My camera bag sits in the back of my closet like a toy that's quickly lost its shine and appeal a couple weeks after Christmas morning. I have enough money invested in camera gear to put a nice down payment on a zippy little sports car and enough cobwebs on my cameras and lenses that I'd like to think most people would quickly assume I've probably never used them before. In more simplistic terms, it was time for me to get to work, immediately.
I just about damn near forgot how to turn on my camera or how to switch lenses. I can say it's been a solid 1.5 months since I've touched my camera gear. Ridiculous, right? It was a nice needed break but the photography bug hit me.... hard.
I gave my good buddy Kevin a ring the other day asking him about Sebring and he told me that he was planning on heading to the Sebring preseason testing session...... by himself.
"Sebring racing you say? As in ridiculously beautiful race cars buzzing around a track like their ass is engulfed in flames?!"
Say no more.
I did like any good fellow friend and automotive enthusiast would: I woke up early the upcoming day, yawned, threw my camera bag over my shoulder, started up my car, plugged in the GPS coordinates, and headed to the track!
I got to the track in about 1.5 hours and felt as if I had somehow miraculously driven to my own judgment day and amazingly, apparently, I did remarkably well on my life quest. Awesome! I was welcomed with open arms into the gates of heaven.... well, just the entrance to pay for my entry ticket for the day but if that's what heaven consists of for us car fanatics, I'm in! Amen!
Apparently, I had done something right in my short time on this earth to be able to witness such splendor in the form of slick aerodynamics and brute engines tucked away so precisely and methodically. These machines exemplify such unprecedented aesthetic appeal that words simply cannot do them justice. Luckily, I'm quite active with my camera as well! ;)
The harmonious tones that were being ejected from these magnificent pieces of racing grandeur to be enjoyed by our auditory perception was nothing short of heaven on earth.
Let me put this into full perspective for you:
It's a gorgeous 70 degree Florida morning, your pores are absorbing every glimmer and ray that the sun deems worthy of sending your way: You come rolling around to the track with your windows down when your ears quickly begin to become overwhelmed by the aura of an angelic and euphoric team of fully prepped race cars that send their frequencies ricocheting off every nook and cranny of the track. Their high revving engines drone out anything else within a 5 mile radius. It is a thing of sheer beauty. Everything encompasses you simultaneously while providing you with such glee that you secretly crack a smile to yourself from ear to shining ear without even being aware of it.
Welcome to Sebring!
I park my car, pop the trunk and scurry to pick up my backpack filled with 30 pounds of cameras, lenses, filters, and anything else I could fit into my gear bag.
Sadly enough, I didn't prepare or apply for credentials prior to attending which inevitably, highly inhibited where I could and couldn't go on the track. I was stuck in a guarded area like a dog put in its pen for misbehaving. I suppose that's what I get for not doing my homework ahead of time but regardless, it was a spur of the moment idea to head out to the track and I fully intended to make the best of this terrible situation that I had put myself in. This "terrible" situation would apparently carry over to later that day, which in fact, wasn't really at all that terrible to begin with!
Somewhere between getting far too caught up in chatting with friends, snapping some 800 pictures, getting dizzy watching the cars fly by, or borrowing Kevin's $4000 lens to tinker around with for a while, I managed to entirely forget about my math course at the university later that day. The situation I encountered after rushing back the 1.5 hours to Tampa fully exhausted was probably an even better ending to the day than I could ever have dreamt up if I had tried.
I finally hustle into my math course 45 minutes late which in all honesty, isn't all that bad, right? Well, my class is only a little over an hour. You do the math.
I quickly slither like a snake into the lecture hall in attempt to not make myself too conspicuous or disrupt the professor too much - I failed terribly. It's a tough feat when you open the lecture door to a room full of 125 giggling college kids pointing and staring at you. In better explanation, I was then better referred to and became, "That Kid" for that particular day - or in definition - "That Kid" - a student that arrives so late to lecture that it makes you chuckle and wonder why the hell they would even bother coming to class at all!
I run to the first seat I find available as close to the front of the room as I could, brace myself, pray the teacher doesn't comment on my tardiness, and settle for the normal remainder 25 minutes left of lecture....
"Thanks for attending today students, class is dismissed! Prep for your test on Monday and don't be late!"
The joke was definitely on me.
In short, I got to attend a full day of watching race cars at Sebring, partake in my beloved photography for a day, hangout with some great friends, and miss my math class ALL in one day? Epic success!
The official link to my Sebring gallery from that day can be located here:
http://chrisgrosserphotography.com/gallery.php?ID=5&subID=87#imagelist
- Chris
