[Leica] a day at the drag races

[walt at waltjohnson.com (Walt Johnson)]

You're kind of noisy yourself today, aren't you?

B. D. Colen wrote:

>My guess was film, and high speed at that- and the reason I asked was that I
>was struck by how "noisy" some of those images are. Which gets back to my
>thought about our willingness to accept grain, but not digital noise. I'd be
>inclined to reject some of your images that I like had I shot them
>digitally, calling them too damn noisy. But as film images, I just thought -
>high speed. Perhaps this bias - and it is a bias - comes from the fact that
>at lower isos digital is so spookily clean. Therefore when there is noise,
>we think there's something wrong.
>
>Anyway, nice work, noise or not....
>
>
>On 6/22/06 10:59 AM, "Arche, Harvey" <Harvey.Arche@jp2hs.org> wrote:
>
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>>B.D. wrote:
>>Hi, Arche - 49, 51, 53, 57, and 58 are your winners. So what were you
>>shooting with?
>>
>>
>>On 6/21/06 6:05 PM, "Arche, Harvey" <Harvey.Arche@jp2hs.org> wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Of all the various paid sporting events I?ve ever been to, the drag races
>>>have
>>>absolutely the least separation between spectators and participants, at
>>>this
>>>track anyway. There is a small parking lot for fans right next to the
>>>stands,
>>>for convenience, but you can park wherever you want. At the drag strip
>>>there
>>>is no ?pit? area, just big parking lots on either side of the track. This
>>>is
>>>where the racers line up their trucks and trailers, and unload the cars.
>>>Any
>>>mechanical work takes place here, as well as warm-up driving. Everyone is
>>>walking around visiting and checking out the competition. The only parking
>>>rules are custom and courtesy.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/parking_pits
>>>At this track there is a broad lane from the parking lots, along back of
>>>the
>>>stands, leading to the bottom of the track. This is where the racers queue
>>>up
>>>waiting their turns to run. The fences are present only to define lanes,
>>>and
>>>there is no avoiding moving in and through the mass of cars and drivers.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/lane
>>>Even though the line moves fairly quickly (each race only lasts seconds),
>>>there is still a lot of standing around and waiting, trash talking,
>>>haranguing
>>>the officials, and running to the concession stand for snacks (send the
>>>spouse
>>>or kid). Interestingly, to me anyway, there is a much higher proportion of
>>>black participation in drag racing, by far, than any of the other motor
>>>sports
>>>I?ve witnessed.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/car_driver1
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/car_driver2
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/car_driver3
>>>The concession stand sells sodas, junk food, and earplugs (but this 
>>>evening
>>>the sign said: ?No Earplugs tonight - Don?t even ask?). The noise can be
>>>shattering. Small boys stick their fingers in their ears
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/noise
>>>and grown men shelter behind their spit cups.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/burnout
>>>This is the ?burnout? at the bottom end of the track, when drivers spin
>>>their
>>>wheels on water-slicked pavement in order to get the wheels hot so that
>>>they
>>>become soft and offer better traction. Immediately after this the cars
>>>come up
>>>to the starting line, and usually there is no more than 10-20 seconds
>>>between
>>>the burnout and the actual race.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/downthetrack
>>>All the watchable action is at the starting end of the track, and
>>>spectators
>>>are separated from the cars only by a chain-link and a low wall. This is
>>>where
>>>most of the crowd is all evening. This Toyota truck stomped that Camaro
>>>turning in a time of 6.99 seconds for the quarter mile.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/start1
>>>Then again, that Toyota truck is a Toyota  truck like I?m Arnold
>>>Schwarzenegger. Wait - I?ve got that backwards.
>>>Time trials take up most of the daylight, and actual races begin in the
>>>evening. One of my students, whose dad races a Chevelle here, tells me
>>>they?ll
>>>run races, sometimes, until 3 in the morning. As the wind dies, the pall 
>>>of
>>>tire-smoke hangs at the starting line.
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/night1
>>>http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/night2
>>>Still smelling of burnt rubber,
>>>Arche
>>>      
>>>
>>Thanks, B.D. I was shooting my usual M2/35 'cron bugeye rig, but for film
>>used, progressively as the day wore on, APX 100, Tri-x, and then P3200.
>>Trouble was, I ran out of daylight film before I ran out of daylight. 
>>Lesson:
>>don't shoot P3200 in the daytime without being willing to process it
>>differently from the stuff shot at night - I got lazy.
>>While you're OK with 49, I dislike it for technical reasons (see above). 
>>Which
>>brings me to my real problem with editing this stuff. Sometimes to get one
>>image or another I like out there, I feel the need to establish context, or
>>often continuity, and end up pulling in weaker images to support the
>>narrative. I'm waffling between ditching any narrative and axeing 
>>ruthlessly,
>>or keeping the story to add dimension. Us Southerners love our stories, 
>>but us
>>photographers want the 1000 words to stay in the picture.
>>55 may not be a series-keeper, but could have outside life as a document 
>>of a
>>time and place. 58 almost didn't get in, but 57 works both in and out of 
>>the
>>series context, when taken as a portrait. Fortunately I happen to know who 
>>the
>>guy is, and came get prints to his family.
>>
>>That last 'T-shot' was definitly not 'simply a photo of people on a train'.
>>I'd tell you to GOYA & Shoot but you don't need to hear it.
>>Arche
>>
>>
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>>    
>>
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