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

Asthetics of Drift: Style Is King

Drifting is a spectator sport. Drifting should be a moving car show. The ultimate scene in which you make yourself, and your car look as cool as possible. No points systems, no paid judges, just a bunch of car nerds getting together and looking as cool as possible for their broke buddies and some fans how love the atmosphere and sport of drifting. This is what drifting is about. Most people see scenes from the movie Tokyo Drift when they think of drifting, fast cars, hot girls, high budgets, and no limits, but in reality drifting is a bunch of car nerds coming together and having a blast in some really fast cars with some really pissed off girlfriends. 

This is the essence of drifting and this is what needs to stay alive in it. So as a pretty serious drifting photographer I’d like to go over some of the things I’ve seen that would make photographing drifting better, it may seem somewhat trivial, but in reality I am one of the few outlets of drifting to the common people and you know what they say, presentation is everything.

 So to start this off we’ll go with color. This s14 is Cody Hall’s. He is a great driver and has a rad chassis to work with and I love it, but this is a black car. This is the only thing I don’t like about this car and unfortunately it is a big thing not to like about this car because it is the only thing about this car. It looks like the bat mobile out on track and if the headlights are off, it looks like a black void of blackness completely void of any light and that is terrible for photographing because photography is the art of finding light in/on your subject and this car not only is black but is also a flat black making it even worse.

So, Cody if you are reading this, please don’t be offended, simply concur with the fact that your car is hard to photograph well.

On a lighter an less sinister note some fun colors to photograph and ones that I enjoy the most are of course happy and bright colors, like yellow, orange, green, blue, teal (as a personal favorite), white and grey are okay as long as they have an accenting color to bring some more interest.

So take away from this section a want from me to see prettier cars out on track and a need for the driver to make their car as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

In addition to black cars being lame to photograph, I have a few other qualms with items I commonly see in the drifting community at grassroots levels especially. The drift slut. 

The heart of drifting is about looking cool and what in the world looks cool about a beat up, 27 different color pig nose s13 without a hood or front fenders. Here are in my opinion some of the ugliest cars I have seen driving, let alone drifting.

Now keep in mind I do understand the mission of a drift missile, to go out with your buddies on a super low budget and get as sideways as you can as much as you can and not have to worry about scratching your 2,000 paint job.

I fully understand that, and that is relevant and a fantastic argument but I have been to too many local drift events that have very very ugly cars. And these are at competitions, with spectators and photographers that care about how your car looks, not to mention how having such an ugly car reflects on the racetrack you are driving at.

So take this section with a grain of salt that I understand on test and tune days, drive your ugly car, but when it comes to competition day, please do your very best to make your car look as pretty as possible; with phat fitment, and shiny paint, and strait fenders, and clear unscratched vinyl’s and the like.

Another item I would like to mention is the fact that when drifting, I personally love it when the drivers have headlights and taillights on, yes even in the middle of the day. It makes for so much better photography… and videos for that matter. 

When it comes to photo and video, lighting is king on the high throne worshiped by all who see him. There is nothing hard about pulling that little button or flipping that little switch or twisting that little nob and potentially making the photos and videos of your car look that much better.

So pleas if for safety’s and visibilities sake alone, drift with your headlights on at all times and especially at night.

Unless of course you don’t have headlight on your ratty drift missile and simply can’t turn them on because they no longer exist. Then don’t because you can’t, I get that I wont be mad because your having a blast. But if you have them there should be little to no excuse to not have them on.

I hope some of these pictures give some good examples of how a decent photo could have become a great photo had the lights of the car been turned flipped or switched on.

The last thing is somewhat coming from a different angle then before but I feel it will end this potentially controversial post on a good note. So here are things I love to see in drifting and a few photos to help illustrate them.

I love it when cars are clearly going all out on the track, no hidden agendas, no need to withhold their car and worry about it breaking. Not only me but everyone in or out of the drifting community loves real balls to the walls drifting.

I’m talking about wall tapping, tire dropping (on occasion and in controlled environments as to keep pavement conditions top notch) close proximity, massive angle, rear entry, apex to apex lines, copious amounts of smoke.

(if you have a low horsepower car I fully understand and recognize the fact that you must drive that much harder to make up for the lack of power and still receive little gain in smoke production)….,

multiple number tandems three, four, five, seventeen members in a tandem, burnout drifts (very low speed drifts with high-speed wheel spin, and lots of smoke) super rad, and makes for awesome and moody photographs of which I have yet to really capture due to their rare nature and shy personality.

So please take this last list of drifting characteristics as a sort of checklist to make sure you are doing at every chance you get, especially when there are Blond photographers with tan Nike backpacks shooting the event you are at.

With all this having been said I am most likely forgetting a bunch of things I hate that I’ve seen in drifting, and things that I absolutely love, like the people, the community, and the undeniable sense that everyone is accepted and there for the time of their lives.

I just hope this article is a subtle and clear way to tell you some of the things I see too often in drifting that I don’t like, and just a simple reminder that things can always get better.

Thanks for the read, and happy smoking,

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo