Red Bull Flugtag!

Red Bull Flugtag is coming to Vancouver!  One of the best events out of Red Bull's collection of wacky ideas is coming to False Creek on August 19th.  Teams create human-powered flying machines which, more often than not, don't fly very well.  These are then launched out over the water in an attempt to fly the farthest in the most creative fashion.  Humour ensues.  Get your team together and start building your flying machine!   Entry deadline is May 19th.

Sea Otter Saturday

I don't think it's meant to be this way...but Short Track Cross-Country was WAY more fun to watch than the Dual Slalom race today.  It rained again last night here in Monterey, and the courses were even muddier today.  The short-track XC is 20 minutes of head to head racing on a short track, so it's great for spectating.  Combine the close racing with lots of slippery mud, hidden wheel sucking holes, and some choice hecklers, and you've got a recipe for pure entertainment!  The dual slalom is usually the highlight of the weekend, but this year's track was pretty slow and unexciting due to the soft dirt and mud bomb-holes.  Not much you can do when it's been raining for 3 months!  Luckily, it's been sunny this weekend so far.  Brian Lopes and Sabrina Jonnier won the event.  Here's from pics from today...

Sea Otter Classic

Dave and I have been making the rounds down here at Sea Otter, shaking hands, pretending to remember the names of people I met last year...  Tip for the business traveller: you can get 200 good quality business cards made for just $25 USD at Kinkos (if you have the file ready for them)!  I forget to top up my business cards before I left so I just had more made.

All the tracks are really muddy this year, with the ground just soaking up and retaining the rain the area has been receiving.  The downhill is a slog apparently, and the racers are having to pedal really hard just to keep moving.  They moved the Mountain Cross down onto the flat area instead of on the water soaked hillside, and now it's a bit of a challenge to shoot.  The shot above was the only relatively clean shot I could find...and it still took an aperture of 4.0 to try and blur out the background.  Hopefully one of these years, Sea Otter will have the time and resources to build a proper Mountain Cross that looks like a pro-level sports event instead of just piles of dirt on a grass slope.

Tonight we went to the premiere of ROAM, the new movie from The Collective.  It started off really strong with great segments from the Whistler Bike Park (featuring local rippers) and Darren Berrecloth's opening salvo.  I'm going to save any in-depth reviewing until I've seen it again (it's playing in Whistler on the 16th and at The Commodore in Vancouver on the 18th) but it was another solid movie, with great shots, great riding, and jetsetting locations.  The first Collective last year was a totally fresh new style of mountain bike movie, and it was always going to be hard to follow it up and make as big of an impression this year.  I don't think ROAM was a big leap forward in terms of filming angles or creativity, but it was at least as good as their last film, which is still quite a compliment.  There is a segment filmed in Moab, Utah that really reminded me of an old RAP Films movie called Vicious Cycle (1996), in which Leigh Donovan, Brian Lopes, and Fuzzy Hall rip across the slickrock.  Steve Romaniuk, Matt Hunter, and Geoff Gullevich throw down some big lines and gaps towards the end of the movie which will appeal to the young "hucker" audience, and indeed impressed me!  Like I said, I'll review it more in-depth later, but to sum up, you should check this vid out at the upcoming premieres or when it is released on DVD in May!

Whistler Announces The Piccolo Express

Wow.  Whistler just announced that it will be building a new high-speed quad in the Piccolo bowl (one over from Harmony).  I'm sure the backcountry tourers won't be too stoked, but in terms of lift-accessed terrain it's going to totally change the face of Whistler!  Piccolo has some amazing terrain.

Link: Whistler - NEW! The Piccolo Express.