YEAR 1: How do you use a camera?

2023 EVENT PHOTOBOOK

A glimpse into my photography journey and learning process. ENJOY!

JANUARY 2023

You have to start somewhere.

It’s Saturday, January 7th and I just got my first camera. I have no idea what I am doing. All I remember is being so excited yet so scared to take my first picture. All my time leading up to this moment was spent on YouTube figuring out what exposure, composition and focal length really meant. Hands cold but steady, here at Cars and Coffee Charlotte, I am finally ready…

(Yes this is the actual first picture I took in a public setting. I admit, there are exactly 205 (terrible) test photos prior to this one just trying to understand how to work this new thing)

That day I ended up taking 750 pictures over the next 3 cold hours. You may be able to tell that most of these pictures are taken at 18mm, the widest my lens would allow. I was so in the moment and so used to using my cellphone as my camera that I forgot I had a lens that could zoom. I even recall taking out my iPhone as a security blanket as I didn’t yet trust myself that the pictures out of my camera would be any good. At the time, I had a variable ND filter glued to my lens because I heard you couldn’t shoot in the daylight without one (hint, you definitely can, especially when you are first learning and don’t even know how to expose correctly). A lot of the pictures I took came out way darker than I anticipated, so I had to add a lot of brightness and bring up the shadows while editing.

Right after my first event of the year and seeing all the mistakes I made, I knew I needed to find another event ASAP. I found out about another Cars and Coffee in Concord at Charlotte Motor Speedway on January 21st. I felt a bit more confident and comfortable now that I had seen some of my pictures. I was now 100% committed to leaving my phone in my pocket as I knew they were 100 times better than the pictures I was able to get before. Most still were not exposed correctly as I was depending on the auto mode on my camera. For this new event, I decided I needed to learn quick and jump into full manual mode. I remember telling myself as I got out of my car, lets see if all those YouTube videos paid off.

After coming home and taking a look at my new batch of photos, I was happy but still not completely satisfied. These were the best photos I had taken to date but I felt like there was still missing something. I wasn’t quite sure what it was but I found myself still resorting back to my comfort zone. I will say, I was much happier with my results shooting in full manual mode instead of having the camera make the decisions. From here on out, I knew I would be sticking with manual and never looking back.

Time to shoot RAW

The next event that was coming up on my calendar was on January 28th hosted by the best car community group, Stylish.nc I wanted to make another change so I decided to shoot in RAW format. Prior to this, all my photos were JPEG format, which in some cases I actually prefer. I had always shot RAW photos with my iPhone 13 Pro so I figured how much different could it be. Well, it was a lot different. When I got home to import all my photos I noticed I couldn’t edit them. My editing program couldn’t convert RAW format photos. So, I had to do some quick research and ended up finding a new editing program called “darktable”. It looked complicated but it was free so I gave it a go and loved it. To this day I still use this as my main photo editing software. (it is basically the same thing as Adobe Lightroom without all the AI and ease of use)

February 2023

Lets give video a try.

I had spent all of January focusing on how to take a decent picture that I never got the chance to try out the video side of my camera. I always had the desire to be a hybrid shooter so I needed to work on learning the video side of things a bit more. The next event coming up was at Detail Garage in Concord, NC so I made it a goal to get some clips for a short video while still focusing on improving my photos.

How does Panning Work?

The main reason I decided I needed a mirrorless camera was so I could take pictures at Formula Drift Atlanta. I had gone there for the first time in 2022 but my phone was just not cutting it. In prep for the 2023 FD ATL event, I knew I wanted to learn how to capture some panning shots. I figured the next Cars and Coffee Concord event would be the perfect place for that. I thought I might be able to get some as the cars were leaving.

What makes you stand out from the crowd?

Up until this point, I had just focused on getting whatever car that stood out to me in the frame. I now started to noticed that I needed to make my shots more interesting. What makes a good photo? What makes someone want to take the time to look at it and enjoy it? These are the things I needed to figure out the answer too. I started to focus more on framing my shots with more awareness and purpose. It sounds easier than it is but I knew I just needed to get out there and keep getting more reps in. The event coming up next was the second Stylish.nc meet in Concord, NC at Mamba Wraps.

MARCH 2023

Practice makes perfect.

With the weather now warning up a bit, I knew the Formula Drift Atlanta event was coming up quick. I needed alot more practice and I needed to gain more confidence, trusting my instincts to find the right shots. I also needed to make quick decisions in changing my settings manually. You never know what the weather will be on any given day. Will it be sunny, partly sunny, overcast or even rain? I needed to practice in all different types of lighting situations and times of the day. With Cars and Coffee Charlotte not happening this month, I needed to find some new events to check out. I went to Cars and Coffee Rock Hill, Foreign Cars Italia, Hotchkis, Ovrdue Tacos and Turbos, Cars and Coffee Concord, HBi Grand Opening, Gateway Classic Cars, Wheel Price Car Meat and my first private shoot. I went to any and all events I could fit in my free time.

APRIL 2023

GridLIfe 2023 Event Recap

Time to go DRIFTING!

Gridlife: South Carolina at Carolina Motorsports Park. The first drift event of the year and my first three day event that I got a media pass approved for. Unfortunately, there was no on track access so had to shoot from the fence and zoom in as much as I could. I remember enjoying this event so much that I forgot to eat all day but I didn’t even mind because I didn’t want to miss anything. After the first few hours, I defiantly found myself getting into a zone. It felt like I was the only person there watching all the action and the cars were going around in slow motion. I was making choices but it felt like I was not thinking about it. I had never really felt anything like this before.

To view more picture click the GRIDLIFE 2023 EVENT RECAP button to the left.