Pepsi Max 2014 NASCAR Shoot

I love shooting cars, and I LOVE shooting people… So combine the 2 with a 900hp racecar and a *slightly* well-known multi-championship NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, and you have a very happy Clint. Pepsi has been on fire recently with their brilliant Disguise campaign… Basically dressing up famous athletes as regulars and surprising the unlucky victims. Uncle Drew and Test Drive 2 went viral instantly, for good reason!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Edits

I’m not ALWAYS behind the camera. Sometimes I help move some lights around and edit other photographer’s photos. I’m definitely not above photo assisting. It’s a great way to pick up new techniques, and free food! My superstar friend Douglas Sonders got the call to shoot Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his #88 NASCAR for the National Guard up the road in Charlotte, NC. Besides the obvious benefit of getting to meet Dale Jr., I jumped at the opportunity to help Douglas with the studio shoot. Quantity was the keyword of the day, and we got a BOAT LOAD of diverse images of Dale, his #88 NASCAR, and various soldiers representing the National Guard. The beauty of shooting in a studio is it’s a controlled environment with the ability to knock out many angles in a short amount of time. The Phase One IQ140 camera and ProFoto lights got very little rest from 7am till 7pm as you can see from the behind-the-scenes video:

2013 Elite Track Nationals: Rahsaan Bahati & Justin Williams

Just 2hrs up the road from me is the Giordana Velodrome. A brand new facility in Rock Hill, SC that hosted the 2013 Elite Mass Start Track Nationals. This is a scene you have to see to believe. Dozens of men and women with quad muscles the size of mobile homes on fixed gear bikes flying around a concrete 250m track inches away from each other at speeds up to 42mph. It’s about as close to a modern day gladiator coliseum you’re going to get.

Inaugural George Hincapie Gran Fondo

Riding my bike around my town of Greenville I can’t help but hear the name George Hincapie twice on any given day. He is one of the most well known and friendliest figures in cycling; most notable for competing in a record 17 Tours de France, and having the craziest legs in any peloton. So when Hincapie announced an 80-mile Gran Fondo in the mountains of upstate South Carolina, with HUGE cycling names such as Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, Tejay van Garderen, Ted King, Christian Vande Velde, and Dave Zabriskie… I had to get involved. This is the type of event that if I wasn’t behind the camera, I’d be throwing a leg over my Scott CR1.

Dario Franchitti and his Porsche 911 hot rod

Blankly staring at my flickering monitor, eating a PB&J sandwich, while listening to my favorite creative music (Ellie Goulding, Daft Punk, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco), I simply can’t think of a witty fun way to begin this blog article. And it’s driving me crazy! Why is this happening?!? I got plenty of sleep last night, and it’s even raining outside so I’m not (that) tempted to ride my bike. Is it because this article is about Dario Franchitti, one of the most decorated racecar drivers in history?.. A truly humbling genuine man that is so accomplished, yet so modest and friendly, that it’s hard to evoke in words?.. Yea I think it has something to do with it.

Mini feature: Advanced Photoshop Magazine

After my first feature in Advanced Photoshop Magazine I was on cloud 9… is it possible to go any higher? Clint, welcome to cloud 9 and a half. I was asked by editor Adam Smith to submit a picture and a few words on how I use Photoshop to create effects and final edits at the end of my projects. Of course I responded right away. The top 40 tips are actually very useful to read, I highly recommend any Photoshop nerd to pick up this issue.

Ace Jumper

During an impromptu trip to Phoenix, AZ (read previous blog posting) Matt and I decided to do a quick photoshoot of an idea I had floating in my brain. In my circle of close friends, Matt is the one we all live vicariously through when it comes to thrill-seeking. When I first met Matt I mainly knew that he liked to drive (very) fast on mountain roads. Then he got a sport bike… then a bigger sport bike… then he started playing with rattlesnakes, then he started sky diving, then he started learning how to fly a helicopter… and now what seems to be the creme of extreme, he started base jumping. I forget the number, but he’s well over 800 base jumps and aiming to clip 1000 by the end of the year. He’s the kid on the playground that would swing as high as he could and then jump out.