Note- I apologize for this being a week old. I was not near my computer during Spring Break. This weekend has been a busy 72 hours. Friday was a relatively lazy day. I finished watching The Godfather Epic (a masterful recut of the first two Godfather films in chronological order with deleted scenes) and I watched Double Indemnity (1944). Around 5:30pm I left to take photos of my neighbor’s Porsche 911 Carrera RS. You can see the full set here. This shoot has been at least a year in the making and it was great to spend some time with Chris’s car. A huge thanks goes out to Chris for allowing me to do this! Immediately thereafter, my Dad and I headed out to Woodstock to see Pandora’s Box, an Aerosmith cover band, at Madlife Studio. The band was fantastic. I’m not particularly a huge Aerosmith fan but they performed excellently. I would definitely recommend going to see them. Angel and Walk this Way were my favorites from the evening. In addition, Woodstock was hosting their “Friday Night Live” event on Main St. There were two bands performing while I was there: Aquashade, an alternative pop band, and Roadside Silhouettes, who played a great rendition of “Shooting Star” by Bad Company (you can check out their stuff by clicking their names).
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The whole event started at 9:00 am. Logan and I drove over to Dylan’s house around that time. From there, Dylan’s Dad took the three of us to the event. Atlanta Motor Speedway is roughly an hour away from where I live. The drive was pretty easy, despite a sketchy moment in which we nearly damaged the underside of the car after driving over an old briefcase. Once we got to the track, we were treated to a massive line. We sat in this line in front of the track for nearly three hours. This line can only be compared to that of Los Angeles traffic or some mass exodus from some dystopian future. After hearing “Bad and Boujee” about 4 times on the radio, we finally reached the second line that leads to the infield tunnel. We sat in this one for about forty-five minutes. Mark 1:35 pm, this was the time we finally were able to park and explore the show.
I don’t really know much about the technical side of cars aside from being able to name and describe the function of some parts. So the show’s offerings were a little foreign to me. I found myself walking by most of the slammed Civics and overtly chambered Integras. What I photographed, for the most part, is what I found to be reasonable. I spent most of my time walking around the older cars the show had to offer. There were classic Datsuns, BMW E30s, Toyota Celicas, and 240Zs. There were a few modern GTRs but nothing particularly new. I must have missed the Fiat 124 Spider that had showed up, but I did happen to catch the slammed Audi R8. I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any RWBs there (more photos in the gallery at the bottom of the article).
*Note - From March 15th to the 18th, I went to New York City to attend a conference at Columbia University with 10 other students from my school's yearbook. Photos are spread throughout the article and in a slideshow at the bottom. Thank you. Wednesday the 15th brought an early rise. I had woken up around 5:00 am to wait for my friend Logan who would join my carpool with my other friend Linson. The flight departed at 8:45 am and lasted about two hours. Thankfully the flight had offered a selection of movies, one being La La Land, a film I had yet to see. I'm not particularly one for musicals but this one was fantastic. I absolutely loved the "Golden Age of Hollywood" feel that held a strong presence throughout the film. The consistent use of film references from the 40's and 50's, especially Casablanca, lent it's hand to give a subtext to the film. Not only was the story well written, but the beautiful cinematography and costume design took center stage in my opinion. Arguably being a more important use of storytelling than the songs and dialogue. Speaking of such, the original songs in the film were very good. I could definitely see myself returning to the soundtrack sometime in the future. Anyways, after landing we took a shuttle to the Pearl Hotel. Only a few blocks away from Times Square, the hotel was a prime spot for our group to get where we needed. Once our bags had been dropped off, we took a subway to Grand Central Station where we ate lunch. I managed to get some nice snaps of my friend Logan standing in a subway entrance in the station.
After lunch, we took a long subway ride to Columbia University to pick up our IDs and schedules for the conference. After this we all went back to the hotel to check-in. Logan, Linson, Dylan, and I (excluding Mr. Thomas, my teacher) were the only guys on the trip. Therefore, we ended up all being in one room. Despite being a little apprehensive with the low number of beds, we made do and had a great time. 3:30p.m. Jan. 12th- I get out of school after a boring lecture on how to solve the Multiplicative Identity of a Matrix and I check my Instagram feed as usual. After scrolling through a few posts, I stumble upon the announcement that a Mclaren P1 will be the feature attendee at this past Sunday's Caffeine & Octane. I'm already excited as they had postponed the event to the 15th, my 18th birthday. Little did I know, this show would exceed my expectations, and oddly enough the beautiful Volcano Yellow P1 wouldn't end up being my personal favorite of the show. 6;30a.m. Jan. 15th- The early photographer gets the golden hour light. That's how the phrase goes right? Anyways, after gobling down a bagel and some eggs, I head out to the event at Perimeter Mall with my new 50mm f/1,8 lens and excitement for what's about to ensue. 8;05a.m.- Already filled to the brim and packed with car enthusiasts sporting the latest Hoonigan gear and Ferrari hats, the show is well underway despite the official 8;00a.m. start time. Among the sea of varying automobiles lies the featured P1, and much to my (and many other's) dismay, the P1's fantastic lines are held back by a chain link fence. Ruining most photographer's shots of a car they may never see again. Not but 5 feet away, a 2017 Aston Martin DB11 sits. Online, I thought the car was decent looking. In person is a different story. The rear-end still puzzles me. It's like an AMG GT on steroids. About two cars down a 675LT and Ford GT '05 sit. The Porsche lot holds the usual gallery of classic 911s. My personal favorite goes to a beautifully restored 1956 Porsche Speedster. The metallic red paint looks stunning and the interior looks as if it just rolled out of the factory the day prior. In addition, a silver 912 and a baby blue 991 GT3 RS sit not too far away. Other lots hold some interesting cars as well. I saw my first AE86 (in fact all parts were ordered from Japan, including the few aftermarket ones), a rather nice Audi R8 GT Spyder, 3 RWB 964s (one in the iconic Martini racing livery), and a 1987 Ferrari Testarossa. In the supercar section, two Aventador SVs show up, one sporting a devilish matte Grigio Titan with black SV logos on the side. Nearby, a gorgeous metallic Volcano Red Mclaren 675LT and a 2016 Audi R8 V10 with interesting Quattro badges placed on the front grill. The biggest surprise was the brand new, 2017 Acura NSX in black. It's even better looking in person. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of them on the road. The show was amazing and I hope you enjoy the photos as well as this video I made. Essentially this video is a start of a New Year's project for myself. I will be making stylistic videos that serve as vlog entries to catalog days where I do something interesting. For now, they will remain about a minute long in order to fit to Instagram. You can find the full set here. Instagram: @kevinscandids |
AuthorCar lover, photographer, and movie buff. Archives
October 2018
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