Life Blasters http://lifeblasters.com/awesome Photography, drifting, travel, food, music, tattoos, graffiti, and awesome Thu, 17 May 2012 22:14:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Formula D Atlanta: Part 1 http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/11013/formula-d-atlanta-part-1/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/11013/formula-d-atlanta-part-1/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 01:35:09 +0000 Ayala http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=11013 Road Atlanta is a lot of people’s favorite track. Personally, I like it because of all the colors and the lack of fences. That makes it an easy place to shoot. It’s a favorite for fans because of the layout. Instead of parking your car, walking hella far, and sitting in your seat, you can drive your car almost right up to the track, have a tailgate party, set up a canopy, bring your own chairs and a cooler, and chill. For the drivers, they like the fact that it’s an actual road course as opposed to an oval or parking lot, and this track in particular has awesome elevation changes and really fun turn complexes, including the bowl where all the drifting takes place.

On Thursday morning, the first driver I found was Matt Powers. He was building his tent. Thursday is always a fun time, as there are no fans around. It’s just officials, the teams, and not even half of the media. Everyone is more or less relaxed because it’s just a practice day. Qualifying isn’t until Friday evening.

 

I turned around and saw Walker Wilkerson’s car being unloaded, but I didn’t see Walker anywhere. Must be nice.

 

Daigo Saito’s crew was preparing the SC for practice.

 

Look at that turbo!

 

Naoki Kobayashi was busy busting Nexens. How were there any tires to bust this early in the event? Maybe they were left over from Long Beach or some practice day.

 

Chris Harrington flew in from London the night before, and boy were his arms tired.

 

Odi Bakchis found time for a hot dog. No bun, just the dog.

 

Chris Forsberg was fixing his rear bumper, getting ready to go practice. There was a new course layout this year. Instead of entering the horseshoe at the bottom, drivers would have to extend their drift higher up the hill and enter it from the top.

 

Taka Aono seemed confused. Actually, everyone was confused when they looked at the back of my camera to see the photo I had just taken of them. Sorry, it’s film!

 

Larry was happy to see me, but even he was confused about my camera.

 

Geoff wanted to show off his new Life Blasters Lifebeater. Seen it, bro.

 

Finally it was time for some driving. Ryan Tuerck was ready to drive. Or maybe ready to check his Facebook?

 

Fredric Aasbø was definitely ready.

 

He was looking super comfortable on the track during practice.

 

He looked good enough to deserve three photos in a row!

 

Darren McNamara hadn’t decided if he liked the 350Z yet when I asked him. Later on I heard that he thinks it’s too heavy. I’m not surprised, considering how light the Sky was.

 

Luke Lonberger had a new engine in the Corvette and he was ready to give Atlanta another go. He barely failed to quality here last year. He said he liked the new course since you could just stand on the throttle on the way up to the top of the horseshoe.

 

Forsberg got his bumper back on the car with plenty of time to spare.

 

Justin Pawlak had a lot riding on this event, so he had to concentrate hard even during practice. After a few runs he hadn’t decided if he liked the new track layout or not.

 

But he was still laying down solid runs all day.

 

Ryan Kado is off to a solid start this year. Much better than how his 2011 season started.

 

Vaughn Gittin, Jr., was ready to rock, as usual, but the 2010 champ had some much needed points to recover if he wanted to make a run at the title this year.

 

From the looks of it, that wouldn’t be difficult.

 

Hey! Justin and Annie decided to show up.

 

Fisheyes are wonderful grid lenses.

 

Atlanta is Conrad Grunewald’s favorite track. He qualified first here last year and won the Retaks Insane Entry Award.

 

Mike Essa’s backwards entries were challenging Conrad’s though. Conrad would have to watch out.

 

Rhys Millen is always a threat, and this round was no exception.

 

Ryan Davis is hard to miss with his all-new 400 2.8 II and 5D Mark III combo.

 

He’s also super sexy.

 

Larry, on the other hand, has been shooting with the same gear for years.

 

On Friday, the paddock has a much different vibe. The models and fans show up and it gets a lot more crowded. The teams are more focused since it’s time for qualifying, but the crowd just wants to have a good time.

 

Ryan had work to do, and I was locked out of the car. All I had was my Elan 7 and 70-200, so I was happy to hang out with Ryan and use his ultrawide 14mm. It’s such a rad little lens!

 

Jarod DeAnda was doing a few segments for the FD show, and Ryan had to film the one after this one.

 

Soon enough we all headed out to watch qualifying. First in Long Beach, Tuerck was only able to nab the 24th spot in Atlanta.

 

Local boy Dennis Merzanis squeezed in at 14th.

 

Toshiki Yoshioka barely made the cut at 29th.

 

Luke was happy with 22nd.

 

Matt Powers claimed a very comfortable 7th spot.

 

George Marstanovic is widely regarded as having the coolest FC at the moment, due to his tucking rim and dragging sideskirts à la Matt Powers.

 

And still enough performance to land in the 26th qualifying spot.

 

Daigo is definitely the king of smoke production. Can you believe this guy? He qualified midpack at 15th.

 

Apparently something broke in Dai’s suspension. Whatever it was, he went suuuuper low in the back! Still good enough for 9th qualifier though.

 

Tyler McQuarrie landed in the 20th spot in his second round driving the Gardella Camaro.

 

Joon Maeng tried to get as backwards as Essa, but ended up in the dirt. He had to go conservative on his other run and that put him in 13th.

 

Mike Essa ended up as #1 qualifier, but only because of the issue with the speed gun. Something went wrong and FD decided to award everyone speed points instead of just the drivers who got the minimum speed. Otherwise Conrad would have been first for the second year in a row. Essa got the Insane Entry Award too, but no one’s going to deny that he earned that one.
 
Stick around for our Saturday coverage coming up soon!
 
 
 
.:Bohan
 
Photos by Bohan and Ayala
 
 
 

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/11013/formula-d-atlanta-part-1/feed/ 2 The Oregon Trail Rally: Part 2 http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10872/the-oregon-trail-rally-part-2/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10872/the-oregon-trail-rally-part-2/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 04:17:33 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10872 david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaAs if one whole day of getting dusted every minute by rally cars wasn’t enough, they decided rallies should go all weekend…hey I wasn’t complaining! This stuff is fun as hell.

david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaAfter a short, cold night in the car, Alex and I got some coffee and hit the morning Parc Expose in beautiful downtown Dufur. I didn’t see much excitement in the Dalles the day before, but it seemed like Dufur was all about having the rally teams in town.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaEven though they were supposed to be showing the cars off for the spectators, some teams had last minute repairs to do.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaAntoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard were just a few turns into Fir Mountain South II on Saturday when their car died. Two DNF’s in a row will make it very hard for them to beat Higgins and Drew in the championship.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaLuckily at each stage the ADV, 000, 00, and 0 cars head out first to check the course before the competition cars come out, or the photographers would never be able to set up a shot for the first team.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaAnd as usual the first team was Higgins and Drew, preceded by a helicopter that didn’t want to get in the frame… too bad.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaEdward McNelly and Ole Holter finished third in 2WD in their Fiesta.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaSummit has a pretty gnarly off camber turn from gravel onto pavement, and later on back onto gravel. There was more and more gravel sprayed onto the pavement as the stage went on. The last cars had probably an extra 50 feet of gravel compared to the first cars.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaAdam Yeoman was rookie of the year in 2011, and since L’Estage and Richard were out,  he and co-driver Jordan Schulze managed to sneak into 3rd place by the end of Saturday. With big gaps on both sides, they decided to play it safe and not try to go for second.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaACP pushed the xD to 5th place overall and second in SP.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaEach stage ends with a flying finish, where the car triggers the timing system to stop, and a few hundred yards later they stop the car and get their times from the marshal.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaBack at Starveout, the water truck sprayed water on the corner where the spectators were hanging out, so they wouldn’t get covered in dust. Mud is worse, but it doesn’t fly nearly as far.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaMud makes for pretty cool photos too. I kept getting these awesome Facebook profile photos for Alex. I hope he uses one of them.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaThere was a pretty big crowd at Starveout both days. They had canopies, chairs, coolers with food and beer, and they don’t even charge you to get in! Why would anyone NOT want to go watch rally for free?
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaThe fans reminded me a lot of mountain bike racing fans…cowbells, flags, and all.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaOccasionaly cars got stalled out in the mud or slid too close to the gate. There were a lot of tense moments.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaFinally the last stage ended and everyone gathered again in the field by the creek in Dufur for the podium. Yeoman and Schulze maintained third position, Crazy Leo and Williamson finished second, and the win was once again taken by Higgins and Drew.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaThis was Higgins’s fourth win at the Oregon Trail Rally. Orders and Feaver won 2WD, follwed by ACP and Jeremy Wimpey in 2nd and McNelly/Holter in third. In Super Production, David Sterckx and Karen Jankowski took home the win, with Dave Henderson and Terrence McDowell finishing second and Chris and Lori O’Driscoll finishing third.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaI gathered that Higgins was a big fan of Adam Yauch, aka MCA.  I want to believe he’s pouring out his champagne for MCA, who died of cancer on Friday.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaAs soon as the podium finished, we hit the road. It’s a long 11 hours back to the Bay Area from Dufur, and we both had stuff to do in the morning. I also had to wash my hat.
 
david higgins subaru travis pastrana ken block oregon trail rally americaI can’t wait for the Olympus Rally in September! My mom lives in Washington, recently bought an Impreza, and her birthday is during the rally. Wouldn’t it be a cool present to bring her along??
 
 
 
.:Bohan
Photos by Bohan and Alex Wong
 
 
 

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10872/the-oregon-trail-rally-part-2/feed/ 0 The Oregon Trail Rally: Part 1 http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10836/the-oregon-trail-rally-part-1/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10836/the-oregon-trail-rally-part-1/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 06:53:38 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10836 The Oregon Trail Rally is the first of two west coast stops for the Rally America championship. I’d been wanting to attend this rally for years, but somehow never got the chance. Well, since Life Blasters is increasing its motorsports coverage this year, I figured I’d better finally go.

I met up with Alex from Emotive Image and BorrowLenses, and we left the Bay Area around noon. Not exactly an early start, but we were excited, and the weather was pleasant as we made our way through the northernmost reaches of Norcal.
 
As soon as we got into Oregon we got a taste of that good old PNW weather, complete with a few snow flurries. Sigh
 
Joe and Justin were in Medford at the time, so Alex and I stopped to hang out with them at Beerworks. That is most definitely not a good idea if you have to keep to any kind of schedule.
 
See what I mean?
 
Four hours later, we were back on the road. Leaving Medford at 10pm, there was no way we’d get to Portland in time to hang out with Ryan Davis of Yaer.
 
After a quick nap at a rest area outside of Portland, we made the drive up the Columbia River gorge during sunrise. The view was pretty amazing.
 
We finally made it to the Dalles and had a lot of time to hang out and watch everyone unload. David Higgins and Craig Drew have been dominating Rally America lately and were fully expected to win this round.
 
Verena Mei first came onto my radar when she got into drifting a while back and then time attack after that. I wonder what she’ll do after rally.
 
One of the cool things about rally is that the cars drive on public roads to and from the stages. They don’t need to have a police escort or anything.
 
After a few stages, the cars come back for service, which could be anything from scraping dirt out of the wheel wells to replacing engine and suspension parts.
 
The Summit crew had to replace an axle on one of their S13′s.
 
At the end of each team’s allotted service time, they pregrid before heading out to the next group of stages.
 
While we were waiting to head out on stage, we checked out some of the vendor booths. Sparco makes a pretty rad folding tool bag. It looks like a messenger bag when it’s all folded up. I told the guy I’d buy one as soon as I have flat camera gear.
 
Finally it was time to head out. Alex set up a remote camera on Starveout. He hoped it wouldn’t get too dirty.
 
With this kind of stuff going on, I think he’d be lucky to get anything at all out of that camera.
 
Crazy Leo Urlichich is said to drive like Finnish WRC driver Marcus Grönholm. I wonder how crazy Carl Williamson is to ride with him all the time. Actually, I’m pretty sure everyone in rally is crazy.
 
With all the mud, staying clean is just not an option. Many cars crossed the stage finish lines with their numbers completely covered by dirt.
 
Will Orders and Toni Feaver were one of two Summit Rally teams driving S13′s. The teams are from Australia and the cars are right hand drive with Blacktop SR’s. Delicious.
 
Oftentimes we got to drive on the stages on the way to where we were going to shoot. Alex was excited that he got to check “drive on a rally stage” off his bucket list.
 
Apparently we were following Doc Brown, because where we were going we didn’t need roads.
 
Out on Boyd, Mount Hood dominates the view to the west.
 
As Mount Adams looms in the north.
 
Pretty soon Higgins and Drew came flying by. They had won seven of the previous nine stages. This would be their 10th.
 
Crazy Leo was right behind him.
 
Hardy Schmidtkey was driving the only Evo VIII in Open class, and one of only two in the rally. Those cars used to be so popular!
 
Subarus were by the far the car of choice.
 
As it turns out, there were more Saab 96′s than Evo VIII’s. Garth Ankeny and Russ Kraushaar were the fastest Saab team.
 
Verena Mei wasn’t doing too bad. She and co-driver Leanne Junnila took their Fiesta to a 4th place finish in 2WD.
 
Alex found a cool view on the far side of the ridge.
 
Spectacular! I don’t think I’ve ever watched racing in as beautiful of an environment.
 
The dust would often linger near the course long after a car went by.
 
After the last stage of the day, all the cars gathered in a field near the creek in Dufur for the night’s Parc Expose.
 
Andrew Comrie-Picard’s Scion xD lost a few chunks from its front bumper but was otherwise in good shape.
 
Is this the rally version of “Never Lift?”
 
Saab 96′s have a V4 mounted entirely in front of the front axle. How can it possible handle well? That’s the kind of question that’d have to wait til later. It was dinner time and the next day was going to be brutal.
 
Stick around and see what happens tomorrow!
 
 
 
.:Bohan
Photos by Bohan and Alex Wong
 
 
 

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10836/the-oregon-trail-rally-part-1/feed/ 2 New Venue in Oregon Sees Some 1JZ Drifting! http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10895/new-venue-in-oregon-sees-some-1jz-drifting/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10895/new-venue-in-oregon-sees-some-1jz-drifting/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 06:59:20 +0000 Shreeve http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10895

 

May 6th, 2011, marked the first day drifting has ever been allowed on the Jackson County Sports Park kart track, located in White City, Oregon, since its opening in 1996. Having autocrossed on this track, in this very car, back in late ’07, I’ve been chomping at the bit to drift here for quite a while. Thanks to a local European car club, RogueEuro.com, this dream became a reality.

 

I feel unbelievably fortunate to have experienced this track for the first time with my newly 1JZGTE powered S13 240SX coupe.

 

The hard working technicians at Portland Speed Industries were able to get me out the door a week before the event with a reliable 301hp to the wheels with that much torque at 3k rpm. Needless to say, I had a great time. There are a few things that still need to be worked out, such as stretched brake cables, tweaked and stripped tension rod brackets, etc. Also, I obviously still need to get used to the power and definitely need more third gear. Regardless, I’ll be out there the minute there’s another chance!

 

Since these were just my first two runs of the day, I hadn’t planned on doing much with the footage. That being said, the audio is straight out of the camera and the angles are limited, but I figured I’d share it anyway.

 

Look forward to a full 2012 season of drift events at this venue with the Southern Oregon based series, Drift Evolution. The first event will be a two day EXTRAVAPALOOZA on June 13th-14th.

 

Also, an enormous thank you to all of the companies who have helped me get to this point. I am incredibly grateful for all of the support.
Nitto Tire
Bigger Hammer Auto Body
Tandem of Die
LifeBlasters
Portland Speed Industries
AttackWorks Clothing
Enjuku Racing
Xcessive Manufacturing
Cor Integration
Abercrombie Motorsports
Rogue Tactical Coating
Era1
NOS Energy
Basic Vehicle modifications:

 

DRIVETRAIN
JZX110 Single Turbo VVT-i 1JZGTE tuned on AEM at PSI
R154 transmission w/ stock clutch
Wired by Mark Panic!
Custom intercooler/intake/exhaust piping by Kyle Pollard
Xcessive 1J-S13 mount kit, skid plate, and driveline
KAAZ 2-way LSD

 

SUSPENSION
Megan Street coilovers and RUCAs
Cor Integration “Chuckles” knuckles and tension rods
Abercrombie Motorsports extended FLCAs
Tein tie rods
Era1 rack offset spacers

 

ALIGNMENT SPECS
Camber: -8ºf -3ºr
Toe: -1.5ºf 0ºr
Caster: 7º

 

ROLLING PARTS
Ichiba five lug hubs
Q45 front rotors/calipers
Project Mu rear pads
Work VS-KF 17×10.5-14f/r
Nitto NeoGen 215/40/17f
Nitto NeoGen 225/45/17r

 

EXTERIOR
Nissan S13 coupe w/ “brick” Silvia front
Generic vented hood
Origin 20/30mm fenders
BN Sports body kit
East Bear mirrors
Generic roof wing
326 Power wing
Generic clear corner/bumper/tail lights

 

INTERIOR
NRG hub and quick release
Generic pink steering wheel
Bride LowMax seat
Nagisa Auto sliders
Shot/edited/colored by:
Justin Shreeve

 

Shot with:
Canon 7D
Canon 15mm f/2.8
Manfrotto suction mount

 

Edited/colored with:
Final Cut Pro 6
Magic Bullet Colorista

 

TANDEM OF DIE!

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10895/new-venue-in-oregon-sees-some-1jz-drifting/feed/ 3 Rallystream http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10823/rallystream/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10823/rallystream/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 19:00:27 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10823 While we’re up in Oregon shooting Rally America, watch the Livestream here!

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10823/rallystream/feed/ 0 May First http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10783/may-first/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10783/may-first/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 05:44:05 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10783 occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Hello everyone! My name is Sam Attal. I am a 21-year-old contributor for MotorMavens and a student journalist for Contra Costa College’s newspaper in San Pablo/Richmond, California. I covered my first Occupy protest last night as part of the worldwide May Day festivities for my newspaper. It was intense!

occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1I arrived at Frank Ogawa Plaza at 14th and Broadway in Oakland around 3:30 p.m. The scene was quiet as some of the action from earlier in the day died down. However, I did spot this massive Alameda County Sheriff’s office emergency response vehicle known as “Grizzly.” The cops would not tell anyone how it worked or what it did so I figured it was just a really cool ice cream truck.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Protesters and bystanders were quick to begin antagonizing the local authorities.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1As many know, the Occupy movement has no one concrete goal or belief. This was evident as a verbal altercation between a union supporter and a few teenagers broke out. The woman was trying to get other protestors to stop making fun of police officers who were just patrolling the area at a time when everyone was peaceful and “because they’re just like us.” The guy wasn’t having it and proceeded to yell a plenty of profanities back.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Around 5 p.m., police and city workers began tearing down homemade propaganda and signs belonging to protestors. As retaliation, this pig piñata with a Oakland Police Department badge went up and nearly 200 protestors gathered around it.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1This 18-year-old San Francisco resident originally from San Diego was the first at bat. At one point, his sign was no more than two inches from hitting my lens. After about 10-15 hits, out came plenty of candy and fake money.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1But some protestors were not content with the damage done. This guy completely destroyed the remnants of the pig. After he was finished, he stormed off, all while officers watched from afar.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1The badge was all that remained on the light pole.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1People nearby scattered to collect fake money and candy, but this guy got the most collectable item of all.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1A calvary of demonstrators from different rallies joined those occupying the plaza around 6:30 p.m.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1The streets soon turned into a giant dance party as everyone began blocking off traffic. A lot of the songs played through a portable PA system and an iPod were about being rich and owning nice things. Ironic huh?
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Oscar Grant’s uncle spoke to crowd of about 1,500 protestors. He was joined by many others who all wanted to change something, from school funding to gun manufacturing.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Things were going peacefully until this guy did something and began running away from the police right in front of me.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Even while pinned to the ground, he put up a fight against 3 police officers.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Immediately after, protestors began throwing beer bottles and trash at cops in riot gear. Riot police surrounded the intersection of 14th and Broadway.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Protesters lead by anarchist groups dressed in all black all walked closer and closer to the riot line. They carried homemade shields made out of roofing materials and trash cans.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Some police officers looked nervous, others looked anxious to see some action.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1And the anarchists gave it to them.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1After the gathering was declared an unlawful assembly, riot officers chased down anyone throwing objects.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Then came the real scary part. All of a sudden, the police line broke and officers scattered after anyone they could see making problems.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Most protestors were a few steps ahead of the police.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1This gentleman offered to slam a rubber bullet into me if I did not get off the sidewalk. Everyone, photographers and other press included, was told to basically vanish as no one was not allowed on the street either.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1This security guard was unhappy with the damage being done to the building he worked in.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1This anarchist, however, didn’t care.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Local business owners watched the action from behind steel gates and guarded doors.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Anarchists went crazy when they got around to the banks. They broke any glass they could and made sure to leave their marks.
 
occupy oakland wall street anarchist anarchy protest may first 1Eventually, officers caught up. These motorcycle cops would chase me and other photographers mistaking us for protesters. I was chased three different times on sidewalks by motorcycles with glaring lights and loud sirens. Each time, it took some time for the officers to realize I was holding up a camera and a press pass.
 
Regardless of the night’s difficulties and the sore legs and back I faced the next day, the whole thing was super exciting to cover.
 
Thank you for reading everyone!
 
 
 
-Sam Attal
 
 
 

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10783/may-first/feed/ 2 From the Archives ● FD Sonoma 2008 http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10719/from-the-archives-%e2%97%8f-fd-sonoma-2008/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10719/from-the-archives-%e2%97%8f-fd-sonoma-2008/#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:57:48 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10719 Looking through old stuff again, I found my unedited set from Sonoma in 2008! This was my second season shooting FD so I felt like an old timer at the time. Boy was I wrong about that. Here we have 2011 champ Dai Yoshihara in Rhys Millen’s GTO. Rhys won the championship with this car in 2005.

Rhys had a new toy though. He was the first driver to use a Pontiac Solstice!
 
Back then, Taka was still wearing teal and blue.
 
JTP’s FC was blue at the time. Sucks to have to get pushed back to the paddock.
 
Tanner was going strong, trying to defend his 2007 title.
 
Sonoma was his second win of the season, and a second place finish at Irwindale would easily secure his back to back championships. Not a bad career at all.
 
 
 
.:Bohan
 
 
  ]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10719/from-the-archives-%e2%97%8f-fd-sonoma-2008/feed/ 5 Editorial: Photography and Copyrights http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10642/editorial-photography-and-copyrights/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10642/editorial-photography-and-copyrights/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:38:41 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10642 It seems that the current generation has a grossly skewed idea of what a copyright is. Just look up a music video on YouTube and you’ve got a good chance of seeing a user say something along the lines of “I am not claiming copyright of this video. All copyrights belong to the original author.” What that says to me is that many people think a copyright is merely a claim to authorship, and a work may be copied as long as they say they’re not the author and/or say who the real author is. The YouTube user said these things in an attempt to avoid getting his video removed for copyright infringement.

A copyright is exactly what it says it is. It’s the right to copy a work. Along with this right, the copyright holder also gets the right to be credited for the work, decide who may use, display, or perform the work, and decide who may be able to profit from it. That part of the law is why it is a violation to publicly play a movie even though you bought the DVD legally. Citing the source of the work might guard against accusations of plagiarism, but does not make someone immune from copyright violation.
 
Our YouTube user had copied a music video (uploading it creates a copy) and then stated that he does not own the copyright…see the problem? He did something, and then stated that what he did was illegal. And then he’ll get confused and upset when his video eventually does get removed.
 
So why am I writing any of this?
 
As professional photographers, we on Life Blasters are faced with copyright issues frequently. Just last week, a media group used a photo of Joe’s as their Facebook cover photo, complete with their own watermark. Joe heard about it and then sent them a nice message asking for payment for the photo.
 
Their response? “Watermarks are a big thing, as you can tell. Unfortunately the cover photo we are using, your photo, was not watermarked, nor has it ever been. The photo is not being used to ‘promote’ us. Therefore, it would have been nice if you’d have come at this in a different manner. I have no intentions of stealing your fire, nor paying you $xxx for a public photo. Watermarked or not, once you release it onto the internet, its free game. If it bothers you, i will remove it, to keep you happy, but please, don’t come at us, acting as if we are trying to say it is ‘our’ photo. Thanks.”
 
Whoa whoa whoa! It’s free game just because it’s on the Internet? It might be publicly viewable and easily downloadable, but free game it is not. Maybe the group has a misunderstanding of what the public domain is and how works get into it. Unless the photo was explicitly released into the public domain, Joe still holds the copyright until he dies or transfers it to someone else. Even after Joe dies, it’ll be another 70 years before any of his photos are in the public domain. I talked to Joe this morning and he’s fine. He still has his copyrights.
 
But what if Joe never applied for copyrights? That doesn’t matter; copyrights are automatic. It might be helpful if he registered his photos with the Library of Congress so he’d be able to seek damages if there was a gross enough infringement, but it’s not necessary. He owns the copyright, plain and simple.
 

That was just the latest issue we’ve had. In the last few years I’ve had photos of drift cars end up on manufacturer websites and in online magazines and photos of drivers end up on hero cards. Some thieves have left my name on them, and others have either cropped or doctored the photos to remove my name. This kind of thing happens to photographers everywhere, and more often the more popular they are.
 
Here’s a tip to graphic designers: If a driver sends you photos, ask them if they have the rights to the photos before you put them in your design. Oftentimes the driver just found that photo on a website, saved it, and then sent it to you without a second thought.
 
A blog in Lithuania used our photos from Formula D Long Beach a few weeks ago in its own recap of the event. I translated the story with Google and it looks like they even used some of my phrasing in the text! You know what they did next? They linked it back to LifeBlasters.com, and that’s how we even found out about it in the first place! When confronted, places will usually say something like “We thought you’d like the exposure!” If you steal a TV from Best Buy, telling everyone where you got it from doesn’t make it okay!
 
Justin had some of his videos cut apart and made into a new video last year. Seriously, do people think we won’t notice things like that?
 
Now and then our photos will pop up on people’s personal pages, especially amateur drivers, and that’s usually okay. They are mainly just collecting photos of themselves for their own satisfaction. They’re not promoting a business or profiting in any way, and they are more than happy to leave our names on the photos and put up a link to the site. Hey, that’s free advertising for us! But once they start using them for commercial purposes, e.g. in a sponsorship proposal, that is an infringement of copyright.
 

 
Usually the bigger entities will ask if they can use a photo, and this is always preferred! As we support ourselves with our photography, we rarely allow free usage. If an entity decides against purchasing a photo, that’s perfectly fine! At least we are all being civilized, and this is how it should always be.
 
Now if someone contacted us and decided against paying for a photo, but used the photo anyway, that’d be a completely different story…
 
I hope this was educational and everyone has a better understanding of what copyrights are, who owns them, what they protect, and what you legally can and can’t do with someone else’s work!
 
 
 
.:Bohan
 
 
 

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10642/editorial-photography-and-copyrights/feed/ 19 The Long Beach Grand Prix: Day 3 http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10255/lbgp3/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10255/lbgp3/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:25:31 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10255 The rain was all but a memory as everyone dragged themselves back to the GP circuit for the third day. The ALMS teams had packed up and gone, leaving their paddock empty save a smattering of show cars and classic Ferraris. But excitement was still in the air, as the weekend’s main event was still to come: The 38th running of the Long Beach Grand Prix.

The 2012 cars are much different from previous years. The contoured front wings and radically swooped aerodynamic side pods are the most obvious changes to the chassis design.
 
There are also small bumpers behind the rear wheels, designed to prevent the often catastrophic consequences of wheel-to-wheel contact. Cars can get launched way up in the air pretty easily, and often land upside down.
 
Perhaps the best change is the engines. Teams now have a choice of a Honda, Chevrolet, or Lotus 2.2L V6 twin turbo, producing between 550 and 700hp, depending on what the team needs for a particular race. They sound a whole lot better than the naturally-aspirated Honda V8′s that had been used in Indycar since 2006. Teams and drivers are just happy that more competitiveness has returned to the sport.
 
Life Blasters is hosted on GoDaddy.com, but that’s not Danika Patrick driving. She’s full time with NASCAR now, so 2011 rookie of the year James Hinchcliffe is in the driver’s seat.
 
This might be the 38th grand prix in Long Beach, but it’s only 29th as a CART/Indycar race. The first race in 1975 was Formula 5000, followed by eight years of Formula 1.
 
Pit stops are always fun to watch. The crew has to be super fast and super precise. Changing tires and adding fuel is an art form.
 
Hinch landed a career-best third place finish and his first Indycar podium.
 
French driver Simon Pagenaud also snatched his first Indycar podium, though his was for second place.
 
In the end it was Aussie Will Power who got the checkered flag. Third in points going into Long Beach, he’s now in the lead and just that much closer to the championship.
 
But wait! There’s more! During the break, the drifters came out again. Pat Mordaunt was looking good in Turn 5.
 
…But Jeff Jones had seen better days.
 
Finally it was time for the last race of the weekend. Randy Pobst, who had won four championships in the last decade, had the pole position in World Challenge.
 
Second qualifier Andy Pilgrim had Pobst in his sights though. The Volvo’s AWD gave Pobst the advantage on the start, but Pilgrim only needed nine laps to get around him.
 
As if American LeMans wasn’t enough, James Sofranas was driving for GMG in World Challenge as well. Busy weekend for that guy.
 
Lou Gigliotti was a last-minute entry, taking time off from his congressional race. Unfortunately he blew 4th gear and got a black flag penalty but still managed to finish 8th in GTS. “That’s racing,” he said later.
 
Here’s a shout out to the flaggers. What a grueling job in the heat. At least they get front-row seats for all the racing action.
 
The late Larry Miller’s son Roger was driving a predictable white Mustang in the race. Larry owned the Utah Jazz, Miller Motorsports Park, and many other businesses before he died in 2009. It seems like everywhere you look in Salt Lake City there’s a Larry Miller car dealership.
 
Pilgrim held onto his lead, trying to pull away from Pobst.
 
Pobst didn’t fall too far behind though. The race was anything but over. Pilgrim couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.
 
He squeezed by Gigliotti, who was three laps down toward the end of the race.
 
Pilgrim crossed the finish line first, with Pobst trailing by six seconds, and fellow Cadillac driver Johnny O’Connell another four seconds back. That’s not much of a gap over a 45 minute race!
 
 
 
.:Bohan
 
 
  ]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10255/lbgp3/feed/ 0 The Long Beach Grand Prix: Day 2 http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10265/lbgp2/ http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10265/lbgp2/#comments Sat, 21 Apr 2012 06:07:55 +0000 Bohan http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/?p=10265 american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welchAs if the awesomeness on Friday wasn’t enough, I went back for more on Saturday! I was disappointed that it was no longer raining, but sun meant no cancelled sessions. I had World Challenge and Indy Lights practice to look forward too, as well as drifting, Indy practice, and qualifying, before the main event of the day: the American Le Mans race.

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

First thing in the morning, I headed over to the Turn 2-3 complex and caught some World Challenge before heading back over to 9-10-11 for the drifting. There’s that damn R8 again…

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

The drifting was fun, but not as fun as the previous weekend.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

They also heavily regulate the number of photographers on the island inside Turn 11. It’s impossible to get there sometimes. At Formula D you can go there whenever you want!

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

In between sessions they have VIP activities. Sometimes the pace cars just go out and lap, but for this one they had two-seat Indy cars giving ride alongs. The cars are so long they can’t even do Turn 11. Instead, they take the access road after Turn 10 into the pit road.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

After an eternity of that stuff, the real Indy cars came out again for more practice.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

After Indy practice was the Pro-Celebrity race, where a bunch of knuckleheads and famous people try to crash into each other in Scions. In the mix this year was Formula D’s own Fredric Aasbø. The celebrities get a 30-second head start, and Adam Carolla was leading that pack. Fredric almost caught him by the end of the race, but had to settle for 2nd. Later on, Fredric said, “If there were two more laps I would have passed him!”

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Indy Lights qualifying was next on the schedule. Larry says they sound like a bunch of bees in a jar. Haha. Whatever, those cars are still faster than my Camry.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

They look a lot cooler too, even if they’re not as cool as Formula 1 cars.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

During Indy’s qualifying session, I made my way up to my secret hideout. The perspective is crazy from up there. Even at 600mm the cars are tiny.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Everyone pans on racecars, but I’d never had to tilt before. Tilting at 600mm is no joke.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Things were a little bit easier at 16mm. Just look at this view of the start of the ALMS race! I could see the course from Turn 8 to the front straight, with the Queen Mary and Palos Verdes in the background. I gotta shoot Formula D from here next year…

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

It was easy to see the battles taking place. Faulkner vs Pumpelly…

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

…and Drissi vs. Garcia, even though they’re in different classes.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Alex Welch found himself alone in Turn 10.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Of course I couldn’t shoot the whole race from up there. After coming down, I had an hour and a half to get to the other end of the track and back. I started at Turn 10, where Antonio Downs let me get a good shot of him going by.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welchOver at Turn 9, Joey Hand was still leading GT, after starting with the pole.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welchThe Corvettes were right behind him though, even after Garcia in the #3 car had a run-in with some prototypes in the first lap.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Starting from dead last in GT, Darren Turner had a lot of ground to make up. That meant he had a lot of targets to chase. Next on his list? Bryce Miller in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Porsche.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

There’s nothing quite like seeing prototypes battling it out mid-corner.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Because of its finish at Sebring, the #02 car piloted by Ed Brown started almost at the back of the grid.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Rudy Junco, Jr. went deep into the tires on Turn 9 after getting tangled up with Scott Tucker in the #055 Honda. He lost several laps as he couldn’t get the engine restarted quickly. He eventually got it running and limped the car to the inside of the turn, and had to wait even longer for traffic to clear up before he could rejoin the race.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

David Heinemeier Hansson took an early lead in P2.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

After the first pit stops, some of the GT cars ended up behind the slower GTC cars. Poor guys.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Tucker wasn’t doing too bad, considering he narrowly avoided the same fate as Junco.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

The straight up Pine Street is always interesting. There’s no doubt at all that this course is on city streets. This is one of the only parts of the race you can watch without paying, too, although the security guards try to keep people from gathering to watch.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Garcia couldn’t hold onto 2nd place for long with a damaged car, and Tommy Milner took his place with the #4 Corvette. Milner took the lead in GT not long after this.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Garcia was still ahead of Jörg Müller in the #55 BMW though.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

From Turn 5 it’s a short walk to the Pike parking garage, so I went to the roof to see Damien Faulkner post three best-in-class laps in seven minutes. Oh hey! There’s the #3 Corvette’s hood!

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Michael Marsal hit the wall at Turn 2 early in the race, and he and Eric Lux spent the rest of the race three laps behind Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf, who had the lead in P1.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

There were two security guards on the roof of the garage keeping regular people from taking photos. Luckily I was wearing my “credentialed photographer” costume!

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Back on the ground, Adrian Fernandez took over for Darren Turner after starting from the back of the grid.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Damien Faulkner and Leh Keen took turns posting best-in-class laps.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Dirk Müller had taken the GT lead back from Gavin, but Gavin wasn’t giving up.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Magnussen pushed the damaged #3 Corvette hard and stayed toward the front of the pack. He finished the race in 4th.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

Klaus Graf was the first driver to cross the finish line, in the #06 Muscle Milk P1 Honda.

 

american lemans le mans alms corvette tommy milner gavin magnussen garcia muller bmw green hornet gmg sofronas welch

The rest of the field followed closely behind, and the race was over just before sunset. Luhr and Graf got the overall and the P1 win, Popow and Dalziel took first in PC, Gavin and Milner regained the lead and finished first in GT, Tucker and Bouchut clenched P2, and LeSaffre and Faulkner took home the win in GTC.
 
Overall this was a very exciting race! Check back tomorrow for the World Challenge and Indycar races!
 
 
 
.:Bohan
 
 
 

]]> http://lifeblasters.com/awesome/2012/10265/lbgp2/feed/ 5