Talk about long overdue, this article is picking up where Shreeveless in Seattle left off on July 22nd! We pick up the story at Dick’s Drive-in where Tandem of Die and I had just eaten a tasty burger. ToD decided to occupy the branches of a roadside tree and pester passers-by with their antics.
Abbitt Wilkerson had his hands full that weekend with the Fatlace car show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen sans-camera so much!
I have no idea how I got this shot, but I love it. Sully framed himself, and was walking towards me at the same time so it’s a miracle the focus is correct. You’re awesome, Sully!
Conrad was in high spirits during practice… but that’s probably because he had no idea Cyrus was going to beat him in top 32. After winning New Jersey, I know he’s got another podium left in him this year. Come on Conrad, get it!
Nate from Mattley Crüe was really worried about me getting a shot of the super-secret birthday card he was making for Matt Powers, but I assured him my tight DOFs and sexy bokey balls would keep his secret just that.
Dan Cyr helped me test out my fancy new 5-in-1 reflector, you’ll know why I bought it shortly 😉
In mine and Tram Tran’s efforts to hype Ryan Kado, we came up with the idea to have models hanging out in the pit area, passing out stuff and looking generally hot. Tram put out an ad on Model Mayhem offering free lunch and photo shoots for any girls who were down to be Ryan’s pit girls, and the response was pretty amazing!
At one point, Tram and I were really stressing out because there was a distinct possibility we were going to end up with 10+ girls! Oops! Too many! Fortunately 50% of them flaked, and 40% of the remaining half were only with us for the Friday autograph session.
So anyway, that’s why I bought the 5-in-1 reflector. This foxy lady is Erica May, and the gal with the helmet on is Kaylee Alana. Like them both on facebook! They both represent I <3 models. Whew, that’s a lot of links.
This shot in particular, and a few other shots in the set of Erica and Kaylee are shot on Kodak Gold ISO200 35mm film, and completely unedited. I was super impressed with the colors and the creamyness of these shots. They look like they came out of a 5D!
Rachel is one of three girls who was with us for Friday and Saturday. It was very nice of them to come out and help us give Ryan’s pit a hype sandwich.
This is Kathleen. She’s working on getting in with the Redline Time Attack series as one of their official models, and I think she’s got a pretty good chance! It also sounds like she’s going to be trekking down from Washington to help us out at Formula Drift in Las Vegas later this month. If you plan to attend FD Vegas, stop by Ryan Kado’s pit and say hello!
Last but certainly not least is Rheanna. As a result of having these three hinas in our pit, Ryan now has almost no t-shirts left, is completely out of hero cards, and has had at least 50,000 photos taken next to his car. High five, ladies!
Alright, enough women for one post… if you want to see all the shots, there’s a gallery attached below. Back to business.
After a long day at the track, we headed to a restaurant to get some grub. On our way out we saw our good buddy Antonio Alvendia and a bunch of Northwestern MotorMavens heads. Is this shot crisp enough for you, Antonio? I kid, I kid.
After dinner, we got ready for the big after-party. Meanwhile Justin and Ryan shreeved out for a moment to regain their energy after a hard day’s work. (By the way, I came up with the term “shreeving” after watching Justin’s uncanny ability to find random places to nap. The back of the tow-rig, the grass in front of our hotel where he was presumed dead by the hotel staff, the floor of the media lounge at Formula Drift Florida, &c.)
As soon as we got to the party, Beer Pong ensued. This is our newest LifeBlaster Cole Chalmers from Canada, eh, and Evergreen Drift official Twisty Archuleta playing against Joe Ayala and Tomasz Olech.
Oh no! This photo breaks the linear time line of this post! If it was chronologically correct, you’d think Tomasz and Joe are losing. Au Contraire, Mon Frère! This photo was taken before the previous one. Team Tumnus & Ayalaphant actually mopped the floor with Cole and Twisty. Lol.
Hey look! It’s two Northwestern drifting legends! Left is Matt Panic, who I first met at All Star Bash in 2008. He’s a Toyota extraordinaire. When I first met him he was drifting a 20-valve 4A-GE powered AE86 Corolla, and when I saw him at FD Seattle he was driving a sweet Mango with a bunch of corolla parts on it! On the right is Kelly Thorpe, another AE86 drifting fanatic. I actually hadn’t met him up until this point, but I was very familiar with his bright green hachi.
Around this time I was feeling a bit like Tommy, here. Dead tired. Everyone else felt the same, so we headed back to the hotel and zonked out.
One final shot from the party… This is the risk you run shooting on expired 35mm film. There’s always some chance that it’s been exposed partially, or messed up in some other way, and that’s exactly what I ran into with this roll. 36 epic shots on Kodak ISO1000 film that expired back in the 1990s, ruined. 🙁
On Sunday the Kado tribe, the Tandem of Die tribe, and I went to the Experience Music Project in downtown Seattle. They had jam-rooms set up with band equipment, so we jammed out for a while then walked around the museum. I love music, but I was most impressed with the amount of Charles Peterson photography there was. HUGE Charles Peterson photos, like, 15′ tall prints. It makes sense though, because EMP is full of Nirvana stuff, Hendrix, and other popular Seattle-area bands. …and I have no pictures.
Elysha missed her plane on Sunday, and Tandem of Die decided to ride back with the Kados, so Elysha and I teamed up as road-trip buddies. We stayed at Pro Drifter Roland Ghallager house Sunday night, and since they just moved in a few months ago I thought it’d be nice if I got a picture of Roland and his girlfriend Nikki out front before we left. Fun fact: Roland’s girlfriend Nikki also drifts, and competed in XDC at PGP Motorsports Park on Saturday!
Elysha decided to come bombing in with a handstand, which she has become quite good at lately, but unfortunately this time the circumstances were against her. A sloped driveway, a damp handstand surface, crosswinds, &c ultimately lead to her totally eating shit on the handstand.
On our way home, we stopped at a rest area next to a river to take a few shots of Elysha’s injuries, and because I wanted to play with my new reflector.
Ouch! She got a pretty decent booboo on her chin and shoulder. Good thing she doesn’t have to model again until FD Vegas.
That’s it for the story but I’m leaving you with this, my favorite picture from the event. Being relatively new at serious model shooting, I was experimenting with what to tell the girls to get different facial expressions and such. This is when I told Rheanna that I just ran over her brand new puppy. Haha! Priceless.
-G
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