Top Ten: 2015 Drift Photos

2015 marks the first year I consistently took photos of drifting. I learned a whole bunch about my camera and about the limits of what I can do with it. I went from taking thousands of photos at an event and getting maybe twenty decent photos to taking closer to five hundred and getting fifty or sixty. I still have much to learn, and look forward to the opportunities in 2016 to stretch myself and my equipment even further. Now these may not be the very best photos I took at each event, but there is more to them than just the photo. Some of them may be redundant from previous posts but I took the time to re-edit each of these photos, one so they will be a bit more of a set with each other for this post, and to have an opportunity to readdress each one having learned so much about the software I work with since the first event of the year. So here is a little compilation of my favorite photos of drifting I took in 2015. In no particular order and with some words and maybe a story if I feel like it.

This feller was taken at the 6th round of Japanese D1GP at the Odaiba Special Stage in Tokyo Bay. Now I know that's a mouthful, but even being able to type that seems surreal. Realizing again that I had the opportunity to shoot at this event is just incredible. Also this image is special because it marks the first photo I took of a super car drifting. I really like the pull in Japan to use even more and more expensive Pumps in drifting. I mean who would have thought back when drifting was just starting to surface in the States that a few short years later half a million dollar super cars would be drifting with the same classic cars that started it all like the Toyota Corolla. It really makes you think about where the sport has left to go.

 This photo is from the same event. It is the Final battle of the event and the second to last battle between the Supra and the GTR of which the Supra took the win. This photo along with the ones that accompanied it in the original post are some of the most exciting shots I've ever taken. The challenge of keeping the grain in the photos low but having enough light with a slow shutter speed to show the cars and keep everything in focus was such a fun challenge to take. I think I passed the challenge, but if I was better prepared for the event with better equipment my results could have proven to be better.

 This was taken at the year end bash of what I now call my home for drifting, Stateline speedway. This Cressida made the trek to the Spokane Coure d'alene area from Seattle as a street car. Not only was I thoroughly impressed with the skill level at which he drove but also the commitment to drive his stiff harsh Cressida all the way from Seattle. I really wish more locals would have this level of commitment. It would make the local scene so so much better, and events so much more fun to shoot and watch, and drive for that matter.

 These next four shots were all taken at VIP (Villains Invitational Project) an event hosted by the Villains in one of my favorite venues I have ever shot at. Granted I haven't shot at the legendary PARC go-cart course or at Final Bout in Shawano WI, but the proximity the crowd had with the action at VIP was incredible to say the least, and the photographers could literally reach out and touch a car flying by in full drift if they felt so inclined.

 Because of the close proximity at this event, it made for some unreal shots showing a bit more of the intimacy and emotion of drifting.

 Something I've been playing around with this year is panning shots. As the year progressed I got more confident with lower shutter speeds and after shooting maybe fifty shots similar to this at VIP that turned out blurry I finally got one successful eighth second exposure in decent focus. Opening this up and seeing it for the first time in full size on a computer screen had me pretty excited.

 This photo is not only one that ended up with a good deal of mood and some dramatic wheel drop rock flinging dust kicking action, it also shows the barrel jumping Miata in full glory. Now, throughout the first day at VIP this Miata was struggling with some understeer problems. With the track setup at VIP a lot of cars would, instead of making this corner and turning in like the Miata successfully did in this shot, they would understeer and careen strait for the blue barrels or for the wooden loud speaker pole in the background of this picture (which was later knocked down by an ugly understeering s13). Anyways, From what I picked up, one of the fixes to get the Miata to stop understeering was to throttle on and off and initiate some weight transfer and make the front wheels grip up a bit more and make it into the next corner. Later on in the day after this shot I was doing some really low perspective shots about 75 yards to the right of this photo. Just adjacent to where the understeerers would end up stopping. Now as the first day really got going and the drivers got more confident the Miata driver took the corner before the one pictured and began understeering into the barrels. I distinctly  remember hearing the Miata throttle on into the understeer and towards the barrels. I'm not sure exactly what happened to make the driver keep throttle on, but despite efforts from the driver the understeer continued and the Miata hit a barrel knocking it over. The Miata then caught the underside of its front bummer on the bottom lip of the barrel and ended up having its front end thrown some six feet into the air. Now I'm used to seeing the bottom of a car when I'm laying on my back and it is safely placed on jack stands, but seeing the bottom of a Miata flying over a barrel caught me a little off guard especially considering I was laying on my chest with my backpack in front of me as a camera rest. Evasive maneuvers were first on my list of to do's in this situation so I unfortunately dropped my camera on my backpack and got ready to pick a side to dodge the flying Miata. Fortunately I was far enough back in the run off and low enough into the next turn that I didn't have to move at all before the Miata came to a stop on top of a blue barrel. None the less I missed an opportunity to capture an epic once in a lifetime photo of the bottom of a miata flying over an unsuspecting blue barrel. After the Miata came to a stop on the barrel, the event coordinator drove his pit rig to the scene with some buddies and they all burst out laughing. After being lifted up off the barrel by a bunch of willing drivers and crew mwmbers the Miata was back out on the track tearing up the asphalt with the best of them. This, was by far my favorite moment of the event. The whole proceedings; the barrel hop, the reaction of the event coordinator, the help from fellow drivers and crew to lift the Miata and pull the barrel out, and the fact that fifteen minuets later the Miata was back out on track.

 Back to the photos. This one was taken at the second event I shot in 2015 and presented itself with some good drivers and fun shots. This shot was more of a mistake than anything else. Yes I planned on getting half of the car and some front wheel poking out with some wild smoke and spark from the tires and undercarriage, but what was accidental about this shot and what surprised me when I pulled it up to edit it for the first time was the face that is perfectly framed in the mirror. Now if the driver was wearing a closed face helmet a lot of the mood of the photo would be lost. Fortunatly he wasn't and the photo displays a great look at what a driver's focused face looks like in the middle of a drift.

 These last two photos were taken at the Spokane County Raceway road course. For the one above I was feeling like I needed more to work with on my photos because of the somewhat boring scenery around SCR. So I found a tree on the first corner of the course (one of like five in the whole complex), climbed it and hoped for the best. After some failed attempts with really slow of shutter speeds I found a sweet spot and ended up with some nice captures.

 This last shot was at the first grassroots drift event I ever attended. I had never been to one and had no idea what to expect. I got to the event, scoped the course and picked out some spots I thought would foster some decent shots. After testing out some of the first locations, I arrived at this one and sped up my shutter speed to guarantee some sharp shots to work with. Luckily it was just in time to get a crispy shot of this kouki s14 using up all of the best drifting section at Spokane County Raceway. This being my first event at this track, I got stoked out of my mind on this one photo, and it very well may be the reason I kept coming back to more events.

So looking back I'd like to give a huge shout out to Treis and Trevor at Stateline for welcoming me into their drifting community, Nate and Jason of the Villains for putting on a Wild VIP  and all the drivers for constantly putting on a show and letting me point my camera your way. This next year is gonna be another good one.

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo

Covered: D1GP Round 6.

Of all the things I have done in Japan so far going to the Japanese D1GP in Odaiba is by far the best.

After taking in the sights at the event paddock my two Japanese friends and I headed to our spectator area. We were greeted by the Japanese version of Jarod DeAna. Who I personally couldn't understand very well but did a good job of getting the show started.

We came to the event on the second and final day. So that meant we had skipped out on qualifying and the Japanese version of top 32 in Formula D.

With only 16 drivers to go in today's event there was much frivolousness before and between the competition runs. Naoki Tsuji came out welcoming everyone to the event and announcing the street bikes. Between him talking and the bikes screaming, the crow got pretty hyped.

Even still it seems that the crowd in Japan seemed a bit tamer than what I have seen in the states. They might help the announcer count down to the start time, but yelling "one more time" or the Japanese equivalent is out of the question.

Since the event was hosted by monster energy, before the competition started both Daigo Saito, and Vaughn Gittin Came out with the stunt bikes and put on a show.

It's really pretty cool to see an American driver in a foreign country come to the country that I happen to be in at the same time, and compete. Stepping back and realizing what an opportunity this was still has me feeling super blessed to have gotten this opportunity. Also notice how Vaughn is driving his backup car. I'm not sure if the original plan was to have this FD car shipped to japan from the states or if the backup that had to fill in after the main FD car took out a wall in Texas.

Even though Vaughn wasn't in the top 16, hearing his naturally aspirated v8 in a sea of inline fours, sixes and rotarys was a welcomed sound for as long as it lasted.

After the little show courtesy of Monster the top 16 lineup came out and the last leg of the competition was under way.

Yoshifumi Tadokoro in his pretty little 86 unfortunately was taken by Masao Suenaga in the rotary. I say unfortunatly because I was indeed rooting for Tadokoro san. One because this is probably the most iconic drift car ever, and two because I own the same car back home.. wich I really miss btw. Even still I was gald to see the RX-7 advance. I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for the rotarys, considering both cars were running them, it was quite the battle, the sound, astounding engineering, and everything that Mike Whiddett and his team has done with them really makes them stand out in my mind. So I was glad to see the RX-7 move on especially since that engine belongs in that car.

So, it was sad to see him go bit I'm happy the rotary got the win.

Next up was Yoshinori Koguchi in his NZ6 chassis

After watching the event over again. This battle was pretty tight but in the end the Fairlady (370z) Piloted by Shinji Minowa continued on.

And I'd just like to point out this may be one of the prettiest Z34 chassis I have seen slide, If Chris Forsbergs 370 was more orange and less black I'd go with that one but black is just hard to take good pictures of.

 Next, Tsuyoshi Tezuka and Arkadiy Tsaregradtsev who is indeed Russian in the red s15 slid around the course. I'm not sure how the Japanese make the massive four door sedans drift but I like it a lot. despite my intrigue the Russian came out on top.

Next was Alpine Kenji and Yoichi Imamura. Imamura san took the lead in his LEXUS LFA, yes you read that right. I really like the idea of drifting super cars. Yeah it may not be the purest form of drifting but it goes to show how much this sport has progressed and the teams that develop these radical chassis along with it.

Next was a pretty well known Japanese driver Kuniakin takahashia against another very well known Japanese driver.

Masashi Yokoi, who also competes in formula drift. These two put on a great show and left the crowd in awe.

The proximity these guys kept through both runs was incredible and made for a tough decision in the judges box.

In the end Takahashi in the yellow saloon drifted is way into the final four.

Following them were Diago Siato and Masato Kawabata in their beasts.

Another super car in the paddock.

After Diego lost to Kawabata there was a bit of a break and some more fun shenanigans occurred.

Including different forms of drifting rarely seen In the public, like four wheel drifting with ZERO COUNTAAA (Japanese pronunciation of a zero counter steer turn in a 4WD car).

Additionally there was some interesting sliding around of a front wheel drive car that was red. I have mixed emotions on calling this drifting. But this guy was tearing it up and looked like he was having a blast. Props props props.

And then there was this Toyota echo... Drifting. Thank you Japan. Clearly an engine and drive train swap had occurred. It sounded like a strait 6 for sure but I couldn't put my finger on what that may have been. 2jz is my best guess because it is a Toyota chassis and people usually like to keep their Toyotas Toyota.

After the break, and my break to go eat some expensive concession food and discover a Krispy Kream donut shop at which I ate three donuts. I headed back to my post and finished off the event.

The battle between Masao Suenaga and Naoto Suenaga of team orange was another crowd-pleaser with close proximity and copious amounts of smoke, especially as the first corner ended and transitioned to the infield.

In the end team orange came out on top and was destined to compete with Tetsuya Hibino and his black Supra.

Who munched Shingi Minowa in his pretty little Fairlady that had taken down the ZN6 chassis before.

Throughout the event the Supra seemed to not necessarily stand out but was consistent and let other drivers make the mistakes. You can see in the photo above Shinji made a bit of a mistake on the final infield transition and lost drift. This is likely what lost him the battle.

Next was the LFA and the Russian. Interestingly enough at times there was what I think were test runs allowed to be run by the competition cars. I believe this was either to test the track surfaces and how much grip the Pumps had or to keep the crowd entertained in between competition runs. After both had their practice run the "ready, go" was said, and they came out together.

In the end the LFA continued on and as sad as it is to see the classic drift chassis be taken down by a chassis that was very much designed to stick to a track surface at all times. I'm glad the super car made it's way on. It goes to show how far this sport has progressed and the variety of the chassis that compete on a fairly level playing field. I mean who would think that an AE86 and an LFA would compete in the same event in any sport. Drifting is great at pushing boundaries and that is one more reason why it's such an incredible sport.

Next Takahashi san came out again in his massive GRX130.

Against the GTR.

During this battle it really started to get dark and the previous experience I had with shooting night drifting at Stateline Speedway in the states really helped me be confident to get some decent low light shots.

After two great battles the GTR came out on top, and with it even more challenging situations for photography.

It was to a point with the camera where I would take eight to ten shots per run and one might turn out like this. If there is one skill needed to shoot good night drifting its either the skill of having swimming pools made of gold and the extra cash to spend on massive lenses.. or the skill of panning.

The next battle was with the supra and the S chassis. I was really having to focus on steady movement, and just like navy seals using the "aim small miss small" technique to get the cars as sharp as possible. With this in mind I was really pushing the limits of my camera too. Doing my best to allow as much light in as I could but keep the photos from being to grainy.

Albeit, about two thirds to a half of the photos turned out like this.. But it looks kinda artsy.. Might make a good poster.

So in the most classic drift battle on the planet. Silvia vs Supra. The Supra came out on top and continued on to the final.

Of which the next battle would decide his opponent.

Now things were really starting to get fun with shutter speeds and panning for gold.

Some of these shots are potentially the best drift photos I've had the pleasure of taking. I was smirking like muttly when I was editing these, but there's still some things I wish I could have done different.

As another short break occurred before the final I paused to take in what I was currently partaking of. And looked on to the bay and the bygone sun projecting glorious colors across the darkening sky. This is an event I will forever remember.

The final was on. GTR vs Supra, and the tension in the air was so thick you could slice it with a steak knife.

With every "READY, GO" you could feel breaths being held and Asian eyes opened as wide as Heavenly gates welcoming home the saints home in the end times. This was a true drift battle. After countless time spent by the judges taking into account every factor presented by the drivers.

The black beauty came out on top and in glorious triumph as well. I asked myself what more could someone want out of an event. Great competition, stellar opportunities for photos, and a classic drift chassis prepared to its limits and performing to overcome a chassis more than 15 years newer than it. This event gave me a renewed hope for the JZA80 chassis and had me falling in love with drifting all over again. After the event. My two Japanese compadres and I headed to the Toyota historical museum to check that out (which I will do a bit of a run through on this site here pretty soon) then to dinner at a really good ramen place, and home to finish one of the best automotively inclined days of my life.

Until the next post, happy Pumping friend.

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo.