Went down to Miami to shoot the last race of the NASCAR season.
Got to the track in Homestead and checked in. We picked up Pit Passes good for the whole weekend. Ryan lost his within the first 15 minutes.
Thursday night Truck Series practice. Andrew aka Bloggo, Tayler's manager, snapping a few shots.
Off track, Andrew on his cell making some moves. Light rain came in and ended up cutting practice short Thursday night.
Back at the hotel we shot some interviews for the video project we're working on with Tayler.
Friday morning Truck Series practice. Tayler only had a few hours between the end of morning practice and call time for his race that evening. We thought about doing South Beach for lunch but instead played it safe and just hit the local Olive Garden.
After lunch Bloggo and I headed to a quick meeting and handled some business at the track.
By the time Tayler's race started we had 3 cameras positioned all over the venue. At least 1 inside his pit at all times, 1 roaming, and Matt and I took one to the other side of the track.
Ended up finding a good spot to shoot from, behind a fence in a dark corner near Turn 2 of the track. No fans, no security guards etc. Only other person out there was another photographer shooting for one of the newswires. He saw us behind the fence and walked over to us - I honestly thought he was going to kick us out - NASCAR has some pretty strict policies about photography and videography at their venues. Anyway, the dude ends up bringing us out deep into the infield with him, shows us all the best spots to shoot from and tells us where to stand so that the control tower can't see us.
Awesome experience. Later, there was a big crash on the opposite end of the track and we thought about how our prime photo spot was a bit more dangerous than we'd first realized, but, whatever. After all, we're graphic designers, we stare danger in the face on a daily basis anyway.
Chilled out for a bit while they cleared the wreck off the track. Tayler ended up finishing 10th - very solid and a good way for him and his team to end the season.
And of course Kyle ended up winning (again). Not sure if you guys had heard, but I ate lunch with him a couple months ago. No big deal.
Around midnight, Tayler caught the private charter back to Charlotte. No metal detectors, no baggage fees, no body scanners. A message for all those people complaining about the TSA procedures: Step your game up. Until then, suck it up.
