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

Blues, Jack Daniels, and Navigating Nashville

For the past two days I've been in Nashville, TN, shooting a segment for Driver's Seat TV at the Nissan Versa press launch.  You hear so much about Nashville and it's rich music heritage, so I was excited to check it out.  I must admit, car companies don't skimp when it comes to impressing the press.  We rolled up on Wednesday evening to the top digs in town - the 5-star Hermitage Hotel.  Walking into my hotel room, it was like walking into a room at the White House...or what I imagine the White House to be like.  Ornate crown molding, big plush bed, marble bathroom...cookies and water on the table.  The perks of this job are pretty cool.

The next day we woke up to a great breakfast, and a short presentation on the new Versa and the re-designed Quest.  I skipped this and went outside to shoot detail and interior shots of the cars.  I have a mental checklist of all the things I need to shoot on a car for the show – it has kind of turned into a formula, although I try and mix things up a bit so that each segment I shoot looks a different.  It goes something like this: exterior wides, exterior details, interior, dashboard, gauges, exhaust, engine bay, wheels, moving shots...  After the other journalists made their way outside, we paired up and set off on the drive event - heading cross-country to the town of Lynchburg.  If you're a drinker, you may recognize the name from bottles of Old No. 7 - Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.  Passing through the gates of the distillery, we couldn't help but wonder if there were free samples at the end of the tour we were about to partake!  After a lovely, if not healthy, lunch of Southern Fried Chicken, we headed off with Ron, our tour guide.

There are several key things that make Jack Daniel's different (and arguably better) than other Whiskeys.  First off, they use iron-free water from a stream that runs behind the distillery.  Second, they create their own charcoal for the filtering process by burning "ricks" of wood - big stacks of Sugar Maple.  Thirdly, they only use their barrels once, selling them off to wineries and other Whiskey producers (mainly in Europe).  With each barrel costing them $109, it’s not a cheap decision, but they consider it an essential ‘secret’ to the process.  The JD then ages in the barrels for a minimum of four years, stacked seven stories high in one of 74 barrel houses around the Lynchburg area.  The distillery pumps out about 35,000 gallons of the smooth stuff a day.  All-in-all, it was pretty cool to see how it's all made, and I now have a greater appreciation for the process!  We didn’t get a free sample after the tour (we were on a drive event after all), but upon returning to our hotel room there was a gift from Nissan – a bottle of limited edition Gold Medal Jack Daniels!  Like I said…the perks…

Last night after dinner at the Capitol Grille, a few of us headed down the road to BB King's Blues Club, drank a few Jack-on-the-rocks to honour our afternoon tour, and enjoyed some live music.  I'd love to spend more time here checking out the music scene.  As they like to say here, every waiter has a demo tape in their pocket in this city!  The musical talent is so deep, and the options for live music are endless.  You can pretty much go into any club, on any day of the week, and you’ll enjoy the sounds of an established star or a rising talent. 

Today, I had the morning to kill, so I wandered around downtown Nashville to see what I could find.  The downtown area is fairly compact, so most of the attractions and landmarks are within easy walking distance.  I stopped in at Hatch Show Print, where they still print old-style concert posters on ancient presses.  I picked up a couple of cool Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash concert prints for my office.  Just up the road, I ducked into Gruhn Guitars, where the walls are lined with all sorts of drool-worthy Gretch's, Rickenbacher's, and of course, the legendary Gibson Guitars.  The price of some of the used Gibson Les Paul models was shocking.  They had some old acoustic guitar and mandolin gems from early 1900's too.  The great part was that you could ask to play any guitar in the shop, and there were many musicians plucking and strumming away.  Oh, how I want an old Rickenbacher or Epiphone Big Boy one day.

As you walk around Nashville, even at 11am, the sound of live music beckons from open bar doors, and the tasty aroma of down-south BBQ fills the air.  I soon stumbled upon The Arts Company Gallery on 5th Avenue, and inside was an exhibit by painter Jonathan Richter.  The exhibit consisted of about 60 small little humourous, interesting, and quirky paintings of people.  Some were cartoonish, and some were more realistic.  Apparently, he tucks himself into the corner of a bar and - working discretely with a limited palette, brushes, and lighting - he completes a couple of paintings each night.  Looking at them, you can tell they are spontaneous portraits, often focusing on one particular trait, with the character being developed around that observation.  I really wanted to buy one for the house, but at $175 USD, I have to wait till I’m a little wealthier before I start buying art!

As I returned to the hotel, a black SUV pulled up to the curb, and out stepped music producer and hip-hop media mogul, Russell Simmons.  He had an entourage with him, and it was entertaining to watch almost all of them with earpieces, wheelin’ and dealin’ with various people on the phone. 

Anyways, I’m on the plane now, after a delayed flight from Nashville to Dallas, and a mechanical delay on this flight to Vancouver.  We just passed through a monster thunderstorm, where the towering columns of cloud around us were flashing constantly with lightning.  As much as these trips are pretty cool, it’s always nice coming home to Vancouver (and Squamish).  I honestly think we live in the best city in the world.

Over and out from 35,000 feet!  [More Photos...]

Oh America

Well, after just 4 days at home, I'm on the road again.  Dave, Kyle Ritchie, and I just arrived in Monterey, California after a mind-numbing 19 hours behind the wheel on the I-5 Freeway.  Every time I drive to Cali, I swear I'm never going to do it again, and yet this is probably the 6th or 7th time I've done it!  We're down here for the season-opening mountain bike race - the Sea Otter Classic.  More of a tradeshow and schmoozefest than a race, Dave is here to do some rep business, I'll be shooting photos and drumming up business, and Kyle is shaking hands with sponsors and doing some racing.

It bugs me down here that everything and everybody has to be behind bulletproof glass.  I wanted to use the bathroom and buy a coffee at the gas station, but you can't at night because the employee is behind 3 inches of plexi and the store isn't open.  What's the point?  Then we get to the hotel and it's the same thing...I have to yell through a little hole in the window and stuff my money through a slot for a hotel room.  Something is very wrong with society down here if all this is actually necessary...and unfortunately I think it is 50% necessity/50% paranoia.  The bright point of the evening was the friendliest Denny's employee who made me the biggest coffee-to-go I've ever seen.  The border guard was nice too...for once I crossed the border and wasn't made to feel like a criminal.  Anyways...enough tired, late grumbling...off to bed in preparation for some fun tomorrow!

Sooo tired....

Ok, so my blog posts have tapered off.  The past two days we had some BIG rides and I've been struggling to write.  I have lots to write about, but it may have to wait until I can think straight!  Yesterday we were dropped off at close to 15,000ft and descended for about two hours in the pouring rain and everyone was really cold by the bottom. Being the hard BC bikers that we are, Dave, Colin, Ted, and I decided to ride the last bit of trail, while the others wimped out and rode down in the bus.  Today we rode the race track and it was really wet and eroded compared to last year.  It was fun, but a lot of hard work.  My back is wrecked from riding with a camera pack, but its so awesome to be riding again.  It's been almost a year since I had a bike together!

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Quick post...

It's been a long day today, and I'm planning a bigger post soon about our adventures travelling from Lima to Cuzco, and our tours of Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu.  In the meantime, check out a whole bunch of photos on my flickr page. 

Here's a few teasers...

Cruising Lima

After a lazy wakeup and breakfast at the Hotel Pasedo del Inca, Ted, Colin, and I thought we’d try and play some golf at the course we passed the night before.  That idea was quickly scrapped when we found out it was an ultra-private club, so we opted for a walk around Lima to see some sights.  We were offered a four-hour bus tour, but we had just been sitting on a plane for 24 hours, and we’d be on buses for a good portion of the next few days, so bipedal motion it was.  Mike and Dave were staying at another hotel somewhere beyond the golf course so we didn’t manage to hook up with them. Our hotel was in San Isidro which is the high-end part of the city.  After just a few minutes of walking, the first thing that caught our eye was a big Oakley and Fox Clothing sign.  You know you’re entering an elite establishment when you have to get buzzed in.  You know…wouldn’t want any riff-raff walking in now, would we?  In contrast to Canada and the US, the difference between the wealthy and poor here is very wide.  On one hand you have the poorest of poor people living in monotone brown, dusty shanty towns outside the centre of Lima, and on the other hand you have this high-end sports store with a full line of Oakley eyewear, Fox motocross and mountain bike clothing, and – showcased in a small room in the back – a selection of new Yamaha motocross bikes.

We walked about 12 kilometers today, passing through urban parks, running for our lives across intersections, and we even had an unintended wander through Miraflores city hall!  We stopped at a small café for lunch, and watched the flurry of population pass us by. Two things came to attention today as we soaked in the change of culture.  Lima – or at least this part – is very, very clean.  There are garbage cans everywhere, and the shopkeepers maintain the sidewalks outside their stores.  For such a busy area, it was fantastically tidy.  Very European.  Secondly, in our efforts to find Ted some cheap sunglasses (the 2 for $20 variety), we soon realized that very few Peruvians actually wear sunglasses and thus we came up empty handed.  It seems that sunglasses are a fashion item for the ladies in Peru, and not something the general public need or use on a daily basis.

Anyways, its getting late, and we have to be down in the lobby at 4am for the bus to the airport!  Thankfully we are on an early flight to Cuzco, as the later flights get very bumpy over the mountains.  Tomorrow we will be at 10,500 feet above sea level, drinking Coca Tea, and building up our bikes in preparation for the weekend.  Hopefully I’ll also be able to find an internet café so I can actually post these photos and blog reports I’ve been writing in Word!  Over and out.

The Adventure Begins

Like any good adventure, our Peruvian epic began in the wee hours at 2am. Colin, Mike, Ted, Dave, and I all met at our house, loaded up the two cars, and made a run for the border. The nice part about leaving so early is the empty roads. Sailing through Vancouver and across the border, we made it to Seattle in record time – 3.5 hours from Squamish. Mike and I dropped everyone off and then went to find cheap long-term parking. For the record, the Sea-Tac Inn seems to be the best value, although at $80 USD for 10 days, it’s not exactly cheap. No sooner had the shuttle dropped us off back at the airport, I realized I had left my passport in the car. Courtesy phone, shuttle, passport, shuttle, back at the airport again. That’s when the fun began.

I arrived at the Continental check-in counter and Colin gave me the good news, “Continental has an embargo on bikes from Houston to Lima”. Whaaat? So, we had a problem. I missed all the fireworks when the guys were first told they couldn’t bring their bikes to Lima, but luckily,the lady at the check-in counter made some calls and we were finally given special exemption. With our bags tagged and on their way, we headed for security. Ted and Colin were already sweating because their boarding cards said “SSSS”, and were given the heads-up from the check-in lady that this meant “Strip Search”. Have fun guys!

The funny thing about this trip is that, from the start, the only thing the guys have known is the flight details. After my great experiences last year, I knew that we would be totally taken care of by Tourism Peru once we were here. They kept asking me questions like, where are we staying, when do we fly to Cusco, and I didn’t have a clue! I just knew that we’d be met at the airport and everything would be laid out for us. Immigration in Lima was a bit of a long process of standing in line in a hot corridor, and then trying to find our bags in a sea of luggage carts and people. After a bit of a hiccup when Ted tried to get through the final checkpoint with two bike boxes (“over there senor”), we were all finally loaded up in the Condor Travel Sprinter van and heading to the hotels - exhausted, happy, excited, and ready for some much needed sleep. I had heard that we were heading back the airport early the next morning for our flight to Cusco, but Julio from PromPeru – the “man-with-the-plan” – informed us that we could sleep in the next morning and spend the day recovering in Lima! At 3am (Eastern Time) our heads finally hit the pillows, almost 24 hours after leaving the driveway in Squamish! Another adventure has begun!