CRAIG LOWNDES

Ok, so I have been a bit slack again over the last month and haven't posted anything new on here. This time I really do have a good reason for not doing so, my editor went away on holidays, which left me in the lone role of creating a magazine. Basically it meant that my workload more than doubled and I had to really work to get anything done each day. While I enjoyed the challenge of the task, I am extremely happy that my editor is now back from holiday and we are getting back to being on an even keel. I suppose the most notable thing I have done in the last few months actually happened earlier this week, with me creating a video of Craig Lowndes driving the new circuit at Sydney Motorsport Park. It's funny, because a year ago I was desperately trying to get invited to race tracks to do photography and follow my dream, and now I actually get invited to come and film one of the top drivers in Australian motorsport. Personally, this video is a milestone, a milestone of how far I have come in just one year of really hard work. In only a week the video has received over 2,500 views, which is just astounding. I couldn't be more pleased with it and I really hope I get to do more in the future. For now, sit back and enjoy, even if you are not into car racing I think it makes great footage.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Since my last post showed my second attempt at making a mini documentary following a racer, I thought it was an opportune time to show my first attempt at making such a film.

While making this piece was much more of a worrying prospect at the time, it was also a great time because for the first time my Dad got to see what life working for the magazine is really like. So that was, in a way, a pretty special moment.

Of course I really enjoyed myself, getting to know people and seeing their real emotion is always a great experience.

There isn't much more to say about this, so just watch the video and enjoy..

NSW Production Touring Cars

Recently I got the opportunity to see a round of the NSW Production Touring Cars championship from the perspective of a team and driver. As part of going behind the scenes with Performance Garage Magazine we try to find new and interesting angles to bring to people and personally I thought this would be a great one. It also helps that I absolutely love circuit racing in all of its forms, so of course it wasn't too hard to get me out there.

Through the help of category manager and racer Gerry Murphy, we were given the opportunity of following HSV GTS racer Tony Virag. Tony, like all the guys racing in this series, is a really great guy who was very welcoming and accommodating to us across the weekend. These guys really are out there racing for fun, as they hit the track with minimal financial backing and with most of the work carried out by themselves, family and friends. You can get an idea of what the day is like from the video "A weekend in the life" below.



Another great aspect of the weekend was that through the help of some of the racers, I was able to get some onboard footage from cars to compliment my own footage. With that I was able to create something I have wanted to do for a long time and create a race video. I think it turned out pretty good, and recaps the race quite well for the guys. Ok, I don't have as much outside the car footage as I would like, but still, I think it came out well. Check it out.

Go Karting with Lewis Hamilton

Of course at the start of the year the first stop for the F1 circus was Australia. With Performance Garage becoming the large magazine it is, through contacts we managed to get ourselves out to the Vodafone day held at Eastern Creek Karting Circuit. Basically the day was the culmination of a competition for Vodafone customers where they were given the chance of "racing" against Lewis Hamilton. This race was really more of a time trial, where Lewis was given some track time to get out and set a fast lap, which everyone would then get a chance to try and better. 

Competitors were given there own race to try and get close to the lap time, but took to the track in a group of ten. Meaning that while their minds should have been concerned with finding some clear track, a lot of them ended up racing each other for position. Added to this event, the media were given their own race to try and show their skills as well.

This event gave me the opportunity to create another video, this one a bit more fun and relaxed than the others. It's quite fun to watch so I really urge you to take a look. I hope I can get out to the Karts again soon and have a go myself, it's been a long time.

Fitzpatrick Speed Works

Very early this year I was transferred to a brand new magazine called Performance Garage. This magazine is to be the biggest automotive publication Australia has ever seen, and is one that I am proud to be involved with. As part of my role I record video content and write editorial for both the online blog and printed mag. It means I lead a pretty hectic lifestyle these days, always with a heap on my plate at any one time.

One of our first jobs this year was to travel down to the house of Summernats champions, the Fitzpatricks. Spending the day with Peter, Aaron and Daniel was an awesome experience and i'll never really forget that day. It was my first real experience with filming a shoot and then editing the video together afterwards, and I must say that my nerves on the day were off the charts.

Still, I think the completed film was quite good. Although I now look back at it and wish I had of done things differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we can always learn from experiences, so at the very least I can take those with me onto future jobs.

Check out the video below.

FORMULA XTREME

Alright, well for the first post upon my return I am going to go back to near the start of 2012 when I was invited to attend the first round of the NSW Formula Xtreme series down at Wakefield Park Raceway.

I always love shooting at Wakefield, and as this visit gave me a bit more freedom I was able to play with some new ideas I had for shooting and filming. Two whole days to get used to the camera and settings with film were brilliant and I left the weekend feeling much more comfortable with knowing what I was doing. The video itself came out longer than I expected but I still feel it is a really good piece of work and I am quite proud of it.

Please take a look and tell me what you think, always happy to hear comments...

OUT OF CONTROL

It seems like things have a great way of getting out of control, so now six months after I decided to restart blogging with reckless abandon, I am coming back here to try again. Mainly the problem I have had over the last six months is that work just got crazy busy after we came back for the new year, I was moved onto a new project called Performance Garage and that has taken up nearly every waking breath for me.
In my role for that magazine / website, I am a video producer as well as being a feature writer. So it means I spend a lot of time going around places, meeting people, filming, and then putting together the stories. The first issue of the magazine is about to hit shelves, and a fair amount of the content contained within is going to be my work. So that is all pretty exciting actually.
As I start to find a bit more time to myself, I have decided that I would restart this blog again, in an attempt to achieve two goals. The first goal is for this website to act as more of a reminder for me of what I have done, and a showcase of my work for people to see. The second goal is for anyone who wants to read it to be able to stay in contact with my life, where I am going and what I am doing.
So for a while this will just be catching up with my year so far, and then i'll get into more of a day by day thing about what is happening and commenting on the things that interest me in the world. I will also be posting videos, so make sure to keep an eye on here so you can see what I am up to and how things are travelling.
Cheers
Dan

EXTREME LAWNMOWER

SO for the first adventure of 2012 (also including late 2011) was the creation of one extreme lawnmower! Building this creation with Tye was a process that we both took great enjoyment. Firstly we unattached the cutting blades from under the mower, then we decided that it wasnt enough to take these off and improve speed, we needed to do something more. Out the back we found an old Rodeo bullbar so decided it would be a good idea to use it on the front of the mower. That meant we had to cut it down and get a few new mounting points built.. Undeterred we set about the task and the finished product in quite a short amount of time, what we created can only be described as AWESOME..
So then we took it for a few test drives, which gaves us untold hours of enjoyment, burnouts, tree smashing, hill climbing and all. It honestly is the best all terrain vehicle...

Check it out in the video below! :)