Sorry Blogspot...but Hello Tumblr

I've been converted...

My brothers have been telling me all about Tumblr for a while, & I think now is as good a time as ever to start using it :D

This doesn't mean that I will stop using blogspot to share stuff with you, but simply that you can find me at the following place too...

http://danfegent.tumblr.com/

Follow me there if you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm up to even more :) 

PHOTO RECAP :: 2011 UK Autosport International

Another look at the write up I did for Fitted Life all about the Autosport/Pistonheads show.

An opportunity came up early in January. It was an offer from Caterham Cars to work alongside them at a yearly show here in the UK, that goes by the name of Autosport / Pistonheads show. The event in question takes place in Birmingham, at the National Exhibition Center, or NEC for short.

The show is hosted half as the Autosport show and half by the ever growing online community and news site Pistonheads. This year it ran for four days from the 13th till the 16th of January.

The NEC itself spans several large indoor areas, almost warehouse like, which gave plenty of exhibition space. Caterham Cars had half a hanger and offered spectators rides along the tight knitted track.

These drivers are seriously impressive to witness and display some fantastic skill at the wheel of these small engined monsters! Having had the pleasure of witnessing these drivers in past Caterham hosted events, I knew I was in for 4 days of awe inspiring driving. They did not disappoint.

So my task in all this was to capture the Caterham Driving Experience cars, or CDX for short. Even though the conditions inside the NEC are far from perfect for a photographer, e.g. horrible overhead lighting with little to no natural light, it was still an absolute pleasure to capture everyone’s moment as they went around. Some of their customers really played up to the camera which is fantastic to see when your working somewhere like this.

Caterham had near on 3000 customers go on their experience ride over the 4 days, with each session lasting around a minute thirty. There was a continuous one hour queue during most of Saturday and Sunday and as you can imagine, I went through a few memory cards doing what I was doing. However, the incredible level of talent it takes the drivers to navigate the tight drift layout really leaves you open jawed in amazement. No matter how many times you watch them go round, Caterhams are definitely a special car to spot.

The track side photos of the Caterhams in this article are my favourites from the CDX rides. I feel they capture the best moments and really show off the spirit of the Caterham cars, the event, and the ability of the drivers themselves.

But…luckily enough I wasn’t stuck at the stand for days…I managed to sneak away from the Caterham stand and get some shots of the rest of this huge automotive show. There were some fantastic stands throughout the different halls. A stand out one from me, and a bit of a history lesson, was the McLaren Champions exhibition which was incredible. The exhibit showcased some of the classic Formula 1 cars that have made history among the world’s F1 circuits in the past.

Maxxis were there in force this year with lots of sponsored cars on show. With Maxxis tyres sponsoring the European Drift Championship (EDC) the cars on show were some serious machines. On the press days when it was quieter I had the opportunity to have a good chat with some of the people there. They were really pleasant guys who were more than happy to chat about their cars whilst I snapped away. This also includes the guys behind the incredible Supra drift car.

Other Japanese cars on show were those on The SumoPower stand, which never fails to disappoint. This year, SumoPower showed off an incredible GTR which is always a pleasure to see.

Another bonus for me was that in the main area of the show, Caterham Cars were revealing their new model SP/300.R, which I was able to attend the press launch. A track use only machine powered by 2.0 litre Ford Duractec 4 cylinder supercharged engine producing 300bhp. The bullet comes at an all inclusive feature list price of £60k and will have its own race series backed by Caterham Cars themselves.

Pretty awesome looking too, even if it shares a similar look to its competitor the Radical. An absolute beauty to behold!

I also have to mention someone who was at the show that really got my attention, the incredible artist Ian Cook, or Popbangcolour who paints using radio controlled cars, car tyres and toy car wheels, seriously this guy is awe inspiring and I seriously recommend you look him up onFacebook or Twitter for updates on his work.

Other highlights were the fact I got to see the new Lotus Formula 1 colours going back to the roots of Black and Gold, beautiful indeed. Also Tanner Foust’s new Ford Fiesta rally car was there, which looks like an absolute monster. Moreover, it was also good to see Mr. Foust himself at the show on the press day.

In all, it was a busy yet enjoyable 4 days at the UK Autosport International filled with great cars, history lessons, and a little bit of art. And I mustn’t forget..thank you Caterham cars for keeping me awake.

:. Dan Fegent

Aygo Update

Time for an update on my run around, the cute little Aygo, well I think it's cute :D 


Sadly still no proper photos of this 'beast' so iphone pictures will have to do again for now.

Not really been up to much with this car really, just wanted to show off those pictures above from a recent clean hehe ;) oh bought some Rain-X for the windscreen, actually works really well at repelling the rain, pretty awesome effect too, just have to be sure not to get too distracted by the nice water trails on the windscreen haha.

But I have also covered it in some stickers, first off my pistonheads one along with a Domukon, which I find works really well with the smug "got mpg?" sticker hehe :P really smug stuff there.

Also a sticker for Fitted Life the online automotive blog that I write & photograph for. Oooooooh shiny blue & sparkly ;)

That's all for now, thanks for looking! 

The day the 2JZGTE Arrived...

A friend of mine has a Toyota Supra, I've spoke about it before somewhere on this blog for anyone interested. 


He's put a hell of a lot of work into the thing, especially as it started out as a Silver standard kit UK Auto 3.0n/a... & is now a Black kitted up manual which is about to become a 3.0 Twin Turbo as his engine finally arrived from Japan...

Yep that's him giving the cheeky grin from within the van ;)

I'll be honest with you, the idea of buying something like an engine from all the way over in Japan kind of freaks me out, a lot! But all being well it should work nicely for him once its in the car... (fingers crossed)

This is the first time any of us have ever bought anything like this, & as a car lover I found it odd how the engine looked like it had actually been ripped out of the donor car, with wires & hoses simply cut to help them remove it, was kind of strange to see.

But anyway all being well, that engine should be in his Supra shortly, should be fun :D 

Fatlace - Word Up!

I was searching through Vimeo for inspiration to help with my video editing side of things, & I can across from some awesome footage by user name iPhilms from San Francisco.


His Vimeo profile can be found here.


This guy is seriously talented, & has a real interest in drifting, which makes for some ace footage to enjoy!


From what I can understand, "Word Up" events organised by Fatlace are very similar to our "Drift What You Brung" days here in the Uk.


They look a lot of fun in a nicely controlled area, & feature a lot of cars that seem to keep popping up in this kind of footage coming out of California, very cool to see :)


Ok so we'll start with the first one of iPhilms footage that he's put together, I absolutely love the atmosphere in this one! The fact he uses Operation Ivy as a soundtrack just wins extra points for me too, pure gold :D



Fatlace Word Up! from iPhilms on Vimeo.


A quick dirty edit of the Word Up Event hosted by Fatlace. Additional footage provided by Joshua Hooks. I will film much more at the next Word Up event.... I promise!!! lol 


Song- Operation Ivy - Bad Town


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Looks loads of fun! Now this next one is much more recent, only been on Vimeo for a couple of weeks, & it seems that iPhilms had a bit of a nightmare too, destroying his GoPro & a 7D, I tell you now... I'd cry lol 


Anyway he still manages to put together an awesome edit, this one with a completely different feel to the first one I reckon, but still awesome at the same time! 



Word Up Sesh #4 from iPhilms on Vimeo.


Another fun day at the Word Up event minus the destruction of my GoPro and 7d. Had a lot more footage on the 7d but it got destroyed. What a waste of a CF card and a 7d. Luckily I didn't mount the 5d onto my car. 

Music- DJ Krush Lyricism 
Shinjiro (Harsh Mix) Feat. Mos Def


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Definitely worth looking up iPhilms on Vimeo as he has some other great stuff on his profile, & looks like he'll be doing much more in the future too as he appears to go from strength to strength! Great work! 


Thanks for looking! 

Saxo VTR

A friend of mine used to own a white Saxo, now I'm not usually a huge fan of these little cars but I really liked this one, it just looked so clean all the time! 

That's a testament to the owner as well as the colour by the way, he really does know how to detail a car & keep it looking absolutely stunning! 

So I offered to do some pictures for him back in 2009, it was good practice for me as I hadn't done a concentrated shoot of any white cars till then, & a few of these I am even still happy with today :)

It may not have been the most exotic of cars, or modified in any real way at all, but it was still fun to shoot & practice with :) I'm also pretty sure these pictures were used by him to help sell the car... noticing a pattern here with my work hehe.


Thanks for looking! 

Stop Motion at it's best.

A bit of variety tonight from the norm, non automotive related but this is definitely more than worth your time to check it out!

Ok so I've dabbled a bit with stop motion videos in the past, but always from a fixed position, for example the sky over a fixed period of time, or in the back of a car during a drive... but this stuff I've been shown today has blown all those self made rules I had in my head away! This is some seriously cool stuff! 

The creator of these fantastic stop motion films, that  I'm talking about tonight is Jasmine Nguyen, whose flickr photostream can be found here

Her pictures are fantastic, & I recommend you have a good look through her shots, they are ace & have a really cool feel to them all. 

But what has impressed me the most is like I said above her stop motion work.

So first off we've got one of her amazing vids on Vimeo, which is on the profile of username Ninja Neishon 

Without side tracking too much Ninja Neishon is an up coming street ware clothing brand from San Diego California, they run an awesome online blog showing their progress, be sure to check it out here.

Anyway on with Jasmine's first video I feel you should all see! 

stopbotics from Ninja Neishon on Vimeo.


my first ever stop motion photography short! shot with a canon 7d using 724 photos. spent around 8ish hours in post. photography and video editing by jasmine nguyen, music created and composed by Ninjak. enjoy!


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How cool is that!!! :D My favourite parts are the running around in wide circles near the beginning, looks mad in stop motion! Oh & the bit in the car park of the Sushi place when he is super high on Sushi power, that is just amazing too hehe. 
Not to mention the photography which is excellent throughout, I really do feel like I'm following the guy & understand completely what is going on, very very cool! 


The second vid is absolute gold, I am so so so impressed by this! I was in awe the first time my brother showed it to me, & I hope that you will understand why!


Enjoy :D

A typical Saturday afternoon filled with dancing, eating pork loin sandwiches, and compiling 1250 photos into a video.

**Watch it in HD if you can!


Photos and video edited by Jasmine Nguyen (http://www.flickr.com/photos/_jammin/)
Danced by Katie Baker (http://www.fusionhiphop.org/)
Music edited and remastered by Chris Birchall aka Kid Vicious
Audio and visual assistance provided by Pat Alarcon and AV8R

Songs:
Wolfgang Gartner and Deadmau5 - Animal Rights
Dev - Bass Down Low (feat. The Cataracs) [DJ Megaman and Panic City Remix]

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That video really made me smile, I absolutely love the composition the whole way through! The dancing from the incredibly talented (& brave) model is awesome too! & the video effects near the end of the video just finish off what I can only say is the best video I have seen so far this year! I love it! 

I really look forward to seeing more work by Jasmine, & I recommend you all keep an eye out for her too! If these two pieces are anything to go by, then I think we should see even more great stuff from her in the future! 

I'm inspired :D 

Playing with lights...

Searching through old pictures I just found some more night time photos, this time with a twist.... STROBES!!! 

hehe so back then I had only recently got myself a 430ex & must have bought some coloured gels for it that week as I was obviously excited to get some photos done.

So that same fiesta I talked about a few days ago was my model, & the main goal of these photos was to experiment & have some fun with the crazy colours :)

A lot of fun to be head with accessories like this, shall have to have another play with this kind of kit soon.


Thanks for looking! 

Hyundai Coupe...

Another old shoot of mine from 2008, this time of a Hyundai Coupe.

I remember this day well as I had only just got my Sigma 10-20, & my skills with it lacked a lot to be desired...

Anyway its good to look back at where you come from, so here are some of the photos from that day...

I feel that my problem back then, was that I knew what I wanted to an extent, but I just lacked the ability to capture it, so the will was there at least hehe ;) 

It was all good practice back then, & from concentrating on specific cars for photo shoots like this, has allowed me to improve as I've gone on :) Definitely all worthwhile! 

Thanks for looking! 

Matts Civic Shoot - More info...

I thought I would revisit the recent blog entry I did all about the Civic Sir that I featured on Fitted Life, my blog post can be found further down or by simply clicking this link ----> Matts Civic SIR blog post


So I thought I'd share some of the photos I've taken on my phone & even on the dslr since Matt got hold of this car, including some shots taken during the shoot I did for the Fitted Life article.


Matt used to have the purple Civic that I've shown off in pictures on my blog before, but just for a reminder here's a shot of it from the day it was swapped for the new one :)

So off we set for Hull, so Matt could get his hands on this....

Not a bad exchange I thought ;) As you can see the big difference to how it is now, is that the Rota red wheels have gone, replaced by those sweet Enkeis two piece alloy wheels he has on there now.


That night we got back from Hull, I did a very quick recording of it as it left down my road, it definitely has that unique & utterly awesome Honda sound :)





Pretty much since then he's been working on tidying it up & maintaining it to a very high standard, as shown in the pictures in that recent shoot I did. Whilst I was doing that shoot I took some setup shots that I thought I'd share here, so here we go.

Thanks for looking! 

Night shots of an old Friend.

I adored my old Mr2 Turbo, yeah it was lethal & definitely tried to wipe me off the face of the earth more than once! But there was something about it, like a wild dog you just had to tame, I loved it! 


So I was going through my picture library & remember some of the first night time photos I did back in 2008, which happened to be of my Mr2! 

I still love a few of these pictures to this day, especially the one above, just something about it makes me love it the more I see it. Its an old warehouse area in the center of Reading, I found it by accident whilst cutting through a short cut, & at night the security light came on & I thought it was definitely worth a photo :)


Another photo I still really like from that evening of driving around is this one.

The white balance is completely messed up & the car is slightly out of focus... but still I love it hehe.

I thought I'd share these old memories with you anyway.

Thanks for looking! 

Fitted Life Article - Matt's Civic SiR feature!

Here is an article I recently did for Fitted Life all about an absolutely stunning condition Honda Civic SiR. Enjoy!

Matt’s Civic SiR: Offensively Loud? Please!

It’s a cloudy day here in the UK, not so different from the norm really at this time of year. Everything sort of blends into one on days like these. Everyone busy doing their 9-5 on auto pilot with little attention paid to anything other than the task at hand. But among all this something does grab your attention. It makes you give a second glance, you’re curious, and you’re wondering what exactly just went past..what really did you see?

It didn’t make you look because it’s offensively loud or that it was being driven badly, but simply because it looked absolutely stunning and purposeful as it’s gleaming paintwork caught your eyes. Your ears awaken as a 4-1 manifold soundtrack rumbles your ear drums.

Meet Matt, the proud owner of this stand out car of generic moving boxes. Matt is a huge fan of anything Honda and is a real petrol head. His 15 year old Honda Civic SiR speaks for itself and shows off how truly committed he is to the Japanese car scene.

This car could very well have come straight off the boat from Japan yesterday, and you would be most certainly excused for thinking this was so, seeing it wearing its Enkei two piece split alloy wheels with almost perfect fitment in the Civic’s arches. Also we mustn’t forget the plethora of JDM body parts mixed with rare items off the Honda parts list.

It’s had a few changes to its exterior during its life. At the front you’re looking at a Civic Coupe front bumper, which has been perfectly matched with a genuine SiR front lip. With the help of EK9 Type R front lights and JDM fog lights this all comes together to give the front end an aggressive and different look to the norm.

It doesn’t stop at the front though, as the rear spoiler tilt is just as subtle and striking. At the same time you also have a set of Civic facelift rear lights which gives this car a younger appearance for its age.

Inside the car is also no exception to the proof of its excellent up keep throughout its life. In the back you will find an Integra Type R DC2 rear bench with its gorgeous red stitching only making the extra special front seats stand out even more. The front seats are Honda Civic Type R EP3 Anniversary edition Recaros, with their excellent hugging form matched with the Sparco harnesses. It allows you to feel secure even on the most trying twisty back roads, whilst the gear changes are felt as a swift and solid decision thanks to the Skunk2 Heavyweighted billet gearknob that slots into position firmly. This is all followed by a gasp of air filtered by the HKS panel filter and ending with the roar of the Tanabe exhaust. Was that VTEC we just heard? No…merely a tease into its huge rev range, but still pure awesome to behold.

The truth is this beauty arrived here in the UK in 2008, and as with many cars such as this, it has been owned by enthusiasts and cared for with no expense spared since its arrival. Matt is obviously no exception to this statement either and I have no doubt that he will look after this stunning classic JDM machine for many many years to come.

:. Dan Fegent

Found some old stuff that wasn't HDR ;)

hehe hunting through some of my old work I stumbled across some "for sale" style pictures I did of a friends Ford Fiesta.


Given that I've overloaded you all with old HDR stuff the last few days, you'll be pleased to read that these are pretty much as straight off camera as possible hehe


So here is a 2009 shoot I did of a Ford Fiesta.

The story behind these shots as I mentioned was to help sell the car, so with the help of a few of my lenses I set about thinking what kind of pictures I'd like to see as a buyer...

The car had been very well looked after by James the owner, & I wanted to reflect that in the photos, so first off I had to show how straight & dent free the car was :)

Not to mention the condition of the aftermarket alloy wheels that really helped compliment this car!

Then finishing off with some interior shots.

The car didn't hang around for long once the advert was up, whether my pictures had anything to do with that is anyones guess, but it was still good practice back then & I enjoyed doing the shots.

If you would like to see some more pictures of this car, then head on over to my flickr here where the full set can be viewed.


Thanks for looking!