Today’s Post by Joe Farace
May is also National Photography Month, something that began by in 1984 as part of the week long American Photography Celebration but later came to include the entire month of May. For a short time it was also the home of “Take Your Camera to Work day” a website that was funded out of my own pocket but faded after a few years because of the cost of creating a site that was user-friendly enough for people to upload photographs. If anybody’s interested in helping me relaunch the Web site, it could restart next year with your help. May is also my birthday month and I’d like to thank all of this blog’s readers for their support over the years.
Last month our theme was Monochrome; In May it’s going to be mirrorless cameras and you will see mostly color images of cars that were created with my mirrorless cameras, including Olympus and Panasonic cameras that are part of the Micro Four-thirds system. I became enamored with this system in 2012 when Panasonic launched the Lumix G5 at a press event at Sonoma Raceway, a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in California’s Sonoma Mountains.
During the event, I got to drive various Audi models including V8 powered R8’s and TTS’s as well as S-model sedans. I also got to drive the then new Lumix G5, which started my interest in mirrorless cameras.
Lately however I have shooting a Canon EOS M6 Mark II. You might want to read my Shutterbug review of this clever little camera and I had written a series of Sigma lens reviews for Canon’s M-series camera on my main photography blog. You can see one of them here but use the Search function to find the others.
How I made this shot: At Sonoma, Panasonic divided the press into two groups: One would drive the track, while the others photographed them. Then we would switch places and I would drive while the other journalist photographed me! I can tell you this, Sonoma Raceway is a twisty and technical track and while I’m not the fastest driver (maybe the slowest) but it was a blast to drive. To photograph this V8 powered R8, I used a Lumix G5 with a Lumix G Vario PZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens (at 14mm) with an exposure of 1/800 sec at f/13 and ISO 400, with a minus one-third stop exposure compensation.
So say tuned during Nation Photo Month, which will also be Mirrorless Month on the blog for more information about various mirrorless cameras and lenses as well as photographs of cars and motorsports made with these wonderfully versatile cameras. And there will be a new “Name that Car” contest starting next Tuesday.