Around the web today; November 27th, 2013.

Some very cool pics of the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Z51 coupe at sunrise:

http://www.rides-mag.com/web-exclusives/2013/11/2014-corvette-stingray-z51-sunrise/




Amusing photos of a dog who can balance pretty much anything on his head:

http://distractify.com/fun/humor/scout-is-the-single-most-composed-dog-on-the-planet/




Some etiquette tips for family and friends of a child who has a feeding tube:

 http://www.feedingtubeawareness.org/for-friends-family.html




Some cool footage of a variety of Nissans and Toyotas drifting up and down winding mountain roads in Japan. Seeing the big four door sedans like the Toyota Crown smoking their tyres while gracefully arcing through a bend is pretty impressive:

http://vimeo.com/79388916



Jean-Claude Van Damme teams up with Volvo Trucks to create a very memorable tv commercial:

http://distractify.com/people/amazing/the-epic-split-featuring-van-damme/



Parenting; doing it right: http://distractify.com/fun/amazing-dinosaur-parents/



The guy standing next to this Subaru WRX during a rally was lucky to escape death here:

http://www.carthrottle.com/this-mitsubishis-kamikaze-mission-proves-that-an-evo-and-impreza-can-never-be-friends/

Around the web today; November 7th, 2013.

Here's some very cool slow-motion footage, showing the amazing tire deformation of various drag cars while launching their way down the quarter mile. Much of it is shot at 300 frames per second, but about halfway through there's a Corvette Stingray launching shot at 600 frames per second, or 5% of normal speed. You can even see the firing order of the engine from the side pipes.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfJejgODr3E



A huge gallery of photos from SEMA 2013: http://www.gtspirit.com/2013/11/07/sema-2013-day-one-and-two-highlights/



Pirelli is currently negotiating with Formula 1 officials in regards to extending their contract to supply teams with tyres for the next few years: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/new-pirelli-deal-to-be-for-three-years-only/

In related news, F1 head honcho Bernie Ecclestone had an awkward moment due to a revolving door and lots of cameras outside the High Court in London: http://jalopnik.com/bernie-ecclestone-is-so-rich-he-doesnt-know-how-to-ope-1459536635




A photographer's attempt to sue Australian newspaper 'The Age' for psychological damage, post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression, claimed to be a result of working on stories about the terrorist bombings in Bali just over a decade ago, has been declined. However, the court did declare that it was almost certain the claimant would never be able to work as a photographer again:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/age-trauma-leads-to-calls-for-industry-to-act-on-risks-of-reporting/story-e6frg996-1226733834070

In my line of work, which has mostly been focused around shooting trucks and cars for magazines, I've not witnessed even a small fraction of what a news photographer would over years of service. The difficult situations I've been presented with are minimal, generally traffic or racing accidents, but even those have had an impact on me, despite being fairly removed from the situation. Constantly working on the subject of terrorism, seeing and photographing terribly injured victims would have to be very difficult to deal with.



Some interesting runs between a ridiculously LSX V8 powered Willys Jeep and several others cars, including a ZO6 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, 996 Porsche 911 GT3 and CBR 600 motorbike; but doing it the dumb way on the street:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoeyAJ6XXk



A brief teaser clip for American stunt driving master Ken Block's 'Gymkhana 6' video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxgzt6S_Qxo



The Atherton Police Department in Silicon Valley would like some Tesla police cars. Pretty please.
http://jalopnik.com/ludicrously-wealthy-silicon-valley-town-wants-tesla-pol-1459679199


Strong crosswinds and a semi-detachable home on a trailer aren't a good combination:  http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/1892582/semi-detached-half-a-home-falls-off-truck/?cs=2452

Around the web today; October 18th, 2013

A feature by Speedhunters on a tough looking 1970s Datsun 260Z owned by photographer and journalist Larry Chen, with an accompanying garage chock-full of cool automotive memorabilia, toys and scale model cars:  http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/10/70s-street-fighter-imai-works-datsun-260z/


A lengthy picture thread from the HAMB, with lots of images of junkyards and wrecks from the 1920s through to the 1970s:  http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390611


Some examples of well-known automotive logos taken back to basics: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/automotive-logos-simplified-1446395923


Skids in a new Bentley worth more than some people's houses. The video also features some cool team drifts in various Japanese imports:  http://jalopnik.com/how-to-get-a-410-000-bentley-to-do-a-burnout-633209494


A pair of thrill-seeking Canadian motorcyclists get hammered with massive fines after police view footage of their antics recorded on helmet-mounted video cameras: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/the-most-expensive-joy-ride-ever-recorded-in-quebecs-h-1445902758/1446288857/@pgeorge


An awkward test drive of a new Chevrolet Impala: http://jalopnik.com/someone-crashed-a-new-2014-impala-into-three-new-corvet-1446832965


Snapshots of people all over the world going about their day from The Big Picture blog: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/10/daily_life_august_2013_1.html



Several big name US wedding photographers get themselves into trouble by plagiarising some content for  tweets and blog posts:

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2013/10/sad-tale-jasmine-star-doug-gordon/

https://www.behindtheshutter.com/what-we-can-all-learn-from-the-recent-events-of-jb-sallee-jasmine-star-and-doug-gordon/

http://stopstealingphotos.tumblr.com/post/55742970716/doug-gordon

http://mockstarphotog.tumblr.com/post/58264161952/im-sure-it-was-just-her-web-designer

SMASA summer cruise

Just a few shots from Saturday night's Street Machine Association of South Australia cruise. Some very nice cars came out for a run, with a good mix of American muscle cars, hot rods, customs and cruisers in attendance.

I inadvertently came across a group of classic muscle cars on Port Wakefield Road in the late afternoon, and followed them down to the Gepps Cross shopping centre, where hundreds of awesome cars were filling up the parks.

It was hard to know where to point my camera, with so much tasty machinery rumbling past as the sun sank towards the horizon.

The final meet point was at West Lakes Mall, which is conveniently only a few minutes away from home.

My legs were aching after walking and standing around for a couple of hours at this point, so after snapping some shots of the cooler cars parked under the night lights, I headed back home.

GT5 photo of the day: Impala

2010 DuPont Chevrolet Impala NASCAR, Daytona Superspeedway.

Exposure: 1/60 @ f/11.0, focal length 65mm, Panning Mode 3

GT5 photo of the day: Corvette

2004 Chevrolet C5 Corvette Z06, Daytona Road Course.

Exposure: 1/125 @ f/8.0, focal length 51mm, Panning Mode 3

GT5 photo of the day: Camaro

1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Laguna Seca Raceway.

Exposure: 1/60 @ f/5.0, focal length 52mm, Panning Mode 3

Random Truck Photos: 1950s Chevrolet tow truck.

While driving through Gawler late one afternoon, this very cool looking Chevrolet tow truck caught my eye, glowing in the golden sunlight as it sat near the main road. So I parked on the side of the road, grabbed my camera and walked over to the dirt driveway where it was sitting. There was a woman doing some gardening nearby, so I asked her if it would be ok if I took some photos of the truck, as it looked very cool. She said she would have to go and ask her husband, as it was his truck.

I had a look around the property as I was waiting for him to come out, there were old cars and trucks all over the place; the kind of sight I can't get enough of as a car nut. The man made his way over to me slowly with his walker, where I introduced myself and asked about the Chevy. 

The owner's name was Stan (he's in a couple of the photos), and he said it had been for sale for a while, but no takers as of yet. I think that would be more due to practicality than lack of interest; I still think about buying it and doing a restoration job to bring it back to its former glory. Although then there are the numerous problems with that plan regarding space, time, money, parts, labor, money and metal fabrication skills. But these photos were taken in October 2008, and I'm not sure if the Chev and other cars would still even be there now. 

But anyway, here are the photos of the very cool Chevrolet tow truck, and a few of the other vehicles scattered around the front yard.

  Photographer: Rohan Phillips 

Camera: Nikon D300 
Lens: Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED 
(all photos) 

Another interesting old truck in Stan's front yard, a Bedford. From the looks of it, the truck may have been used to transport horses or other livestock back in the day.

Here are just a few of the other old cars that were on the property. There were plenty more out the back, but after standing around chatting and taking photos for quite a while, Stan and his wife had to head out to a friend's place for dinner.