2020 was one hell of a curveball. Plans were cancelled, opportunities disappeared, and life became very small. The four walls of my bedroom became my office, my camera moved to a bookshelf to collect dust, and I sat and wondered if I’d get the opportunity to photograph much of anything or go anywhere this year. Thankfully as society became more aware of how to keep people safe and healthy, the opportunity to race returned as well. It wasn’t the year I had planned for it to be, but it was still full of many wonderful memories, and thousands of images. Here are the ones that stand out to me.
My first event of the season was a 250 mile journey north to a stormy Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington at the end of May. As black clouds rolled in, lightning tore across the sky, and rain pummeled everything it could touch, the racing went on. This image of the #86 Miata was my favorite from the event. I have seen dramatic images from dark rainy races before, so with those in mind I underexposed this image slightly. In editing I applied some basic adjustments focusing primarily on having the contrast tell the story of the dramatic nature of racing in a PNW storm.
Nikon D610, 500mm, f5.6, 1/320, ISO-640 | Shot for the Lucky Dog Racing League at Pacific Raceways
As July rolled around a unique opportunity presented itself. A good friend of mine had been hired to work on a video production for Chelsea DeNofa and the RTR Formula Drift Team. They were in need of someone to shoot behind the scenes still images and my friend had recommended me. Through some swift rescheduling of my day job (and my ever supportive boss) I was able to make it work on short notice. The production was small and full of laughs. My favorite image was this shot of Loren Healy. Loren is a professional off-road racing driver for Ford and was in Oregon at Pats Acres Racing Complex (PARC) to have Chelsea teach him how to drift. You can see through his eyes just how enjoyable of an experience it was. Emotion is what makes an image great in my opinion and this one captures the emotion of the day well.
Nikon D610, 200mm, f2.8, 1/100, ISO-320 | Shot for Team RTR at Pats Acres Racing Complex
The end of July saw a major milestone in my Motorsport photography career, my first 24 hour race. 24 hours of non-stop racing is a daunting feat to attempt. It was my job to capture the trials and tribulations that would take place throughout. The setting was thankfully one I knew well, Oregon Raceway Park. At the end of the weekend I had been awake for 40 continuous hours, hiked nearly 16 miles, and snapped more than 14,000 images. There were many phenomenal images and great moments throughout the race. The pitlane at 2am I found is a special place juxtaposing sleeping team members for some teams, and the agony of failure for others. This race was also one of the first opportunities I have had to capture night racing. I took full advantage and took nearly 60% of my total images between sunset and sunrise. Out of the thousands of images however, one truly stood out; this image of a C6 Corvette silhouetted against the setting sun as it dives into the roller-coaster banked corners of the track. My goal had been to position myself more to the left of the frame and I was going to try and get the car silhouetted perfectly inside of the sun, but the racetrack came too close to my left to be able to find the vantage point I wanted. A nearly perfect image and one that I am proud of.
Nikon D800E, 400mm, f5.6, 1/4000, ISO-250 | Shot for the Lucky Dog Racing League at Oregon Raceway Park
As the dog days of summer wore on I found myself back at Pats Acres Racing Complex for a grass roots drifting day. Nothing special about it, a typical drift day, but the way the sunlight fell through the trees and smoke made for a wonderful afternoon. It’s not a ground breaking, or awe inspiring image, but still one of my favorites from this year.
Nikon D610, 140mm, f3.2, 1/320, ISO-250 | Shot for fun at Pats Acres Racing Complex
October saw another major milestone in my photography journey, the purchase of my first Professional Grade camera. With it in hand, I made my way to my home racetrack, Portland International Raceway, for a weekend of racing with The Lucky Dog Racing League. This event produced many of my favorite images I took all year, but this frame of the #13 Miata “Greta” during the 30 minute dusk sprint race was easily one of my favorite images from the year. The glowing brake rotors, the glowing header peeking out from behind the fender, the green and red of the lights, the purple in the sky, all of it was just wonderful.
Nikon D5, 50mm, f2, 1/30, ISO10000 | Shot for the Lucky Dog Racing League at Portland International Raceway
I ended my 2020 motorsport season the same way I ended my 2019 season, with the 1,000 mile race at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California. In true 2020 fashion I struggled to find my creative flow during the event. I walked away from the weekend with an overall feeling of failure in capturing anything that I felt proud of. It was only when I sat down with my computer and began sorting / editing that I found an image that I was proud of. Drawing inspiration from images of drivers I have seen from some of my favorite Formula 1 photographers I had spent a good chunk of time in the pit lane photographing the drivers as they attempted to mentally prepare themselves for the chaos of the race they were about to join. The steely-eyed calm exuded by this driver caught my attention and with hardly any edits at all, it became one of my favorite images of the year and one that I could hang my hat on for the conclusion of the 2020 racing season.
Nikon D5, 500mm, f5.6, 1/640, ISO-400 | Shot for the Lucky Dog Racing League at Thunderhill Raceway
I have no idea what 2021 might hold. I am working furiously to try and line up some more events and have my sights set high but only time will tell where and what I might be photographing this next year, so cheers to the end of 2020, and the beginning of 2021! See you at the track!
-Dak