The Other Night Photography

Lately, I have been really interested in night photography. Star Photography, Milky Way, and Star Trails. I’m really having fun with them. But…… this type of photography is not always available. Cloudy nights, time of year (for Milky Way) and direction are all factors. Plus, when the moon is up, the dimmer stars are not visible.

While there are always exceptions, Star Trails are usually shot pointing North, and the Milky Way is usually to the South-ish.

But wait! Why not use the moon as a light source? Granted, you need a stronger subject to make up for the lack of the Milky Way or star trails, but lighting with the moon can give some great effects not available with images lit by flashlights or other lighting methods.

I’m not going to give settings because they vary so much. But generally, lowish ISO fairly wide aperture. Shutter speed is determined by the phase of the moon. One way to sneak up on it is to use 30 seconds as a shutter speed, wide open and Auto ISO. This should get you into the ballpark except it will be grainy. Then you can lengthen the time (in bulb mode) and lower ISO until your image is clean. If your foreground interest is too close, wide open may not work and you will have to close the aperture some to get the correct depth of field.

With wide angle lenses and shutter speed of less than 30 sec you can get pinpoint stars (just not as many as a moonless night) plus a beautiful foreground. If you don’t mine stars appearing as dashes, you can use extremely long shutter speeds (solid tripod required) for some really interesting looks. If you have some clouds, the 2 to 4 minute time frames will give some great motion to them.

And of course, there is nothing to prevent you from combining moonlight with light painting for other effects.

All this is fine, but like other forms of photography, the style alone won’t make a compelling image. But subject and composition, along with some technique, can make for images with impact, which is what we are looking for, right?

Back from Iceland. The trip of a lifetime. In 10 days of travel through the country, there was never a time the scenery was not awe-inspiring. Dave did a tremendous job of planning our trip and the weather cooperated as well.

Iceland Ahoy!

Packing for my epic (hopefully) journey to Iceland with 9 other photographers. My first trip out of the US. Depart 6am tomorrow. Think I'll sleep much tonight? Will post a few pics as I get a chance.

Creek County and Ada races

Had an excellent weekend with races at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa Friday night and Oklahoma Sports Park in Ada on Saturday. Saturday night was an ASCS Sooner region, with some national drivers that got rained out at Kansas City. Also on the card was the Wingless Oklahoma Warriors and the NOW600 minis. Great racing all night and a few excellent pictures.

Slept in my own bed Friday night, then headed to Ada Saturday for the Harold Leep jr Memorial Race. One of my favorite places and I always see some old timers I used to race with. Art Ascher and Gentle Ben Lewis were working the track and  several of the racers are from back in the day.

Another week, 2 more sprint races....

After a Wednesday trip to OKC to view the Ansel Adams exhibit (very nice), it was off to Outlaw Motor Speedway south of Muskogee for some ASCS National tour action.

The  races were intense, Harli and Brandon Hahn got together in the heat, with Harli upside down. She would come back to run the B but struggle. Jason Johnson started on the front of the A. A gimmie, huh? Not so fast. Aaron Ruetzel chased down the Ragin Cajun in traffic and took the win.

I worked on images in the van after the races, then went to the WalMart in Checotah for a good night's sleep. Got up, worked on more images, then made my way to Pocola Ok by way of Natural Dam waterfall. Not much water at Natural Dam so I didn't even get out. Oh, well. Got to Tri-State Speedway and had a great night shooting the OCRS Sprints. Spent the night in Sallisaw at WalMart, the drove home in the morning. It is soooo nice not to have to drive back late at night. The van is comfy and the temps were perfect. That may not last forever, but....

From Humboldt Ks to Ardmore Ok for the OCRS races

I spent the night in my Transit Connect in Humboldt, then meandered back roads all the way to Ardmore. Saw this sculpture south of Stratford.

What a great race. Here is the OCRS account. 

By John Rittenoure
OCRS Web Editor

Photo Action: Top - Sheldon Barksdale (20S) races with Mickey Walker (2) for the lead. Bottom - Three-wide salute before the start. Mike Howard photos.

Ardmore, Ok (April 26, 2014) - Timing was everything for Shane Sellers and he took full advantage Saturday night at Southern Oklahoma Speedway.

Sellers slipped underneath race-long leader Mickey Walker in the final corner and gunned his sprinter out front beating Walker to the finish to win his second career OCRS sprint car main event.

It was the climax to a hotly contested race between the top five drivers for 25-laps on the 3/8’s mile Southern Oklahoma Speedway oval.

Sellers fought his way into second after a lap 16 restart, but could not find his way past Walker until opportunity presented itself with the checkered flag in sight.

“I don’t know if he got a little tired, but his car setup was going away a little bit for him so he was really having to creep into the corner,” said Sellers of following Walker. “He did what he had to do by stopping and making us have to go around him. I think he kind of missed his mark a little bit and I was able to keep mine and get underneath him.

“Sometimes it just works in your favor and tonight it was mine.”

Walker, who was looking for his second career win in just his second season with OCRS, agreed.

“I just missed my line and slid up,” said Walker who had led since lap 2. “He (Sellers) was there and capitalized on it. I drove in to hard.”

Sellers led lap 1 before Walker roared past on lap 2. Sellers then gave way to Sheldon Barksdale on lap 6 and the race went 12 laps before the first yellow flag waved for Brian McClelland who had to be towed off. Barksdale remained in second behind Walker until lap 15 when Sellers charged back into the runner-up spot and pulled alongside of Walker briefly taking over the lead as the yellow waved again, this time for Brian Bishop who spun.

“On that track it was kind of follow the leader,” recalled Sellers. “In that top five you had Sheldon Barksdale, Alex DeCamp and Danny Smith and we were all slicing and dicing.

“Danny Smith kind of showed me a nose a little bit and that kind of helped me out and I got around those guys.

“The yellows did not play in my favor but it worked out in the end.”

After the restart Barksdale got by Sellers and took his turn at Walker. The Norman, Oklahoma native made contact with Walker and tried to take the lead away when the yellow came out.

On lap 16 Barksdale and Walker swapped the lead then the yellow waved again as Barksdale and Perry Pickard tangled.

The restart set the stage for the final 10 laps with eventual winner Sellers in second before his final turn pass. Alex DeCamp finished a close third, Danny Smith rode the high side of the track trying to challenge the leaders before settling for fourth and points leader Whit Gastineau rounded out the top five to end his two-race win streak.

It was a pressure packed race for Walker who is probably glad he did not have a rearview mirror to see what was going on behind him.

“I was kind of glad there were some yellows because we were getting into lapped traffic and I don’t know what that would have done,” Walker said. “It could have hurt us or helped us.”

Some early contract from close racing did not faze Walker who refused to give up his line.

“Rubbing is racing,” said Walker who won his first OCRS feature last October at West Siloam Speedway. “It did not bother me much. I just passed them back and went on.

“It made good racing for the fans. I hoped they liked it.”

Promoters John and Nicky Webb prepared a very racy track that produced some of the best racing of the season.

“It was not too bad,” commented Walker who won the Drive Shafts, Inc. third heat. “It was fast early on in the heat races and come feature time it was fast on the bottom.”

Brandon Long paced the field to win the 12-lap Wesmar Racing Engines B feature. He transferred into the 25-lap main event along with Ty Williams, Glenn Owens, Brandon Jennings, Derek Cottrell, Shayla Waddell, Kyle Clark and Michael Bookout.

Besides Walker’s heat win Smith won the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories first heat and Alex DeCamp topped the Bob Hurley Auto Family second heat.

Jennings was awarded the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Hard Charger cash with a +7 and Chance Morton was the D&E Supply Hard Luck recipient.

Congratulations to Shane and Mickey.. 

WAR Sprints at Humboldt Ks 4-25-2014

Decisions, decisions. I had to make the choice between the World of Outlaws at the Salina Highbanks or the wingless WAR Sprints at Humboldt. Although Salina is closer, more familiar, I had shot the Outlaws the week before at Devil's Bowl and I had never shot (or seen) the WAR group. I'm becoming a big fan of non wing sprint cars so up 169 north I went. They had a small field of cars but put on some pretty decent racing. And I heard Salina was dusty and abrasive on tires and they cut the feature short, so maybe I made the right decision.

BTW, Chris Parkinson won the race. I thought I recognized the last name as being an old midwest racing name. I posted on FB and Shane Carson posted this picture of his grand father.

From the Mar Car collection and Shane Carson.

Ford AAA Student Auto Skills contest

For the 20th year, I was a judge at the Oklahoma version of the Ford AAA Student Auto Skills contest. This is on of the most enjoyable things I do each year. There are 10 teams of 2 students that attempt repairs of bugged Ford cars within a 90 minutes contest time. The team from Eastern Oklahoma County Technology Center of Choctaw Ok.

Devil's Bowl World of Outlaws race and 35 year reunion

What a great weekend. Shane Carson organized the reunion of old sprint car drivers, especially the ones that participated in the first World of Outlaws race in 1978. Amazingly, Shane was able to get about 60 of the 90 or so drivers that participated in the inaugural race to attend. He also asked me to help photograph and record the event. Tough Duty! I got to meet and shoot legends who I have read about for many years. The two day races were excellent. Friday night, Wayne Johnson led Donnie Schatz for many laps until he had a problem and had to retire. Saturday night, Daryn Pittman won big time. His owner, Kasey Kahne was there for all the women to swoon over.
The weather was perfect. I slept in my Transit Connect and was very comfortable. My only expenses for the weekend were fuel plus a little race track food, namely one of Lanny's famous burritos.  
Many of the top race track photogs were there and we took turns shooting each other. Good times.

OCRS Sprints at Longdale

I added a new "LifeTrack" this weekend by attending a new track, Longdale Speedway in northwest Oklaahoma. Jessie Hoskins did a wonderful job with the new facility. They need to do some work on track prep (although the 35-40 mph winds made it impossible) and they need permanent bathrooms. Otherwise, I didn't see much wrong. The A main was won by Whit Gastineau, his first win since the tornado last may wiped out his house and shop. A very popular win.

Yes, it was very dusty.

Whit Gastineau

POWRi Midgets and NOW600 minis at Creek County Speedway

Nice to shoot close to home at one of my favorite tracks. This was a POWRi West race and had some locals plus a few travelers. Pretty good racing. The POWRi guys weren't lined up when they went by me for the 4 wide shot, but I did make a nice one of the NOW600 cars. Matt Sherrell won the POWRi main.

Arkansas Waterfalls in Spring

We have had a lot of rain in this area lately, so why not go shoot some waterfalls? Sunny's friend Peggy graciously agreed to show me some of her favorite falls. We shot Fuzzybutt Falls, Six Finger Falls, Magnolia Falls, and High Bank Twins. We also shot some wildflowers at Richland Creek including Lady Slippers. Had a great time. I don't quite have the MPP (Mobile Photography Platform) ready for overnights, so I got a motel in Harrison. We also ate at two of my favorite places to eat, the Ozark Cafe in Jasper and the Oark General Store in Oark.

A great couple of days.

Harli Wins Non Wing opener at Brill

What a great night of racing. Aside from a lineup snafu and a scary crash that happened right in front of me that I missed, I saw some of the best racing in years. The non wing cars looked great and I got some great images.

Harli White has been getting better and better and at Brill Motor Speedway finally broke into the OCRS win column. She drove a great race and withstood many challenges from some tough competitors.

A great way to start the OCRS season.