dc chavez – the BLOG

So after our 3-state filming tour at the beginning of March, we got asked to work on the next stage of BFG teaching Shaun White how to drive. It would involve a 2 day back-to-back shoot at Laguna Seca followed by a driving school in the Pacific Northwest (more to come on that later). This shoot was the culmination of 3 scouting trips to Seattle, San Francisco, Monterey in a week and a half. It was a doozy to say the least.

For the Laguna Seca / Skip Barber section of shooting we were one of a few units on the production. Our responsibilities were POV-heavy as well as getting special action shots with a RED One. Will largely handled the RED work and left me to run with the POV work. We had the opportunity to mount 5D’s all over the camera with specialized rigging as well as ContourHD and Contour GPS cameras everywhere. Here are a few examples of some of the shots:

A unique perspective, A.K.A. “Tire Love” captured with a 5D Mk II:

5D Mount- BF Goodrich, Laguna Seca

Up close and personal with Mr. White heading through the corkscrew:

ContourHD Screencap- BF Goodrich, Laguna Seca

Title card shot- 5D riggged up and off the body of the car:

Title Card Rigging- BF Goodrich, Laguna Seca

Shaun tearing around the track in his Skip Barber open wheel car:

Shaun in Action- BF Goodrich, Laguna Seca

All the content has been edited and is live on the BFG site. Click HERE to view Chapter 2:

Shaun White- BF Goodrich Website

As a part of my ongoing blog series with Profoto lighting I decided what its like on set – creating good lighting in a short amount of time. The reality of a photographer is that even thought we have a dedicated time slot, it never fails that our time gets cut short. These two blog post show how I used Profoto gear to get the best photos I could in a short time. The first shoot is with the Team Need for Speed Scion tc that is driven by Fredric Aasbo. The second shoot was with the Rockstar / Etnies Ford Fiesta Rallycross car driven by Tanner Foust. More to come…

On set with DC Chavez – Part II Team Need for Speed Scion tC Drift Car shoot

On Set with DC Chavez- Profoto Blog

On set with DC Chavez – Part III Rockstar / Etnies Rally Car Shoot

On Set with DC Chavez- Profoto Blog

Looking back at my blog I realize it has been months since I posted anything. Life has taken off in the past 6 months… Since October I have been running full steam ahead. It all started with a trip to NYC for PhotoPlus Expo, back home to LA for 3 days, back to New Jersey for a rallycross race for 5 days before heading to Brazil. The video I shot from there, Climb Attack Brazil, has racked up over 615,000 views, was featured on Wired.com, The Top Gear blog and pretty much any other enthusiast website out there.

After all the post was wrapped on that project, I got a call from Kia’s agency to put together a video for their trade show booth at the Chicago Auto Show. The star of this piece was the all-new Optima SX Turbo and their factory racing driver Nick Johnson. We headed down to Palm Beach International Raceway with a small crew to film the car at speed around the racetrack. Although PBIR is not the fastest track around, we were able to put something together that showed the performance side of this new vehicle.

Kia Optima SX Turbo- FINAL from DC CHAVEZ on Vimeo.

A few weeks ago I was up at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb filming for Jeff Zwart and his Luminox Porsche GT3 Cup car with my bro Will Roegge. Jeff ended up setting a new world record in the Time Attack Class with a time of 11:31.095 – 30 seconds faster than the previous record holder, Rhys Millen. It was a big deal for me to shoot for such an accomplished Director, Author, Photographer and driver, so I had to step up my game. This proved to be a difficult task with 2:30AM call times, 7-11 breakfasts, between 11,000 and 14,000 feet elevation, crazy temperature swings etc. etc. etc. The “glamorous life” of a photographer!

While I was there, I met a really nice guy Brandon Parker that was a part of the 15+ person Red Bull Moving Images video crew. Upon checking out his site I saw he did something really cool- upload screencaps from recent projects before the final edits were cut. Post production usually takes a while, so these screenshots show some of the work in a timely manner. Will should have the video cut soon, and I will post the final video when its all said and done.

So, here are some of what I was capturing on the mountain with my camera at the 2010 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

PPIHC 2010- Early Morning Testing

Click here to see the rest of the screencaps!!!