EYB (End of Year Bash) 2025 /  by Matt Pham

The last event of the 2025 season. How fast it came and went. I really feel like it just started and here we are at the end of 2025. The Nintendo 3DS made its return for the last event. The bright sun made it hard to see, I just had to take a guess and hope for the best. The 3DS will return in 2026!

I had a bit of a rough start to the day. It took me a longer than usual to get into the groove. You couldn’t have asked for better weather on Saturday. I used a 3 Stop ND filter on all my lenses and 1/20th of a second for my shutter. Aperture and ISO changed as the light did.

Losing the flag stand for years. I lost being able to photograph from a slightly higher elevation. Until I stumbled on to something while I was walking around. It’s a bit further out from where the flag stand once was but the vibe is similar. I hope that it stays around to use for future events. It has a lot of potential but I need to spend more time there to figure things out.

I didn’t stay at the new shooting location for too long. I had to get back down and chase the sunset before the track gets cold for night. I wait all year for this kinda of light.

I between the last event and EYB. I bought a Hoya Sparkle 6X 77mm filter to use. It’s similar to the Hoya Star 8X filter that I used last year. But the flares are more controlled compared the the star filter. Besides that it’s pretty much the same besides the number of points. They both soften the image a bit. A part of why I love EYB so much is because I get to use fun filters like this. It’s the only time we get to shoot sunset and night photos.

After about an hour or so of using the sparkle filter, I ended the night using the black mist filter to finish the night. I didn’t want to over do it with the sparkle filter.

Just like that, EYB and the season came to an end. Time to head back to the drawing board and see what I can do for the 2026 season. So many ideas and things to try before the next EYB!

NODRFT Krewe de Femme Ladies Day 2025 /  by Matt Pham

After taking a small break, I have returned back to the track to cover Krewe de Femme’s Ladies Day again!

I started using a different “camera” to test out at the drivers and media meeting. The “camera” in question is my old Nintendo 3DS with a 0.3 MP sensor. I wanted to join in on the retro tech/low res trend with the 3DS. I grabbed some candid photos with it and recorded part of the meeting. Unfortunately, I didn’t use it after this point. But it’ll be brought back out for future events. It seemed to be a hit among everyone! That’s why I enjoy trying different things, even if it’s going back in quality and technology.

After the meeting, it was time for the parade lap and the group photo before the track goes hot.

For the first time in a long time, I was able to get sequence panorama photos again.

I was really surprised by the number of sequence photos that I was able to get from the day. Especially since I didn’t intentionally try for sequence photos. I’ve also forgotten how time consuming it can take.

Part of the goodie bag provided to the media was a personalized vest. Like last year, I had to do something to show it off!

Link to the rest of the Facebook album

EYB Lite V2 Highlights /  by Matt Pham

Another drift season comes to a close with the biggest event of the year! Two days and one night of drifting. Here are some highlights from my Saturday coverage and the full album can be found in the link below.

EYB LITE V2 Full Album

Not the perfect composite sequence but the best I could get from the photos taken. I think bumping up the shutter speed would have given me a better result. It’s been such a long time since I’ve done one and forgot how challenging it can be. I want to challenge myself to try them again in 2025.

Once it got dark, I wanted to do something different since it’s a rare photograph opportunity. I packed two specialized lens filters to use at night. I bounced between a black mist filter and a star filter. They are two very different on how they impact the image. The black mist provides a nice glow and it’s subtle like there is no filter at all. While on the other end, the star filter is very noticeable what it does to the image. Not something I would all the time but fun to throw in time to time.

NODRFT Krewe de Femme Ladies Day /  by Matt Pham

This event was catered to the ladies that drift and learning to drift. It was the fist event to do so here and the turn out was great. People come far and wide to drift since this was the first half of the drifting weekend.

As I was driving in, there was heavy fog and scattered rain. But as I got closer to the track, the conditions looked much better. I usually arrive early to prepare for the day and lately have been trying to add more of the human element to events. Everyone is busy preparing for the start allows me to capture candid moments.

I was able to scratch that itch of doing some product/lifestlye photography with some of the shirts being sold. I’ll have to remember to grab merch early because by the end of the day, everything was sold out.

With the drivers/media meeting out the way, time to start the event and start drifting! I wanted to start off to test shutter speeds at 1/5th of a second. What I didn’t realize that a 3 stop nd filter would not be strong enough. I had to stop down f20 but my biggest mistake was no cleaning the lens after taking it out the bag again. There was so much dust that appeared in the images. A 6 stop ND filter is on my list to buy for the 24-70mm.

Using such a slow shutter speed was a challenge. It got a bit better as the day went on but there were more jittery photos than not. In hindsight, I should have waited until later in the day as drivers are more familiar with the course and new their car set ups. Before I knew it, it was time to make the track cold for the raffle and group photo.

For the group photo, I had to do a composite to get everyone in the photo. I was worried that photoshop wouldn’t be able to handle the stitching. In the end it turned out pretty well. I requested a tall ladder for the next event!

Prizes raffled off and group photo done. Time to make the track hot again!

I changed my lens from 24-70mm to 200-400mm. It took some time to get used to using the big lens again. I haven’t used that lens for a few events. Also changed to 1/10th of a second and the keeper rate was better. Some of the guys were able to sneak in some laps during some down time.

Before wrapping up, shout out to everyone involved! Congrats on the successful event, now the tough part is raising the bar for the next one. While I wasn’t able to get a shirt at the event, I did get a bucket hat in my media goody bag. It was a nice gesture of appreciation!

Camera Bag Modifications: Strap Management /  by Matt Pham

I have a lot of camera bags but there are a few things that bother me about all of them. I recently found solutions to those annoyances. While these solutions aren’t new or innovative to some but a big improvement for me.

The problems

  • Loose straps

  • Monopod security

The Solutions

  • Reusable Strap and ITW Web Dominators : Keeps the straps out the way but can still allow for bag adjustments on the fly. Combine it with the elastic strap keepers found on most bags and those straps will be locked in.

  • Multipurpose Fastener : This should be able to secure the monopod down better than the straps that were provided. It should also be fast to attach/remove the monopod from the bag.