Some stuff from my holiday to California

[HardRockCamaro]

I have a bit more footage but I wanted to keep the video under 5mins...

Things is we only had 1 full day in San Francisco itself, the previous one was spent in Silicon Valley and the mall.  As I was worried about getting back to LA in time for at least one last night there we left the following morning.  Turns out we could have spent another day there as getting back to LA took at lot less time as after Big Sur I hit the Interstate and stayed on that as mach 3 until LA.

The only stuff we did in SF was the boat tour around Alcatarz and under the bridge, driver over the Golden Gate, take a 2.5 hour motorised trolley tour of the city and wander around union square.  Beyond that we cruised the streets a little and that was it.

We needed at least another couple of days there at minimum really...

[55starchief]

Yeah san francisco is about 1000 times better than LA in my opinion. There is a real cool building that belonged to some artists that has furniture and house hold appliances bolted to the outside of it. There are also some real good restaurants in SF the only downside is everywhere closes at 9pm the only place left open is the virgin megastore

[HardRockCamaro]

The property there is lovely, especially the suburbs.  But *very* expensive.  London expensive in fact, although it's a much more pleasant city and the suburbs are certainly miles nicer than ours....

[55starchief]

Yup i have a friend who lives in menlo park

[art b]

some great pics there,
bought back a few memories,
we had 5 days in s/f and stayed in marin county and took the ferry into the city past alcatraz each day, or crossed the bridge after rush hour,
one day we walked to the middle of the bridge awesome views and atmosphere out there,
nice vid of PCH1, we drove it to monterey, did ya do the aquarium there..?
that mussie looks and SOUNDS the dogs....

[FUBAR]

LOL @ the porta-loo wedged against a tree!!

[HardRockCamaro]

Yeah I thought that was well funny, lol!

You need the handbrake of power there I tell ya...

My 'maro would have been at the bottom of the hill in seconds, lol!

[55starchief]

I used to see a guy regular who cycled up and down those monster hills

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: Big Mouse

Tough one, they have dozens of people wanting to take photos on the start line and getting a Press pass is akin to winning the lottery - basically it won't happen.

I was thinking that was probably the case, down to who you know and so on.

However, there are more ways to skin a cat. Signing on as crew will get you a startline pass for that class only The startline marshalls see you there before or after that particular class has been through and you'll be asked to leave the area; if you're asked twice you'll be asked to leave the track for the rest of the meet.

Will they be miffed if as crew all you're doing is taking photos?
Suppose I could be the teams PR and media manager...  ;)

Its worth asking various racers if they would be interested in having some photos taken on the startline FOC; give them some bullshit about loving the car etc etc, all drag racers crave publicity like the Beckhams.

Sounds like a good idea.  I'm sure no-one is gonna refuse free photos of their car either, especially if they're decent...

Generally you're not going to be able to get much further than the 30ft beam before someone pulls you out so be prepared to put on the charm if req.

That should be enough, I don't want to be a prat about it and put myself in obvious danger.

If I'm racing I can usually get you signed on as crew for a startline pass in Street Eliminator which will get you smoky burnouts, rolling burnouts and some pretty fierce launches.

Yeah that sounds good.  Those are the only cars I'm interested in anyway as the low powered stuff doesn't look impressive off the line and are more suited to panning shots to give them a blurred background to suggest speed instead.  Wouldn't even bother trying to attempt a panning shot of an 8 second car, lol!

Forget anything running nitro - if you get a pass for that you'll have really struck gold and I'll insist of being your assistant!!

I'll stick to bringing a little step ladder with me and do it from the path in front of the bank...  That should be enough to clear the concrete retaining wall.  Not as good as a shot from low level but there you go.  Maybe one day I can persuade the Pod to let me position a camera there on its own and just fire it remotely via wireless...

Mental note:  Bring ear defenders...

Selling them online is a good idea; as you say there are loads of people doing it, just look at the Santa Pod websie gallery to see the list of photographers. Some are really good, like Sharkman, others couldn't take a picture of their own face if they held the camera the wrong way round. A4s usually fetch a between £5-10 depending on good a shot it is.

Yeah I was thinking a tenner delivered...
I went through and bookmarked the links off the Santa Pod website, some seem to go regularly, others seemed to have done a couple of meets and then never came back...  Blackett seems to have persevered though...

Most phototgraphers rely on people hitting their website; I'd get a whole load together and then visit the relevant racers in the pits to show them what you have of their rides when they're not busy.

Yeah that sounds like a plan.  I'm not looking for cash initially, I need to build up a portfolio which is at my expense sadly.  Would be nice to get the Caddy's fuel and entry ticket price covered at least but I doubt that will happen.

[Big Mouse]

Next SE meet is May bank holiday, 3-5th May, at Shakey. If you want a ticket let me know.

With the signing on as crew thing, I meant find a team with a spare crew ticket and sign on with that, you won't be expected to wrench on the car