Beautiful day at Miami Homestead with the Ferrari crowd

The 2010 Ferrari Challenge schedule kicked off today at Miami Homestead International Raceway. The wind was blowing hard today, thankfully the sun was shining (I have a burn to prove it). I arrived at the track at 8:20 this morning and was happy to find out the 599xx cars would indeed be taking the track for the first time in the United States. Also on hand were about seven or so FXX cars and two former Formula One racers. One of the F1 cars was an ex-Schumacher car, circa 2003.

Of course the F430 Challenge main event did not disappoint, although the overall number of cars was about half of the amount racing last year. One team coach mentioned the economy was to blame. So I did my part to help the economy and handed out about 160 Maximum Ferrari 2010 calendars for free! I thought this was a good thing to do with this year's overrun.

See you at the track tomorrow!

Fun with my Nikon D200 - Interval Timing and Timelapse

Many people don't realize that many Nikon DSLRs come with an interval timer built-in. The D200 is one of those. There is a lot of flexibility in the length of the interval. Plus, if you have iMovie, compiling the images is a snap. It can also be done in other movie software including Final Cut.

Here is just a test I did to get some settings for a project I may be working on. The subject matter will be different. Yes, that is me and my trusty old Jetta.



If you've tried this with your camera, I'd love it if you posted a link.

2010 Ferrari F430 Challenge Schedule

The schedule for the 2010 Ferrari F430 Challenge was released last month. Looks like a great combination of Corso Clienti and FXX. I wonder if they will add more Historic dates or 599xx dates?

March 12-14 Homestead Miami Speedway, FL
F430Challenge / FXX & Clienti F1(tbc)

April 9-11 Miller Motorsports Park, UT
F430Challenge / FXX & Clienti F1 (tbc)

May 1-2 Infineon, Napa Valley CA
F430 Challenge

June 26-27 Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
F430 Challenge

July 31-Aug 1 New Jersey Motorsports Park, NJ
F430 Challenge

September 3-5 Watkins Glen, NY
F430 Challenge and Shell Historics in conjunction with Club Meet

Right now I am going to Homestead, Infineon and the Glen. Maybe more!

Have you considered using YouTube for your marketing?

Did you know that YouTube is the fourth largest search engine in the world? Not only that, if you haven't noticed lately, Google search results include more and more videos from YouTube. With only still photographs, what is a photographer to do? That's right, create a slideshow and upload it as a video. This morning I created a slideshow in iPhoto of my 2010 Maximum Ferrari Calendar. To the slideshow I added a soundtrack a created in Garageband. Then I exported it and uploaded it to YouTube. Set the export to the highest resolution possible. Also make sure you are using appropriate keywords and tags. This way people can find your work of art!

Arrived in Philladelphia for Ferrari event in NJ

Ok, I do know what I am doing. Even though I am staying an hour from the track. I am staying at the aLoft in Philadelphia. It looks like an hour drive to New Jersey Motorsports Park from here. And that's about how far I stay when I go to Atlanta or Road America.

But it just sounds strange to be staying in a different state. Plus, there are other benefits. I get the room essentially for free. I have the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. This earns me points towards free stays at Starwood Hotels, of which the aLoft is a part. Also, whenever I can stay in an aLoft that is preferable. Free wifi is good, but even better is the hotel change and the hotels themselves are brand new. Nothing like a new hotel to stay in. The rooms are a great new design, that is definitely the anti-regular-hotel. Hard to explain but it's modernistic with plenty of modern conveniences - place to plug in your ipod to play music through the TV, tons of outlets and a comfy bed. Down in the lobby is a great lounge area, with fantastic eats and great couches to open up the laptop and crunch out blog posts. Hehehe!

No Media Credentials for the Ferrari Challenge and Historic Challenge at NJMP

My bad. Chalk it up to being a noob at securing media credentials. The media contact has not returned my requests via email or phone for credentials, so it looks like I am going without. Dang!

SO here is a little note to myself about this:
1) Do not wait until the day before the cut-off to send in a request
2) Read number 1 again.

I'm also going to be a little proactive at the beginning of next year and send my media contacts a marketing kit. Since I work for my own publication, no one seems to think I am legit. I am not trying to get free admission! I really need access.

I will make the best of the situation. Time to pack

ThinkTank Photo launches new website

I received a tweet from a friend that ThinkTank Photo had redesigned their website. This is not something that is normally worthy of a post. I use their stuff and it's great, but they probably don't need any publicity from a little blog like mine. Anyhow, I think their "Sharethemoment" section is excellent. They allow customers to send in photos of themselves using the products.

This is not only a fantastic way to show off product uses, but is a great way to get testimonials. If you've ever tried to get customers to send an email with a couple sentences about what they think, you'll know what I mean. But put out an open call for photos, and people flock.

Check it out:
http://www.thinktankphoto.com/share-the-moment.aspx