Jaylyn Photography | Jennifer Stewart: boat races

A weekend full of great weather and great light made for another great weekend home in Phoenix shooting the IHBA Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake. Mark motivated a few photographer friends, Will Lester and Richard Quattrocchi to come out and shoot the boat races with me and I'm glad they did. As IHBA wraps up its last season sponsoring the drag boat series, everyone put on an exciting race.

Friday was a rough day for me. I begin setting up my gear, and my camera and lens were not talking to each other; it would not focus. FML. Luckily Richard let me borrow his D3 while he used my D300 with his 200mm. It was working great, until the battery grip it decided it did not want to work. So after the Top Fuel Hydro boats wrapped up, I made my way to Tempe Camera to rent a camera. Shortly after, I received a called from Mark that I had missed pro eliminator driver Quinton Kight crashing.

Saturday morning, I had everything working and I made way out to Firebird Raceway.

Top fuel hydro driver Glen Wilson during qualifying.

Top fuel hydro driver Daryl "Madd Maxx" Erlich deploys his chute during qualifying.

Top fuel hydro driver Jon Haas during qualifying.

IHBA top alcohol flat bottom drivers sit on the holding rope during qualifying for the Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake.

As each pair of boats launch off the starting line, I watch both the boats, then I pick a boat to follow and go back and forth.

Here is top alcohol hydro driver Joel Weber and Kebin Kinsley.

As I begin to follow Joel Weber, it didn't turn out the way he had hoped.

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Here is my whole sequence.

The rescue personnel brings in IHBA top alcohol hydro driver Joel Weber after he crashes during qualifying for the Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake.

After most of the boat pieces were cleaned up, there was another beautiful Arizona sunset as drivers made their last runs for the day.

Top fuel hydro driver Glen Wilson.

Pro mod driver Kyle Brawley.

Top eliminator driver Stan Tweedy.

Sunday I made my over to the island for a different light, backgrounds, and angles. Its very easy for sports images to begin to look the same. I am always looking for different angles to shoot something at.

Johnny Love and myself.

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

As I waited for the opening ceremonies to begin, I saw a lady bug on the desolate island running around. I text my sister to make sure that lady bugs were for good luck.

As some sportsmen boats were making their runs, they gave off very soft gentle wake. The lines were stunning, and the bird made for the perfect final touch.

A wide shot of the course prior to the opening ceremonies. Looking back, I wish I had walked further up the island. However, I still like all the reflections in the lake.

The opening festivities were pretty cool as two boats display the American flag or Texas flag and the Lucas Oil flag for the IHBA Napa Auto Parts World Finals.

If you have never been to a boat race, I highly recommend them The down time can be rough. But the moment a top fuel hydro boat makes its run, the rooster tail of the shoots so high and screams so loud, makes it worth the while. Below are two photos of a sequence with different crops that produce two strong images.

Top fuel hydro driver John Haas (left) races along side Jarrett Silvey during eliminations.

I enjoy going through my photos and seeing details that are captured that you miss when you're watching the action in real time. Below, Jarrett Silvey deploys his chute.

Having the grandstands in the backgrounds really gives it more of a feel of being at a racing event.

As the sun got higher and moved further west, I made my way back to the other side.

As the sun was setting, it was absolutely gorgeous. It just goes down so quick.

IHBA top fuel hydro driver Daryl Erlich (left) races along side John Haas during finals for the Napa Auto Parts World Finals at Firebird Lake.

Daryl "Madd Maxx" Erlich comes flying thru my frame and forces me to follow him.

I had to show this off, me and my ripped arms!

Photo by Richard Quattrocchi

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When Mark asked me if I wanted to go to the South to shoot some boat drags, I could not turn him down. Being from Arizona and never traveling east of New Mexico, I was blown away when we arrived in Alabama. It was green and covered in these spectacular, huge trees; deciduous trees as Mark ever so kindly informed me...over and over and over...

On our drive to Georgia I fell in love...with the south. The small towns, the country, the homes, the accents! It was amazing!

Mark continued to prep me how boat drags tend to be tedious, however if you get one crash it will make your whole weekend. Once in Augusta, he set me up with his mono pod and 400mm. It was a bit intimidating at first but by the end of the weekend I was hand holding it no problem.

We got there just in time for the top fuel hydro boats on Saturday during test and tune practice. As Scotty Lumbert and John Haas took off for our first set of boats for the day, I was so excited when Scotty turned sharply to his right and actually barrel rolled acrossed the water. No crash though.

Saturday made for a much better day. The weather was beautiful; sun, a breeze and no humidity! We lucked out.

I started out the day playing around with slow pans since Mark was shooting near me and I knew the possibility was high that our stuff would turn out the same.

With plenty of down time in between boats, Mark and I fooled around a bit.

Top fuel hydro driver Ron McLellan.

Jarrett Silvey was testing out a new propeller and as he launched off the starting line, instead up popping up into the air, his top fuel hydro boat dived nose first into the water. The boat ended up sinking to the bottom of the Savannah River. They began searching for the boat at the end of the races and he still raced the next day!

Sunday started out slow and hot!! Below are a few slots of the top fuel drivers as they made their pass to the starting line. I few a played around using some HDR techniques.

They start racing.

I wanted to try a few new things with the wide angle. They did not turn quite the way that I had hoped. I leaned over the dock and laid the camera just above the water as the boats made their way to the starting line. If they were closer the shots could have potentially made for a great shot. Although the seaweed was cool.