LAFF TRAKK

I was hired to photograph the new indoor spinning steel roller coaster call Laff Trakk at Hersheypark ( Hershey, Pennsylvania). The coaster is considered a "glow coaster" because of the interior theming of the ride which appears to glow in the dark. I’ve been shooting roller coaster for over 25 years, but when they told me it was inside and I needed my lighting not to over ride the interior theming, I was not sure how I was going to shoot it. I was so concern that I went out a week before with the video cameraman to see the coaster. Of course the construction wasn’t finished and I had just has many question (just keeping it real folks). Anyway the day before the Hershey shoot I had to shoot the new coaster at Six Flags, El Diablo. To get a tight shot of the riders I had to use my Nikon 200-400 and the ideal of using a snoot on my flash to pin-point the light just on the riders pop into my head. This was my very first time using a snoot. I decided to put the flash on camera because it would be able to follow coaster with the flash. If I took the flash off camera, I would have to hope my lighting guy would be able to follow me and the camera while and where I was shooting. Anyway the nice people at Hershey were happy, I’ve seen the photos on a few website and newspapers, the check clear so I was happy, and yes I took a ride on the coaster and enjoyed it.  

The gear for this shoot was: Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200 2.8, Nikon 24-70 2.8, Nikon SB 900 flash. Exposure was 1/60 sec; f 2.8; ISO 1000 shutter priority; Spot metering