The annual trip to FD is always fun. Having the bus at our booth made it feel comfortable to be at a race. Every year we close down the shop for race day. We bring Fatlace to the race though, so it’s all good. Our booth support team had things running like a well oiled machine. Big ups to Leslee! Team F/Stop was holding down the photos. José was running things on the track. Kenny, Andy, Mark and Felix all took awesome photos! Peep their blogs. It was my first time shooting on the island, and it was hella fun. I got some quick pointers from José that helped me get some cool shots. He also loaned me a 24mm-70mm lens while I was at the island. Thanks man! The only battle photos I have are of the controversial “one more time”. My opinion is that it should have happened the same day. The rest of the shots are practice runs for the top 16. That’s why the cars are so far apart. Next time, I’d like to shoot more heated battles.

Good to see some old and new friends. I ran into Sean from FLA who I met years ago. Last time I saw him was when my cousin was caught by a popo w/ a bad attitude doing a manji. At the booth was Jei “The Pho King”, Jay with the sick LS1 GS, Phil 360, Calvin, Tyler, Jose, John and Yu to name a few. It was nice to chill with a brewski at a sunny day like that.

On the way home I rode in the bus. That ride has a lot of character. It’s a panel bus shipped from Germany. You don’t see a lot of them around here. The sliding door with no side windows is hella rare. Inside you can see surf related stickers from around the world. That thing has history.

Looks like Bart put up some plex to prevent people from hopping over like the Warriors (the movie). I wonder how often it happens? Must be a lot if they invested in these things! I don’t see why Bart police doesn’t just walk down and get the culprits, they have to wait for a train for a fast getaway. Unless they make a run for it when they hear a train getting close. Who knows.

Check out the panning action! (with a point and shoot, haha)

Not that much blur here, but I’ll take it!

The next shots fit my criteria for decent blur and crisp stickers.

The day started at 6:30am. While approaching Mark’s house, I saw a dumped 350 (I’ve seen it lower though). That meant Prashant was already there. We loaded up Mark’s wagon and swooped Felix at San Jose. Picked up our tickets at will call, located at Embassy Suites hotel 8 miles away from the race track. I know, it doesn’t make sense… just like the questionable $8.00 will call fee. At another hotel, we grabbed the pimp, laminated parking pass, that got us a spot next to the paddocks! That means less dust on our shoes. Last year my black shoes were brown at the end of the day.

Right after entering the paddocks, we saw the AMA teams working on their bikes. What caught my eye was the giant elephant print on a tent. Must be Team Jordan. Then we killed some time at Alpinestars hospitality.

Later headed out to the Redbull VIP building which had one of the best views of the track. There was also quality food and drinks on the house. Found a spot on the roof which raised my standards in watching races. It’s almost like watching a baseball game in the luxury boxes! You could see more than half the track. All of us shoot Canon, it was dope to have lens options. The race was awesome and the prime seats and amenities made it even more fun. Big ups to Chris and Alpinestars!

It was a long day, but it went by pretty darn quick. There was a lot to see, tons of people and exciting racing! It would be sick to have media credentials. Imagine what kind of photo ops there would be!

Click the thumbnails to start the slide show

First time I brought a DSLR to a race, any pointers?

I don’t mind the rolling stop, but at least look around for pedestrians and cars!

Sorry I don’t have video footage, one day I just might post up w/ a time lapse camera.

Saw this at JTown… needs a fender roll and spacers

Aiden’s new ride has rims, welded joints and shocks. Those safety and comfort features sold me. Not to mention it was the lightest in the bunch with similar set ups.

It was hot at Marinella and Omar’s Baby shower in Oaktown. I thought the beer/nipple contest would be easy.

I was wrong and only finished half the beer. After the contest I took off the nipple and downed it. Refreshing!

I’m down for Mangos. Later found out these were cubes of cheese! (it was so hot in there)

Sunday was hot like an oven at Palo Alto. We stopped by Sprinkles for a little cupcaking.

Took out the SLR to document the temperature… then caught Mara and Trixie walking out.

… and took a sneaky shot when they got near, haha.

One is missing because Trixie took one before the shot! My top pick is the coconut/chocolate in the middle towards the back.