This is drifting and that is the Tannery. All in Portlaw, Co Waterford. Visit their Facebook page and save the date of their next drift day in your calendar.
I will write more about the Tannery some other day. This post is all about drifting.
A fan of Fast And Furious, I am happy that just a half an hour drive from Waterford there is a place where I feel so wonderful. I am truly grateful to those who run the local ‘drifting rink’ in the old parking lot of the derelict tannery. So many young lads stay out of trouble because they are busy doing something good. Something they enjoy doing. This short amateur YouTube video gives you an idea about the atmosphere on the site. The drivers come to the Tannery from as far as Donegal.
To take these pictures I pan my camera along with the moving cars. I use a low shutter speed – not faster than 1/30 sec- and usually focus either on the driver or on the surface of the car that is close to the driver. You can guess that using this technique only a tiny fraction of the shots can be called a keeper, 10% may be, but I love giving the shot a feeling of motion rather than freezing the action. If the environment doesn’t add to the shot, it is better to leave it blurred. It would be a different story if I took pictures of a swimmer or surfer: the waves look gorgeous around a surfer 🙂
You can tell that car is moving if the wheels are spinning. The cars are not necessarily moving straight in these pictures even if they look so.
Some drivers like to impress the spectators with a cloud of smoke.
I make myself comfortable on the concrete barrier. From here I can see everything quite close, and if I turn around I can see the cars on their way to the ‘drifting rink’ and back.
The last advice before the start?
Age doesn’t matter, we all love drifting.
I think I have picture of these people in the same place but in their winter clothes 🙂 The tires are gone though. Somebody put them on fire.
Auto Chem, one of my favorite teams. I move my rug so that the weeds wouldn’t get into my next picture.
All kinds of minor accidents happen during the drifting. Tire blowouts are the most common. I have seen a deflated tire hula-hoop, roll away, make a circle and return back to the car.
This car was doing just great, and then there was a loud boom.
This car is loosing its rear bumper but the driver never bothers to stop. After a few seconds the bumper frees itself from the car and flies away.
This car hit the tires during the drift and got its bumper damaged.
Old tires can be quite agile when pushed.
“Sorry, give us a second!”
Sometimes a car has to be pushed using manpower.
After the drift.
Some lads make alterations to their cars. I am not an expert to understand the purpose of this one. Improved aerodynamics or an emergency exit? Looks cute anyway.
I take a peek inside the car.
The cars are so clean that it makes me ashamed of mine…
They use a motorcycle engine in this car. Doesn’t it look like a heart?
I hope you love cars as I do. Enjoy your January, and if you are drifting stay focused like the driver in the picture.
Have a wonderful week!
Making memories 
Yowza, these shots! I love your love of cars. So much encapsulated action–I can hear and smell the rubber burnin’. 🙂
Jean, the smell of the rubber burnin’ accompanies me on the way home, and the tiny particles of the blown tires cover my camera lenses and my glasses 🙂 It is a part of the fun 🙂 Some shots come out great, most of them are blurred, but I just love to watch the action.
Thse pics are stunnning… You even managed to take some photographs of the cars “in movement”. Excellent gallery my friend. Sending love & best wishes 🙂
Thank you so much, dear friend! Portlaw is my ‘recreational area’, and drifting is a big part of it, especially in winter 🙂 Sending you love ❤
skilful shots, inese!
wonderful no beings
were injured during
the shoot 🙂
Haha thank you 🙂 Yesterday I came there for an hour, the sun was too bright for our eyes, and the guys would drive into things now and then, but no one was injured, thankfully 🙂
A plus!
Thank you so much, Jason 🙂
You’re panning pics are awesome, it’s fun trying to produce a fab photo like that.. I bet the car racing is thrilling to watch up close 🙂
Thank you! Some pictures come out better than others, but I love the process of shooting them. Also, the nature of the pictures doesn’t require much of post editing, which means that I only have to resize them, or crop if necessary. Well, often I have to clean all the particles that had stuck to the lens – dust, smoke and tiny pieces of rubber when the tires explode 🙂
Surprising. 🙂
Just love to sit there and observe 😉
Ah, another side of you! Do you drive fast at all or is your love for Fast & Furious just because of the hunky actors? 🙂 Thank you for explaining the process of taking photos of those speeding cars. I sure love the feel of exhilaration you translate so well!
Thank you so much, Rose! I cannot drive too fast as I have a Micra, but I do have a bond with her 🙂 Loving the movies because of the principle of family and friendship they convey.
Have you started a new blog? Your last post was in December. Let me know if you did. I am going to stop posting for the next 5-6 months, and it makes me sad, but I will be around to visit. If everything goes well I will be back in June xx
5-6 months without posting? Oh. Are you ok?
Should be OK by June.
SHALL be ok by June. 😉
Thank you friend 😉
Nothing more valuable than family and friendship. I agree. The only other blog I have is Slashermonster. Work and other things have been keeping me busy, but I love checking to see what you’ve been photographing. I’ll try to post soon. I’ll miss seeing your work and will look forward to June. All the best, dear friend. ❤️
So you are mostly on the Slashermonster these days 🙂 I have lost the subscription for it. WordPress made a mess. I will look up the link in Google and visit soon. Be good ❤
Such cool photos Inese!
I really liked this post, Inese! The setting is really interesting!
More on the tannery will be nice to read about, dear friend. xo 💖
I like in our country different crashing cars events. We call one a “demolition derby.” Our county fair is where my grandchildren like to watch the circular bumping and crashing each other.
Thank you Robin. I don’t know if I would like a Demolition Derby. I am not much in demolition 🙂 I rather love it when old things are given a new life, like it is in the Tannery. They sometimes crash by accident, but they repair it and start all over again 🙂 Many of these guys have no means to buy a new car.
I am afraid that I won’t write anything until summer. I have material for the blog for a year ahead, but my mind is somewhere else these days. I will keep in touch and visit other blogs until I am ready to post again.
xx
This is true about the demolition cars, they go to junk yards and fix up there old cars. I never would imagine liking this competition either. I understand completely! 💐
I’m so worried. If you have anything you need to let me know, you can write on a post from a week or so ago. . . I will keep you in my prayers. 🙏 💗 Take care, dear Inese.
Thank you Robin. I will probably take a break until June. ❤
Interesting event. Not sure I have ever seen anything like this in the US. Enjoyed the pix – you did very good with the motion shooting. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much! I have never posted any of my drift pictures on this blog before. Actually, I haven’t posted a lot of everything 🙂 Glad you like them – it was fun to shoot, and the result is always a surprise for myself 🙂
Something my husband would enjoy!
Michele, you both would enjoy it 🙂