Great Texas 2008 - Photographer's Blog

GPS Tracker

2008-12-07T14:46:00.001-06:00

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

Static Map of where I am, using my BlackBerry and InstaMapper.com, IF I have the app turned on and shared. Refresh for updates.

Free is Killing Me!

2008-06-29T07:07:00.005-05:00

For the photographer shooting on spec means: Spending your time to travel, photograph, edit, submit (and all other activities related) to delivering submitted images. In addition to this it also invloves self financing all of your camera equipment, automobile expense, insurance, camera repair (and all other photography expenses).

By Matt Brown
Stop working for free!

Next time you're in the local hardware store, ask the salesman to give you free tools and tell him in return you will tell all your friends you got your tools from his hardware store.

Or try it at the grocery store. I can see it now, standing at the check at line: "That will be $102.85, sir."

"You don't know me but I will tell everyone I know to shop at Ralph's if I can just get my groceries for free". "

Sure Mr. Brown nobody knows about us yet, here's your food and have a nice day!"

Sweet!

Can you send me a photo? Can I get a photo for free? We will give you credit for the photo!

How many times have you heard that?

Free! Free! Free!

I've had CBS.com, Wilson Sporting Goods Global Marketing, Fox Sports, ESPN.com, ABC, CBS, Fox, Rivals.com, Baseball America, college websites and yes, newspapers, magazines, all ask for FREE photos. Some are even willing to give me photo credit.

Wow! Give me photo credit for a photo I created!

So these companies can take it and make money from a product I provided free. Yes, money. The bottom line here is money. Give me your photos for free and I can post them on their company website or run it in a publication... what a concept!

continued here..... http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1989

(Matt Brown is a freelance photographer based in Southern California. You can see his work at his SportsShooter.com member page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/mattb and at his personal website: http://www.mattbrownphoto.com/. He is also the co-director of the Sports Shooter Academy.)

Anatomy of a Flip

2008-06-28T23:24:00.000-05:00

Random Photos Slideshow

2008-06-25T11:29:00.001-05:00

Random photos from the 2008 GT300. These include wierd crops, slightly soft but still interesting, tight crops, small file sizes, good for the web but not suitable for printing

GT300 Compilation Video

2008-06-17T22:39:00.001-05:00

A highly compressed compilation of video clips taken at the GT300 in 2008

Helping hands in the surf

2008-06-16T13:38:00.000-05:00

Broken rudder less than 1 minute in

2008-06-16T09:26:00.000-05:00

You can almost see the exact minute Team Chums broke their left rudder less than one minute into the 300 mile endurance race. Repairs where made on the beach and they were off again after a 17 minute pitstop.

Got Surf?

2008-06-16T09:20:00.000-05:00

This year was some of the best surf I've seen for this event. It provided some great action, a few broken masts, a few strandings on deserted island. The Great Texas 300 makes Survivor look like a reality TV game show!

Team Chums negotiating the surf

2008-06-16T09:16:00.000-05:00

The Race is over....and everyone is still alive!

2008-06-14T23:54:00.003-05:00

Seriously...this year I'm surprised there were no major injuries, or worse, deaths. Masts and rudders....replaceable. Expensive, but replaceable none-the-less.

I come back to this race because of the people. I've met some stand-up (top shelf) people here. Cat sailors are a breed apart for sure. I saw a t-shirt last night at Surfside that said something like 'Cat Sailors aren't Pussies'...or something to that effect. And after this year's GT I think you've all proven that. But, it's not what people do for me that makes them stand-up, and out, it's what I witness them doing for others. There's too many to name names....it's just the whole collective of cat sailors.

I grew up on the water...learned to sail at my dad's knee. Went on to the navy, spent years working on foriegn factory freezers and such....so I'm no slouch when it comes to the sea....even have awards for rescuing people...but that's another story. I raced monohulls for years...inshore and offshore....always had a cabin to take shelter in...longest race was half a day or so. I just couldn't do what you guys do. I'd LOVE to do what you guys do.....but I know that halfway through a 100 mile leg, you just can't get off if something happens..injuries, heat exhaustion, whatever. So, my hat's off to cat sailors.

My job is hard enough following this race. On top of the long drives, my day kind of starts when the last boat is ashore. Sorting through 100's of photos, trying to find internet connections, digging the sand out of delicate equipment, etc.

But, I also get to see an outside view of the road crews closer than most. I share the long drives with them, and I watch them setting up on the beach...sometimes just in the nick of time, or sometimes with hours to spare. I watch them worry when they hear reports, that their boat is in trouble; or worse, that they don't hear from their boat at all. I watch them pack everything up again once their boat dips below the horizon. This year even had a few extra surprises, and everyone pulled together to make sure everything went off smoothly. When you say 'road crew/team manager' the first name that comes to mine is Terry, and my advice to any rookie is 'follow Terry's lead'. This ain't your father's Vista Cruiser on vacation.

Anyways, to the sailors and crews, and the support crews....thanks for all the great photo ops. This year provided some of the best action shots. I don't want to see anyone damage their boat, or experience some other disaster or hardship, but if it happens, I want to be the one to take the picture.

Slideshow - Surfside to Galveston

2008-06-14T23:28:00.001-05:00

Happy to be alive!

2008-06-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

A little too happy if you ask me.

Team Ruffrider at the Finish!

2008-06-14T19:07:00.000-05:00

Hook 'em Horns!

2008-06-14T19:02:00.000-05:00

A Busy Beach

2008-06-14T18:22:00.000-05:00

Green/Fulmer after flip video

2008-06-14T08:47:00.001-05:00

Click To Play

Neccessity is the mother of jury rigging

2008-06-14T08:24:00.000-05:00

60 miles on a screwdriver and a piece of string

Kissing the Beach

2008-06-13T22:09:00.001-05:00

Click To Play

2008-06-13T21:08:00.000-05:00

Lee Wicklund, Team Chums, trying not to stuff it, pitch it, flip it, all of the above, seconds from the finish line.

Start of a bad day

2008-06-13T21:06:00.000-05:00

But still alive

The view from the shore

2008-06-13T21:05:00.000-05:00

Probably not as half as exciting as we can imagine

Contemplating a day on the water

2008-06-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

If Chris only knew that just minutes later he'd be upside down and tangled under this tramp.

Poison Girl closing fast

2008-06-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't wanna see Poison Girl that close to me coming off the surf

Day 2 Clip 3

2008-06-13T20:56:00.001-05:00

Click To Play

Day 2 Clip 2

2008-06-13T20:20:00.000-05:00

Friday Start from Matagorda

2008-06-13T20:10:00.000-05:00

Day 2 Clip1

2008-06-13T17:28:00.001-05:00

Matagorada Finish on Thursday

2008-06-13T13:57:00.001-05:00

Update

2008-06-13T13:54:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the delay. Right now I'm sitting on Surfside beach waiting for yesterday's photos to finish updating. Matagorda was internetless for me so I'm behind on updating. I have about 3 short video clips ready to go, and some real surf-breaking, and boat breaking action photos.

GT300 SPI-Mustang Clip 1

2008-06-12T09:51:00.001-05:00

Click to Play

GT300 SPI-Mustang Clip 3

2008-06-12T06:44:00.000-05:00

Click To Play

GT300 SPI-Mustang Clip 2

2008-06-12T06:23:00.001-05:00

Click To Play

SPI-Mustang Clip 1

2008-06-12T06:04:00.000-05:00

Click To Play

Mustang Island Finish Leg 1 Slideshow

2008-06-11T21:41:00.002-05:00

Uber Fast

2008-06-11T21:18:00.000-05:00

Team Ruffrider is sailing so fast the numbers are peeling off!

TCDYC on fire this year!

2008-06-11T16:06:00.000-05:00

2008 GT300 is smokin' hot!!!!

2008-06-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

Roads Closed for Great Texas 300

2008-06-11T15:58:00.000-05:00

Highway 77 was closed for a few minutes after the Great Texas 300 Road Crew race started a grass fire. The boat trailer detached from Chris Green's TDCYC emblazoned RV and came to a stop in the meridan. Steel on concrete must have sparked the grass, as by the time I came over the hill smoke was billowing across the roadway. Local police quickly shutdown the roadway while we quickly reattached the trailer to save it from the fire. Scooter and all were saved. No injuries, but it's slowing down the road crews.

Start

2008-06-11T11:10:00.000-05:00

Sticker Shock

2008-06-11T08:13:00.001-05:00

Future GT300 hopeful Antonio helps his dad apply the mandatory GT300.com graphics to the Team Chums boat

Beuerlein to sail naked!

2008-06-11T06:52:00.003-05:00

In a bold statement, reminiscent of Babe Ruth calling his home run, Mike 'mark spitz' Beuerlein has not only predicted his team, Team Quiksilver, will WIN the 2008 Great Texas 300, but when they do, he will cross the finish line, in his terms, 'buck-ass naked'.

In related news, when asked to comment on Beuerlien's prediction, Team Quicksilver skipper Aaron McCulley stated that, 'in the interest of protecting the general public on Galveston's East Beach, I will do whatever is neccasary to prevent that from happening.' McCulley was later seen loading a drogue anchor onto his boat.

Sea Turtle Rescue Center

2008-06-10T17:32:00.001-05:00

Click to Play

Mike Rohrer (Team Sailboat Shop Austin) testing the surf on Practice day!

2008-06-10T16:40:00.002-05:00

Mike Rohrer (Team Sailboat Shop Austin) testing the surf on Practice day!

2008-06-10T15:12:00.000-05:00

Mike Rohrer, of Team Sailboat Shop Austin, goes out for a practice run in the surf.

Surf's Up!

2008-06-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

This is a shot of the surf at about 9am this morning in front of the Tiki.

2008-06-10T09:55:00.000-05:00

Lee Wicklund, of Team Chums, completes the finishing preperations for the race.

Relaxing

2008-06-10T04:15:00.000-05:00

Juke and Sean relaxing on the beach after the boat has been setup.

4am

2008-06-10T04:09:00.002-05:00

It's now 4am and I've been up since three. I can't sleep when something technical is bugging me, and the fact that I couldn't get internet because my blackberry wouldn't connect to my laptop....well, it's something I had to take a nap over. So, now it's working and I managed to upload a photo and a video of Monday at the Tiki.

TJ and I arrived at noon on Monday. The surf was fairly good at noon, but seemed to pick up later in the afternoon, and then mellowed a bit by evening. Lots of teams arriving and it's great seeing all the regulars again. This evening was spent mellowing by the pool with some rum punch mixed up by Sherri (sp?) of Team Chums.

Nothing much more going on. Hoping that someone will be brave enough to challenge the surf tomorrow so we can get some good shots.

Monday at the Tiki

2008-06-10T04:07:00.001-05:00

Click to Play

Break

2008-06-10T03:51:00.000-05:00

Here is the surf at South Padre Island in front of the Tiki on Monday afternoon.

SlideShow from 2007 GT300

2008-06-07T23:35:00.002-05:00

Tracking

2008-06-07T12:52:00.000-05:00

So, I thought I'd jot down some notes during the Great Texas 300 Catamaran Race this year. I'm not 'in' the race per se, but half the adventure of the Great Texas is surviving the landlocked support crew that travels along with the race. Also, trying out some new technology. I can track my progress on www.blackberrytracker.com this year. Some of the boats will be tracking their progress live using an Epirb type device called SPOT. It's the same device used by Bear Grylls on Man vs. Wild tv show. You can track me by going to the BlackBerry Tracker website above, creating a free login, and searching for 'hotshot38'. Sorry, it's the best I can do for free.

Steve Piche, the race's founder, can be tracked here. Also, at the end of the race, Phillipe B. will combine all the tracks from each boats standard GPS and load it into his computer program so that the race can be replayed. It should be interesting to compare the progress of boats that stay near shore vs. those who choose the offshore path in realtime. We are still working out a way to tie in the photographs with the GPS tracking program so that you can see thumbnails of the boats relative to the position they were in at the time.