Two weeks ago I was in Atlanta at Formula Drift Round 2. This time I was out shooting for Falken Tire. But between my shooting out on the field I was able to find a bit of time to meet up with four additional drivers to photograph and add to my driver’s portrait series that I started at Long Beach in March.

I had already been in touch with Dai Yoshihara a bit about shooting with him this round. And I knew that Justin Pawlak and Darren McNamara wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to meet up with since I was shooting for Falken Tire. Meeting up with Pat Mordaunt was unexpected, but great since I was hoping to try and get at least one additional driver beyond the Falken Team.
Funny story about Pat and when I first met him at Long Beach this season. I was introduced to him through my friend, and fellow photographer, Narisa Masermsim. Pat was just driving around chatting with people during the morning of Long Beach practice. After a few minutes of typical chit-chat (ie: who are you shooting for, etc) I asked Pat which team he was with. “I’m with APEXi” he said, pointing to the trailer off to the side of us. “Oh, cool, what do you do for them?” “I’m the driver.” Ha! In my defense I’m not familiar with Drift beyond the Falken Team. And typically I handle American Le Mans for Falken and I haven’t photographed Drift much since my days working for K&N Filters and AEM Intakes. Pat just laughed it off. Honestly I forget the the Drift drivers are all very socialable and it’s not uncommon for them to be out chatting with people, versus Le Mans where most drivers stay in their paddocks and rigs.

Anyway, click past the break for the various portraits that I shot of everyone in Atlanta. A couple varations of course, a tight crop alongside a wider one.

Hopefully I can continue this series in Seattle – which at the moment is the last of the Drift races that I’m booked for.
Also, you can check my portfolio here online for a gallery of larger images: Driver Portraits

Justin and I shot his portrait in the evening before night practice. I decided to use the tail end of the Falken rig as the background. Tires… drift… you get it. Right? It ended up being the theme I stuck with for all the Falken Tire drivers.

 

The next day my friend Narisa took it upon herself to do me a favor and texted Pat saying I wanted to get a photograph of him. I was busy wandering around a couple booths at the time. She then texted me and said Pat had some time right then, so I headed to his paddock to meet up briefly. It was overcast and not horribly bright out, which allowed for an outdoor portrait without Pat having to be completely squinting… only slightly. Still came out great I think.

Catching up with Dai can be a bit tricky because he’s always running around with his busy schedule. But we had some time during lunch that Dai actually caught up with me and said “John, I actually have some time right now…” So, I decided we’d shoot these inside the trailer. Use the same idea/concept I went with for Justin’s photos the night before. The rig was closed up so lighting was controlled, too.
I actually had Dai (and then Darren shortly after) sit on a tire so they would be at a height that wasn’t too close to the ceiling.

As much as I like Dai’s serious shot, we did a smiling one as well. Anyone that’s met Dai knows he’s an incredibly friendly person and always smiling (most all the drivers are, actually). So we did some happier looking shots. Even Dai laughed and said these were much more “him”.

Darren and I shot right after I shot Dai. I figured since I had my lighting dialed and everything pretty much set it would be easy enough to knock out his photo. These only take me a couple minutes once I have my settings – it’s really easy for me to crank these out sometimes.
Anyway, Darren had just got back from practice so I asked about shooting them quickly right then. And Darren has some bright blue eyes, as you can see, so I knew people would LOVE his photo. We did a couple serious shots, and then some smiling ones which are posted below.
Darren went on to take second place later that night bringing home another trophy for the Falken team and himself.

The friendlier Darren most people know at the track!

Next up for Formula Drift is Round 3: Florida. I actually won’t be shooting that one unfortunately  But, I also hear that’s a “good” thing because it’s hot, muggy, and miserable. Hahaha! Although I’ve shot all sorts of sports in all sorts of horrible conditions, so it can’t be THAT bad.

The next Drift race that I’ll be photographing is Seattle, Round 5. So hopefully I can meet up with several drivers there and continue this series.