Friday evening was host to a full evening of car meets, cruises, and photoshoots. I've got a few shots to document our time. It was great meeting everyone and I promise to get more usable photos next time!
It started off with me showing up at United Cycle at 9:30pm, not realizing that there was a car meet...hardparking my stock Camry whattup...
But after meeting up with a couple of friends, we decided to do a walk through and see what we could find. There were a ton of amazing cars, but being ill-prepared for the photography, the only photo I snagged was this one of Neil's R34 Sedan GTR conversion.
Right before we headed out, I managed to snag this shot of Jason's R34 GTT, Tina's Genesis, and Jas' 370Z
Then we headed over to the Muttart Conservatory. Frankly, the lighting was awful (In retrospect, we should have parked on the other side of the lot, under the street lights), so we quickly headed over to the Gallagher Park overlook.
No matter how many times I visit this spot, I'm amazed by the city skyline. Sure it isn't the greatest or most extravagant, but I think there's merit in going out and looking for the beauty in your own city. Like it or not, you live here, so make the most of it!
This was my attempt at salvaging an otherwise unusable shot. The exposure was too low and so everything was lost in shadow. I managed to salvage some detail from the photo but I'm not completely satisfied. I'll take another crack at this next time!
This shot of Damon's Genesis came out pretty well! Perhaps could have cut out a bit more of the yellow/orange from the streetlamp but I'm fairly satisfied.
After shooting at Gallagher, Stefan, our chase car driver extraordinaire, found a grassy spot just south of the Muttart Conservatory. As a disclaimer, I do not recommend driving on park property and we were as cautious as possible but we do not condone doing what we did. However, it made for some cool shots. Lighting the whole night was a challenge with the array of headlights, streetlamps and dark spots, but I did what I could given the circumstances.
Looking back at the next few shots, I think aiming for a faster shutter speed would have been beneficial. My biggest concern was underexposing the cars, but the photos came out a bit overexposed, especially since there was a very bright yellow streetlamp lighting the grass. Headlights on were also generally a no-go, as the glare and dark backgrounds unusable.
Looking back, this was the ideal angle as it allowed for proper exposure of the side of the car and the headlights were not overpowering the image and causing excessive glare. Probably my favorite photo from the Muttart.
On the way back, I tried my hand at rolling shots. In 1 word, it was a disaster, albeit pretty hilarious. I took a few lessons from the quick run from the Muttart to the Legislature. Firstly, do not drive at the speed limit. You're going to want to go nice and slow for the camera to focus and we were going far too fast. Secondly, the camera car and the car you're shooting should be going at the same speed. If it's flying by, the shot is going to blurry. Finally, you need a long, quiet, smooth stretch of road. I'm no 1 shot magician and the perfect shot takes multiple attempts.
This was one shot I tried to salvage from the cruise. The only reason things aren't blurred to the point of being unrecognizable is because we were stopped at a red...haha!
All in all, it was a great night. I had some great opportunities to shoot some fantastic cars and learn from my mistakes. A huge thank you for the huge turnout just to get some photos taken. I'm also humbled by everyone sharing my photos on Facebook and Instagram, you're the greatest!
Till next time,
Gary