July 3, 2010: Maritime Pro Stock Tour Lockhart 100 – Images by Matt Jacques

Wow, it’s been a while since my last post! Lots of photography projects lately, and none more fun than getting out and shooting the races for the Maritime Pro Stock Tour. This past weekend was the Lockhart Truck Centre 100 at Scotia Speedworld, and 2009 champion Shawn Turple won by leading the entire race from green flag to checkered flag – quite amazing considering all of the wrecks and mayhem that unfolded behind him. Motorsport photography is quickly becoming a favourite of mine – hope you enjoy the images of action on and off the track too!

Best of Maritime Pro Stock Tour 2009 – Images by Matt Jacques

I’m getting geared up for a second season of shooting motorsports in Atlantic Canada for both Scotia Speedworld and the Maritime Pro Stock Tour. It’s still almost two months until the first green flag drops in 2010, but I’ve taken some time to pick out my favourite Pro Stock Tour images from 2009.

The 2009 season was my rookie year for motorsports photography. I knew so little about this type of photography going in that it was all on-the-job learning. Taking the job was a big leap off the deep end, but I was hooked immediately and there’s no going back. With plenty of bumps along the way, the vast majority of the 10,000+ frames I shot over the summer fall well short of “best of” territory. What I enjoyed most about the whole experience is how the “keeper” images always tell a story.

I don’t know what the 2010 season will bring, but I can’t wait to get back to the track!

In case you hadn’t heard, check out my post here about one of my images being selected as the official 10 millionth image on Shutterstock. The kind folks at Shutterstock were generous enough to send me a little gift card to use at B&H photo. Approximately 5 minutes after receiving the card in the mail, I had a couple of goodies added to my cart and was ready to check out. It’s easy shopping with someone else’s money and I *always* have a little wish list in my head covering multiple price points should I ever find myself in a photography supply store with excess cash burning a hole in my pocket. With this little gift card, I was able to squeeze in two nifty photography gadgets that I’ve always wanted to check out: a Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe 24″ softbox, and a Gorillapod Focus.  I haven’t yet put the Gorillapod through its paces, but keep reading to hear my initial impressions of the Ezybox Hotshoe… (more…)

Urban Butter Snowboarding at Waterfront Winterfest – Images by Matt Jacques

I was lucky to work with Sports Entertainment Atlantic for Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2009, so I was very excited to have another call from SEA this past week. The assignment this time was to catch all the snowboard action at the Urban Butter snowboard showcase, which was the main event at Waterfront Winterfest this past weekend. So far, most of my sports action photography has been motorsports, so I was happy to face this new challenge. The event is the largest snowboarding competition in Atlantic Canada, with a top prize of $1,000 going to the winner. The riders really gave it their all for the huge crowd, risking life and limb while pulling off some unbelievable tricks. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Breaking news today that Tall Ship Concordia was lost at sea off the coast of Brazil near Rio de Janeiro. Very relieved to hear that all aboard were rescued safely, although it must have been a horrifying experience. Hopefully more details on this accident will become available soon.

In the meantime, here is a mini-gallery of photographs I took of Concordia last July, when it participated in the Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2009 festival here in Halifax:

Concordia Tall Ship – Sinks off Rio de Janeiro Feb 18, 2010 – Images by Matt Jacques