#2 Porsche 911 GT3R at Daytona
Welcome to the second installment of One photo, one story, where I tell the stories behind the photos that I like the most and how they came to be. This time I'll bring you a typical postcard from Daytona, starring Porsche 911 GT3R. What makes it special? Well, it was my first time at Daytona and I had been chasing that photo in particular for quite some time now.
It was getting late and I had been walking for quite some time and been awake for quite some more. The night was nice as it wasn´t either too hot nor too cold, just okay. The race was well into the 5 hour mark when I decided to head to that particular spot, after spending some time shooting at the banking during sunset (it was cloudy, so no golden hour photos). It was the spot's rush hour, amateur and professional photographers alike were trying to get the iconic shot with glowing discs and the Ferris wheel on the background. As for me? I waited until a gap opened close to the fence. I settled up and started shooting. This shot can be tricky, because the cars are coming at full speed towards you and the window in which you can capture the full Ferris wheel is narrow. Headlights make the autofocus go crazy and low shutter speeds make the photo become a blurry mess at the slightest vertical movement. I stood there and shot, and shot, and shot... Around 400 photos came out and just and handful were good enough. I left the spot and continued my way towards the grandstands to watch the fireworks a couple of hours later. I left the spot with a bittersweet feeling, knowing that I might have gotten the photo. It was my best try.
It wasn't until next day that I started going through the many bad photos that I came a cross this Porsche. It had just enough of everything, a sharp enough car, a full enough Ferris wheel and a glowing enough brake disk. Is it the best shot ever taken from there? Hell no! But it was my best shot taken from there that night, my first endurance night. It has everything I want it to have and, most importantly, it is my version of the Daytona postcard. That's certainly more than enough.
Nikon D7100 - Nikkor 70-300 - F4.5 1/30 ISO1000 70mm
