Where do I even begin?  I have been blessed so much this year!  I have been blessed with my family and with the friendships that have grown, as well as the new friendships I have made.  I have been able to further my education and have been able to do a job I love.

This past year I was fortunate to be able to travel to new places and be able to photograph them.  I was able to meet new people and photograph new things.  I photographed my first World Series and was grateful to be able to work with new clients as well as to continue and grow my relationship with past clients.

As the year comes to an end I can only hope that 2013 will be as good as 2012, and in these last few days of 2012 I would like to share some of my photos from this past year. Hope you enjoy the pictures and have a Happy New Year!

The post 2012: The Year in Photos first appeared on Tim Fuller Photography | Blog.

Last weekend I was blessed to be able to head out to Brooklyn, MI, which is home of the Michigan International Speedway.  MIS was the host for Pure Michigan 400, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

I started off on Friday with photographing practice.  Before practice started there were drivers giving interviews, so I decided to photograph a few of them.

After the interviews, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to the garage area to cover practice.  While photographing practice I tried to focus on the drivers and then worry about the cars on race day.

After practice there was a two hour break between practice and qualifying.  I sent over my gallery of images and then had some time to set up my computer for the qualifying images.

When qualifying started I still wanted to focus on the drivers and other happenings that I would not be able to get on race day.

On Saturday I was covering high school soccer, so I missed the second practice they had.  However, I was back on Sunday to cover the race.  After covering the Quicken Loans 400 in June, I had a better idea of what to expect on race day.  I came up with a plan of attack which  helped me get a variety of different angles of the race.

Be sure to check out all of the images right here!

The post NASCAR: Pure Michigan 400 at MIS first appeared on Tim Fuller Photography | Blog.

On Father’s Day weekend I covered 912 miles in 67 hours on only 10 hours of sleep. If I said I was tired, that would be an understatement! I started off on Friday by heading to Brooklyn, MI, which is the home of the Michigan International Speedway.  There I would be covering the Quicken Loans 400 Practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. After spending the day there I headed to Lansing where I was going to compete in Dirty Feat, an adventure race held in the capital, on Saturday. The race covered some 50 miles on bike, foot, and canoe. After eight hours of non-stop exercise I was on my way home for a few hours before heading back to MIS. In order to beat all the traffic I set my alarm for 4:30am and was off to the track. Once there I covered some pre-race events and waited for the race to start since there was a rain delay. Once the race was over and I had finished sending pictures to my editors, I was on my way home for some much needed rest. Here are some pictures from my adventures. You can see all the images here and here.

Practice:

My Race:

Race Day:

The post Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at Michigan International Speedway first appeared on Tim Fuller Photography | Blog.

A few weekends ago I was able to photograph something totally new to me. I was able to photograph my first IndyCar race, not only that but it was the first car race I had ever photographed. I had never photographed cars before, even though I am from the Motor City, and it was definitely different compared to anything else I have photographed. The loud roar of the engines and the smell of the fuel in the air added to the atmosphere. I spent twelve hours at the track, but I had a blast and the time flew by.  You can view all the photos here.

I approached the day in three “parts”. 1) Pre-Race, 2) Race, and 3) Post Race. For pre-race I approached it as trying to capture the events that led up to the race. Mechanics working on the cars, drivers walking down in the pits or the garage area, scenes from around the track, etc. Next was the race. I was a little bit limited to where I could go, but did the best with what I was given. I knew I wanted to get the cars at the beginning of the race with the Renaissance Center in the background. From there I tried to find other spots to shoot from, but I did not have much luck. I headed off to the media room to send off a few pictures and luckily the race got red flagged which gave me some extra time to send pictures. After sending some pictures, I headed down to pit lane to get some shots of the drivers during the red flag and once again headed back to send some more pictures off. While I was walking around, I saw James Hinchcliffe leaving the track in his SUV. After approximately two hours of red flag the race started and was cut short to only 60 laps instead of the planned 90 laps. The race ended and I had to run from where I was shooting the finish line all the way over to the winner’s circle to get the celebration there. With a quick trip back to the media building to send off the last images, I was on my way home.

Be sure to check out all the images right here.

The post IndyCar: Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle first appeared on Tim Fuller Photography | Blog.

Spring is right around the corner,  you can feel it in the air!  I was able to go out and enjoy some of this nicer weather the other day and photograph something new to me, airplanes.  These planes were big remote controlled planes doing all kinds of stunts in the air.  Sometimes they had the plane just hovering!  Don’t ask me how that works, but it was pretty sweet.  Plane racing is becoming more popular with events such as Red Bull Air Racing, so it was nice to have a chance at photographing something like that.

How did I shoot these?  I was able to stop the propeller by standing in between the sun and the plane.  By doing this, the sun would light the plane and I would be able to use a very fast shutter speed.  I was able to put my shutter speed at the fastest speed  possible, 1/8000, on my D700.  I then had to raise my ISO speed to compensate, but I did not have to raise it too much, only to 400.

Regarding the focus, I had it in continuous mode.  This makes the camera constantly focus on whatever the focusing point is on.  All I had to do was keep the focusing point on the plane (See picture below).  I did not use 3D tracking because it was getting caught up and focusing on trees, light poles, and clouds.

By having the plane in between me and the sun I was able to get the picture at the top of this page and the picture below.

– Tim

The post “Nothin’ but blue skies do I see” first appeared on Tim Fuller Photography | Blog.