Gridlife South Carolina - Behind the Event PART 1 | Circle of Drift #140 - The Circle of Drift

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to the Circle of Drift podcast presented by SIM
HQ. My name is Dawson, and today we
are back at Grid Life in South Carolina, where we'll go over
why usually media guys don't actually drive.
I put so much time and money into making this a business.
One day, you know. You got enough money in camera
gear right here to have a drift car, so you know that why media

(00:22):
guys tend to shoot nice cars more.
You can either have an ugly car or be a bad drive.
You don't. But why drifting is about the
people and not just the car? I have always been about the
people. Yes, I'm out capturing the
action, but in my eyes, without the people behind it, none of

(00:43):
the cars would be here, none of the tracks we would have access
to. Yeah, it's all the people.
And of course, all of that and more.
So make sure you hit that subscribe button down low.
And without further ado, I've been wanting this forever.
I've been in the field. Wherever they throw at me, brush
it, I'll pick myself up. Moving on.
Little better. Ain't no errors, baby.

(01:07):
It's a new error. All right, Well, another
friendly face. Of course we have Lars.
What's up? So how are we?
How you doing? Doing great.
How about yourself? I'm not too bad, man.
It's your first grid life, right?
Grid life. Second grid life.
OK, So what first. First time in South Carolina
though, right? First time in South Carolina,
correct? Sick, how you liking it?
It's great. It's awesome track, great people
you know, good to see a lot of you know, familiar faces.

(01:28):
Absolutely, 100%. Yeah.
How's the the action as far as the camera side goes?
What type of footage are you getting?
Are you doing video at all today?
I've done a little bit, I'm still mostly photo, but a little
I've been going over to that video side slowly.
So yeah, I mean, it's been good.I like that they were on

(01:50):
drifting all day at the car track.
That's kind of nice that you canalways go and see a little bit
of drifting whenever you want. And they got the night stage
stuff too. As for like track stuff, it's a
little bit tough with track access here, but it's still
nice. What do you mean?
So like, you can't get that far out.
Like you can, but if you go out,you're kind of just like stuck

(02:11):
out. There, Yeah.
I mean, that's just great life. Yeah, well, I mean with Lime
Rock it's a little bit differentbecause they don't got like
sections like that, but it's like wherever you kind of walk,
we'll see. Wherever you walk, it's like
connected to gates and and you can just go through a gate to
get back into the track. So at line ball, you kind of
like can go almost anywhere and you don't really have to be

(02:33):
stuck out there. You can move back whenever you
want. With this, it's kind of like,
you know, you get out there and there's a chance you might be
out there for a few hours. So yeah, because they, I mean,
they make a break usually. I mean, depends on what's going
on, but right. And I got lucky because one of
the Grid Life officials went outthere and we were good to move
from because of them. Oh, that's convenient.
Yeah, you go because. If not, I would have probably

(02:54):
been out there for another two hours.
But so have you been shooting mainly the drifting or you've
been doing a lot of the I've? Been trying to get a mess of
both, but a little bit more drifting because still because
that's what I like to do. But I have been capturing too
and I know like some of the drift guys have been doing the
rush stuff as well, which is cool.
So I try to get a little bit of that just because, you know,

(03:14):
it's cool to see the drift, people in the drift.
Scene doing the inch over. Yeah, so just.
Catch. What's your opinion on the rush
stuff? Like what do you think about it?
I think it's cool, like I feel like definitely as a driver, I
feel like that's that's a prettycool thing to be able to do.
It's got to be As for shooting, it's it's it's a mix, you know?
Yeah, you got. They all kind of look the same.

(03:37):
I mean, they they kind of are the same, but.
I feel like it it can look so cool to an extent, yeah, but I
feel like the driving side of itseems like the more fun part of
it. I can see that.
Is there anywhere on track, likenot obviously the the go Kart
track but the the broke horse, is there anywhere specific that
you can kind of get better angles and stuff at?

(03:57):
So I think a good spot, even though there wasn't a lot of
people like throwing it down there was at that.
There's like a far corner over there, Flag Station.
If they if they do drift it, it was a great spot.
But The thing is, it's the finalturn and most people aren't even
drifting it. But for the people that did, it

(04:19):
looks really, really good at that spot.
Yeah, my cover photo for yesterday's post was a spot from
there. See so OK.
Definitely a great angle for sure.
Hell yeah. Well, as far as what events
you're going to be doing, are you going to be doing more grid
life this year? I.
Assume more grid life. At least half of them.
Yeah, definitely. Let me think here.

(04:42):
So I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss a couple of them, but I
want to try to get to as many aspossible.
So anything that I can fit in the schedule, I definitely want
to be at. I think the only thing that
might, yeah, I think there's maybe two or three I might not
be able to make it to. Yeah.
Are. You out here shooting for anyone
specific this is kind of. Kind of kind of general for most

(05:04):
part, there's like a couple of guys that are like, oh, you
know, if you get photos, like let me know and you know,
whatever, like type of thing. But for the most part, it's just
one of those times where I kind of just went out on my own and
did my thing. But yeah, there's, there's a
couple of guys, I think they're just like keeping their eye out.
Like if I get stuff and a coupleof people I've met too, like

(05:24):
they, they kind of let me know like media friends, like, oh, if
you get photos, like these guys will probably want them too.
So kind of stuff like that. And that usually does end up
working out for me too. So that's that's good.
Sick. Well, what cars have you been
focusing on more? We're noticing more, I guess.
Like oh, OK. Better your car looks.
There's there's this one ZI don't know who it is.

(05:45):
It's orange and blue. You might know who.
It is, oh, the RTS car. Yeah, I think it's the RTS car.
I feel bad if it's not I. I'm sorry, I don't know what the
name is, but that guy, he's. Been ripping throwing it.
Down shreds there. He's been, he's been driving,
driving like it's, it's, it's really, really nice to see him
go out there. There was another car, too.

(06:06):
Oh, Cole Richards. This car is cool.
As fuck his car. Y'all can't see it but this car
is cool as fuck. His car is cool.
I was talking to him yesterday and like we were just going over
a bunch of stuff. He's building another car right
now, so that's pretty sick. What?
Is he building? Not 100% sure.
I don't recall the whole conversation.
I was kind of like half and halfin it.

(06:27):
But I know he's building anothercar and he's got that car right
now too. That I mean, that car is crazy.
There was a little bit of a little bit of a commotion at the
night stage thing yesterday. A little, a little.
What do you mean a little FenderBender there?
But wait, what? Not Fender Bender, but there was
an S15 and his car kind of collided together and that was

(06:51):
what the fuck? Yeah, that.
Was how? I don't know, I, I don't.
Like it was on track or? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's at the night stage event like.
Oh, OK. Yeah, they they were tandeming
together and I don't know, someone rather over rotate or
someone stopped or something. I don't know what happened.
It happened, but yeah, I thoughtyou meant here in the pit.
I was like what the fuck? How drunk were?

(07:12):
They no, no, no, but it was likepretty bad though like they were
like really into each other. Yeah.
I think that bash bar helped outa lot, but.
Fairpoint. Fairpoint.
Hell yeah. Well, you have any extra
thoughts on possibly getting into drifting yourself?
You're going to get a car soon, huh?
Huh. Huh.
I feel like that every time I thought you're going to.
Ask I'm going to absolutely. Not at the moment at this, the

(07:39):
budget. The budget just just doesn't do
it right now. I'm telling you that I put so
much, so much time and money into making this a business.
One day, you know it's. It's you got enough money and
camera gear right here to have adrift car, just so you know
that. It's crazy to say that you're
not wrong. Yeah, I know.

(08:00):
But that can make you way more money though.
Yeah, keep going with that. 100%I love, I love doing it.
So I mean, I'm not opposed to the drifting thing.
Yeah, like, like I told you thatthe last time.
But it's just a lot of what do you, you know, drop on top of
what I'm trying to do right now?No, I totally get it.
I love, I mean, I love the mediastuff.
So yeah, you know, but. So have you have you gotten any

(08:23):
better with the video side of things or is it still more
focused on photos? The same it's, it's the thing of
I haven't done too, too much of it since the last time we spoke.
I mean, I'm still learning how to color correct and I'm still
learning how to because I kind of have like this footage that
I've been messing with to try toget better at it.
What? Do you mean like footage you

(08:44):
took or just? Something, yeah, yeah.
Footage I took like I took it like a few events ago.
I just have a little bit of log footage saved and I mean, I'm
just trying to like mess around with it just to, you know,
tamper and learn. Just been watching videos and
talking to buddies of mine that also do it.
And just also like, I mean, I'm,I'm terrible with a tripod for

(09:06):
some reason. I don't know why.
I just like, I feel like that I,my footage comes out better
handheld than with a tripod. So I might just stick to that.
I don't like tripods. Yeah, I tried.
I got like a fluid head, a nice one, and I don't use it.
It sits in my car all the time. I have it there.
I have it there if I might want to do like a long exposure one
day, but you know, that's about it, so.

(09:26):
Other than that, it sucks. I I'm, I don't know what it is,
but I can't comprehend what I'm doing with the camera without
feeling it. Yeah, it's like having mechanics
gloves on when you're trying to tighten a bolt by hand.
Yeah, I can't do it because I can't feel the fucking bolt.
Anyways, that's a whole different.
Yeah, that's a whole. Rampage on that, but the.

(09:47):
Whole rabbit hole, yeah. Oh well, it what's the very next
event you got going? Very next event is the Gambler
next weekend. Oh OK, you're going to be
driving for any or I'm sorry, not driving for anyone, shooting
for anyone specific. That's still a.
I'm not sure yet. TBD.
Not sure yet. Yeah, TBD possibility, but I

(10:09):
won't say anything yet because I'm not sure.
Yet that means hit him up because you need me to Gambler
let me know. Should go talk to Nate Chin.
Are you the OK? Yeah.
So we're figuring that out. Cool, dude.
Hell yeah. Well, that's.
Funny coincidence you say that. Yeah, right.
So. He's the first person I thought
of that even does the gamblers. Yeah.
I mean, I got a there is a buddyof mine too that's driving it,

(10:32):
but it'll probably just be a more like not shooting 4, but
just like I'll get you a few things.
That type of deal. That usually happens to me a lot
just like I happen to be there and it's like, hey, you got a
few things for me, like I'll take it whatever, you know, and
it works something out. So that's what happens a lot
just because that's the thing ofjust me showing up and then
things happen while I'm here. That's.
Usually Drifters are broke anyway, so that's probably the

(10:52):
biggest part of the problem. Yeah, that's that's just be
honest. So my my buddies always told me
that like with drifting, it was kind of going to be like tough
to naked a business with drifting just because of
everyone. Yeah.
And the second I get in the rally, literally like after the
first event, I already got to goshoot for a team.

(11:12):
So it's like. Damn good shit, dude, yeah.
So that's I've seen the difference right away.
Yeah, one rally event and something happened.
Drifting is just not big enough as a sport yet.
We're getting there. I mean, we're not there.
Yet it's pretty big though. It's getting there.
I mean if you think about it, they literally have a whole
separate track just for driftingat a grid life event.

(11:32):
Yeah, but that's only here in South Carolina.
Just because yeah, you have the access to the cart track.
I think it's crazy too, because so when we were at the media
meeting, they wow that boy loud when we were at the media
meeting, a lot of like, I forgetwhat she had said.
Oh, she was saying, I know a lotof you guys are here for

(11:53):
drifting. So but, you know, just she said
something else after that, but she mentioned that most of us
were there for drifting. Yeah.
So if that says anything, I mean, they obviously know that
there's a lot of people coming here for the drifting part of
it. Yeah.
But The Drifters can't back the media demand that drifting has
as well. It's.
Crazy too, though, because they have like the smallest amount of

(12:15):
seat time out of everything. Yeah.
So got to got to extend a littlebit, you know?
I'd say yes, but no argument there, man.
I ain't arguing with you. Yeah, Hell yeah.
Well, I guess. What do you else you got going
on this year? Is there anything you want to
announce or specific special events?
I'd say like biggest things right now, first, first year of

(12:39):
FDFD you're going. To be doing FD media at FD,
sure. Yep.
So all, every round. Prospect not yeah, working into
pro for next year, hopefully, but prospect for this year at
least. Unless that changes, I'm not
opposed to it. So right.
And also possibility of NASCAR. NASCAR.

(13:01):
That's wild. So that's a possibility that
we'll see. Maybe you should say anything
you say for who is anyone specific?
Or is it just to go be able to? Do it.
So I have, I have some buddies at the thedrive.com, OK.
And a really, really good friendof mine, Aaron, he, he helped me
out and we're working on trying to get that to be a thing

(13:24):
because the NASCAR Truck Series is coming back to Lime Rock for
the first time in 14 years, so. Wow.
So they're we're trying to get something set up for that.
That would be the Super cool. It's tough because I guess mid
Ohio real life is going on at the same time.
I heard, but I did also hear. I don't think they're doing
drifting at that one. Wait, what I said, I don't think

(13:44):
they're doing drifting at mid Ohio.
That's what I. Heard.
No, I think that's only like. Only racing the GLTC, the GLTC
stuff, yeah. So I will say I plan to go to
usually the ones that have drifting at them because that's
part a big part of it. So right.
But yeah, definitely, hopefully that works out and I look
forward to that. Besides that, just a regular,

(14:08):
just like try to do as many gridlayers, try to keep doing the
rally stuff because I do love itas much as that's a lot, a lot
of work, yeah. And.
I get it. My, my, my last rally was
probably more eventful than the one before it.
So, you know, it's, I feel you do it seems like every time I do
it, it gets more and more eventful.
So. Yeah, tornadoes live.

(14:31):
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, cool. I hope this year goes great for
you. And I appreciate that you had
another good life soon. And I'll see you probably at the
next. One go out there and get some
good shots, man. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Absolutely.
Appreciate you making the time. Thank you very much.
Yo dude, when's your first event?

(14:54):
I think it's in, like, I think it's in two weeks, something
like that. But dude, have you even ordered
tires yet? Oh, my God, you're right, dude.
Thanks for that reminder. I got to do that.
Yeah, no problem, man. Have you tried the Zek Nova's
yet? I mean, I've been tossing around
the idea of doing that, but I think realistically, I'm just
going to buy some cheap Walmart tires like I usually do.
No. OK, No, we're not doing that.

(15:15):
You've had plenty of seat time by now.
You need proper tires. But what do you mean proper
tires? Well what I mean by proper tires
is like better grip, more consistency, longer life, and as
weird as it sounds, even smells better.
But bro there's so much more expensive.
No no no no. Just use the circle drift code.
It's like 20% off yo. Wait really?
But what? What do I do for the next event?

(15:38):
Well then just use it again. I mean you can literally use it
all season if you want. Well shit, you ain't going to
tell me twice. I'm going to do that.
Same goes for you too. If you're looking to get your
tires before the 1st event. Maybe it's coming up quick.
Drop down below to the link to ZIC Nova tires and use the code
Circle Adrift to get 20% off. We have a new face.
Of course we got Sam on. This is your type shot.

(15:58):
That's my camera. Yeah, that's you.
It's all you, bud. Perfect.
Yeah. So we got Sam on, Probably known
from drifting me for the most part, right?
Yeah, mostly. Okay, Well, cool.
Tell me a little bit about yourself or anyone that doesn't
know who you are, what you do, how you're involved in all of
this, so on and so forth. I guess I can call myself a
professional finally, but I am aprofessional automotive

(16:20):
Motorsports photographer. This is actually my 11th year in
drifting. I was just thinking about it.
Before I worked over here. 4/20 was my very first drift event in
April 2020 or 2014 rather. Wow.
This is coming up on my 11th year in drifting actually.
And like you said, I started with Drift Indy.

(16:40):
They're organization based out of Indianapolis.
They do a lot at Killcare, whichis my home track.
You've been at Killcare? Now what?
Do you think of Killcare? Dude, arguably one of the best
Oval tracks to drive I. Think so for drifting right on.
The fact that you have the elevation changes going into the
bank. Actually bank like.
The fact that you'll actually utilize the bank. 100%.

(17:00):
Is what's special about it. Most people with any Oval track
will venture away from the banksfor the safety of the lower
level drivers. Yeah drift Indy don't give a
fuck dude. You get with the programmer, get
out dog. Throw into the gauntlet for
sure. And so amazing.
I think from that, like I think Drift Indy breeds some really
good drivers. Like even Scott from Grip Royal
had mentioned when you guys cameout to No Star Bash last year,

(17:22):
he was like, oh, this track actually covers so many
different things. You're on the bank, you have a
slower infield section. You can get some high speed
entries at Killcare like and in the same way that drivers do.
That's where I cut my teeth as aphotographer.
Been shooting Killcare for 10 years now.
I'm going to be there here next weekend.
That's my home, baby. Yeah, second, that's the home

(17:44):
track. I love it, man.
Yeah, it's, we affectionately call it Killcar.
It is taken out a lot of stuff, especially in my tenure over the
last 10 years, I've seen a lot of, I've seen a lot of cars get
eaten up by those walls. You know, and they're, they're
not ugly cars either. It's all nice cars.
Dude, it's all it's all nice cars.
I mean, like I'm here with B Wagthis weekend.

(18:06):
You'd probably know B Wag. Yeah, S13 Vert, like all the
Dayton boys. They're super stylish cars like
Edgar's running. What we'll be there for next
weekend is street league and GP.Yeah, yeah.
So, you know, obviously the street league and GP cars like
those guys get hold held to a pretty high standard.
Like I think they just said likeif your car is not stylish
you're going to fail tech. Absolutely.
That's how it should be dude. So yeah, we got to.

(18:28):
Get mad if you want. We got to keep the Midwest
looking good, looking clean, like Bewags out here
representing for the weekend. I'm out here representing for
the weekend. We're trying to show everybody
what the Midwest is made of. Yeah, dude.
So what's OK? What is your your conception on
that whole idea of your car looking good versus just being a
beater car, so on and so forth. All right, you are on the

(18:48):
videographer. OK, so like I might hurt some
feelings here, but like the way that I've always said it as a
photographer and let me not talkmy shit, I'm not a driver, I
can't do this. I don't have I have a car.
I'm not sinking all this money into this.
But like you can either have an ugly car or be a bad driver.
You don't. But sometimes the hottest cars,

(19:12):
those dudes and you know, whether it's suspension,
whatever, they can't drive. No, sometimes a good looking car
can't drive and I can still makethat look good.
But if you in a bad car and you can't drive, I got nothing for
you, man. I'm not a miracle worker.
Oh yeah, dude. It's so true though, because
like at this event last year, mycar did not put down a single

(19:34):
lap that was worth the fuck. Like I could not keep the tire
spinning, wasn't making boost. And somehow afterwards they're
collected by Mike. Dude, you know what I'm talking
about. OK, so he put together somehow a
reel of me actually driving and drifting just by breaking the
tires loose into a turn, and of course it just bogs immediately,
but you see none of it. No, dude.

(19:55):
Well, and like as a video, it's a little bit harder.
Like it is bad respect to those guys.
But like me as a photographer, one of my favorite shots.
Is the frame rate before you over rotate where like it looks
where it looks like a driver's gangster angle, like they're
holding it down and then it's just like, no.
But if you look at my hard drivetwo or three frames later, y'all

(20:17):
are. He's reversed.
Reversed. Yeah, backwards.
But like, I'm not going to do myboys dirty like that.
I don't tell my secrets, you know?
That's just a gangster shot. My boy was going backwards.
Whenever you see somebody else'spicture, do you notice that?
Do you? Like, I know that motherfucker
spun. Well, and like, I just noticed
that from like being out inside the car for so long.
I've been shooting this for 10 years.
Like I can tell the attitude of a car.

(20:39):
I can tell when somebody's goingto spin, often times two turns
before they do like, oh, they'reon the wrong line.
They're going to get set up for that.
I got to watch out, you know, that stuff that I have to think
about as a photographer of like,how am I going to stay safe?
You know, I paying attention to the attitude of the car.
A lot of camera guys get too stuck in the screen, don't
realize where the hell they are,dude, they're stuck in that 100

(20:59):
millimeter lens, you know? Man, it's, it's scary out there,
man. Like Drift Appalachia, doing
that kind of stuff. You really got to be on your
toes. You got to have full situational
awareness. Like I tell a lot of guys, like
at parking lots, like, dude, this shit ain't worth dying
over. Yeah.
It's really. Not we're in a parking lot.
Absolutely not. What's OK?
So what is your opinion on the Drift Appalachia stuff?

(21:21):
And, you know, media, not certain media not being provided
or allowed to come, sorry. It's.
Drivers as well. Yeah, it's, I think personally,
it's exclusive for a reason. There.
I've been, since I've been to almost every single one of them.
The only round of Drift Appalachia that I haven't
photographed was the first time in Beckley.
And I just had a conflict. Yeah, but when we were at the

(21:44):
very first one, you don't reallyunderstand the gravity of it
until you're there and you're standing on the hill and you're
like, Oh, no, hang on, This is serious.
Like, this isn't just a skid padwith the boys.
This isn't even just a road course with the boys.
You got cheese graters and. A6 drifting gifts, Yeah.

(22:04):
Between you and the guardrail and it, or with the guardrail
between you like it's, it's veryserious.
And I understand why the exclusivity exists.
And I, I don't blame them for it.
Like the safety regulations are some of the highest I've ever
personally seen in drifting. They require full Hans arm
restraints for anyone involved, like a passenger or driver.

(22:27):
Like they, they take it very seriously at drift Appalachia.
And I think that kind of alludesto the exclusivity a little bit.
And I think it's warranted, personally.
Oh 100% I just first hand experiencing it myself.
Just being around in the atmosphere and everything dude
it's insane. It is the closest thing drifting
has ever been to possible death.Like I mean.

(22:48):
It's dude, unreal, Yeah. Every car that comes down so is
inches from dying a. 110% And it's like there was a the very
first time we went out, the veryfirst time we were ever on the
hill for that first event, I wasstanding out there with like
Russo from 992. Caleb Kwanbek was out there
shooting with us. Saying yeah.
Dude, I think like four or five of us went up in a truck.

(23:10):
There was only a handful of us. We went up in a truck and we're
on the hill for what feels like an hour before cars get and
we're just standing there like we're we're just standing there
going, hey, do you think I'm safe here?
Like take three steps to the left.
Like there's no. Map for it though, like we.
Don't know what we had no idea what to expect until cars

(23:30):
started coming, so that's why I'm excited for this next round
in two weeks. The very first round is back in
Beckley, WV, just here in two weeks and I'm very.
That's where it started, you said, right?
So that was where the first official event was.
OK. So like in my eyes at least, and
I might be wrong and I hope I don't get in trouble, but like
in my eyes, the very first official event was in Beckley.

(23:53):
It was at the end of 23 season. Got you.
So we did the first event in correlation with Drift Indy
Street League down in Corbin, KYin like October of 20, right?
We, we did street league in Corbin at their Event Center.
It was a really good time. And then the next day we went
out to the mountain and did all of that.
And it was only a one day thing.So then the second time they got

(24:17):
up, they went out to Beckley andeverything went out that way.
It's all official. Which which round were you at
You. Were in.
I was at the last round of last year, OK, I think that was the
final day. Kentucky.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The Kentucky.
Wasn't very far from me at all, really.
Right? Three hours or.
Something some dude that's. Not hateful at all.
That's not hateful at all. Yeah.
But I, I, I love Beckley. I'm very excited to go back to

(24:38):
Beckley because of the whole like resort situation that they
do. Yeah, Slade was Slade.
The I keep getting Slade and Hazard are the 2 they did in
Kentucky. Slade was the one that we had
the boat ramp and everything there for our pits.
Was that right? That was the last one.
Beckley sounds more familiar. Yeah.
See, I think it's probably. Beckley do you remember the one

(24:59):
that you were at where we pittedlike in a parking lot or were we
on? The right, Yeah, you're in a
parking lot. And then the hotel was up top.
Yeah, OK. And so that was, yeah, so.
That was Slade and we had the, the whole resort situation,
which I think is like really, really cool.
They do that at Slade. They, they're doing it at
Beckley, like in Beckley next weekend.
We stay at this resort. Yeah.
And the boys, Kyle and Bewag, they went to the first one and I

(25:22):
didn't. So I had no idea what to expect,
right? And they kept going.
The second one, the very first round last year was also in
Beckley. So this is the the only Rd. that
they've been back to twice at all.
And now they're going back a third time.
That's easy. And the boys are talking about
like, oh, resort this, resort that.
And I'm like, dude, resort in West Virginia.

(25:43):
We're about to pull up to a log cap.
Yeah, gravel road, right? Like at best.
And then we pull up to this resort and I'm like, oh.
We don't. Belong here.
We're a type of resort like for.Real.
It was gorgeous. Oh, dude, yeah.
And like the, the opportunities that they give for us, like
especially with the resort stuff, what I love about it is

(26:05):
like, it's not, you know, and, and grid life does the same
thing for a lot of for all intents and purposes.
Like what sucks about a drift event a lot of the times is like
you're having a good time, you're driving together, I'm out
shooting, everybody's having their own day.
But at the end of the day, you go, all right, man, I'll see you
tomorrow. Like you don't really catch up.

(26:25):
You maybe get to spend an hour or two.
But like with stuff like grid life, with stuff like Drift
Appalachia, it's not like it's not I'll see you tomorrow.
It's I'll see you later tonight.There's something going on that
we're. All gonna the vibe keeps going.
And that work, that's what rulesman.
That's my favorite part about events over the last few years.
Is like the hangs afterwards. Yeah, that's what makes all this
whole entire sport is built off of relationships, whether it's

(26:49):
through the as grassroots as it gets, just going out to fun
events or even this stuff when you're doing business deals and
like all sorts of shit, like it's all, it's all about the
relationships and relationships that you're doing.
It's crazy. I have always been about the
people like, I don't know, like,you know, my work for a couple
of years. Yeah.
But like, I mean, ask anyone that's known me for years and
years and years is like, my focus is on the people.

(27:12):
Yes, I'm out capturing the action.
Yes, I'm on track getting the cool shots.
But in my eyes, without the people behind it, none of the
cars would be here, None of the tracks we would have access to.
Yeah, it's all the people, 110%.And that's what keeps me coming
back and drifting for over 10 years now is the people.
Yeah, that some of the candid shots that you get just

(27:35):
throughout, you know, drivers meetings or when we're just all
sitting in a circle. Like I know your average driver
probably doesn't even notice half of that shit.
But like, I see you crunched down in the most awkward
position ever behind a car, trying to get foreground and
background and all sorts of things put together.
And like, most people just wouldnever even bat an eye at how

(27:56):
much thought process and effort goes through that.
And it's definitely shown. It's I see it.
That means a lot to me. Thank you very.
Much, of course. Dude, I have.
I have always said that I want to be a storyteller.
Yeah, In high school, when people ask me what I wanted to
do. Like I want to tell stories in
whatever way. That manifests.
Like, I was a filmmaker in high school.
I did theater for a bunch of years.

(28:18):
I love telling stories. Yeah.
And over time, I learned that I'm just best at telling stories
through photographs. Like 1 frame can say so much and
like video sick I love video. Shout out to all the video guys
cuz I hate doing. Anything my next question.
All right, yeah, we'll get into that.
But like, I want to be able to tell a story with one picture.

(28:43):
I don't want any questions unanswered.
I don't want. Anybody arguably more impressive
to be able to tell a full story in a picture rather than even a
single clip of a video. Yeah, and like in no shade to,
to video or anything like that, but I just, I personally like, I
will never take for granted the ability to capture a moment in

(29:03):
time. That is something that I am
very, very grateful for. It's led me to incredible places
in my life. Like one picture can mean
everything to someone you know, And I just try to do that for
people. It's my favorite thing ever.
I bet it lights yourself up too.Whenever you finally get that
one shot, that man lights someone else up.

(29:23):
Yeah, yeah, it absolutely does. Like I admittedly like people
might go look at my Instagram and they'll be like, wow, this
dude posts once a month. And I was like, yeah, I do post
once a month because I don't care about social.
Media. I care about, like, the people
in the photo getting the photo. Yeah.
Because I say everything that I do, I do for the memories.
What I want is for 20 years fromnow, I want you to go back and

(29:48):
be able to look at one of my photos of you sitting in this
booth here in Carolina and go, man, I used to do some really
cool shit. And you might still.
Be up to some cool shit. But like that is genuinely my
mindset 2030 years from now. We all got kids, we're all done.
Whatever is going on in our lives, we can still look back
and go. We did that.

(30:09):
Yeah, that's cool, you know. In theory, that's the whole, not
the whole point of this, but theconcept behind this 100% is that
no matter how I don't know, that's why I'm heavily invested
in grassroots drivers too. Yeah, man, I don't want just
the, you know, the James Dean or, you know, Ryan literals and
all these crazy drivers in FD. Like, yeah, sure, that's good.

(30:30):
That gets views, but like, what if I just picked the runt out of
the mix and he goes up to be thenext James Dean 100% but I got
his story from now. Dude, that's insane.
And he will always get to come back to that himself and be
like, dude, I get to stay humblebecause I get to listen to
myself speak on how stupid I wasbut how great I was doing at the

(30:51):
same time like that. I don't know dude, I get stuck
in those things. Like I, I think the history is
just as important. Like one thing that I always
talk about is like, you know, you're scrolling on social media
and you see the photo of grandmaand grandpa with their 55 Chevy
in 55, you know, but like somebody has to take those
photos for us to have those photos, you know, So that's,

(31:14):
that's all it is for me is like,I want something for us to look
back on. Absolutely.
Do you ever feel like the legacyof a photographer or
videographer is often gone? Gone unseen throughout its
entirety because you are left sobehind the camera the entire
time. I don't think so, but I I think
I might be a special use case. In this point.

(31:37):
I'm a. Very outspoken personality.
I'm, I'm very, I'm very recognizable.
I've kind of always made myself that way, dude.
I think the first time I saw himor even really like, chatted
with you was here last year and you guys were in a fucking
banana costume or some shit. No, wasn't that you?
That was for sure not. Me.
That wasn't you. Who was that?

(31:57):
You remember that? It was someone as tall as fuck
like you, and he had a beard, soit must have.
It was somebody similar to you or something.
I don't know, but that's what was.
Funny as well, I have AI have a very striking look to me.
I walked, I rocked the cowboy hat now, like and that genuinely
so much of a part of that is so drivers can see me really.

(32:18):
I want my. It's always been that way back
in the day, like when I first started shooting in Drift Indy,
like I always wore camo and I still wear military pants just
because they're great. Yeah, but like I always wore
camo pants on track. And then for a while, Edgar let
me just wear Hawaiian shirts instead of.
Hawaiian best and you guys know like the Hawaiian shirt dude it

(32:39):
was. Tight.
I loved it. I miss those days.
So like I, I have always tried to make myself distinguishable
to the drivers on track and for specific reasons, like there's a
shot that I got or there's two shots that I got at the most
recent. I track Polecat there, right?
And it rained out and like it's a mess.

(32:59):
The end of Section 1 had this giant puddle in it.
And I'm over there trying to getphotos of people hitting the
puddle and everybody's shutting down because they don't want to
fuck up their car. They don't want to.
Like they don't want something to go wrong.
I get that. So there was two different
people, Sam Holzman and Mike Fiock, both came up to me in the
pits after that session, and I got these crazy giant splash

(33:21):
photos. I'm talking 10 feet over the
car, right? And both of them said they saw
me and said, all right, I'll go for it.
Yeah. So like.
There's been plenty of times where I've done that exact
thing, yeah. Exactly.
And it's like, as much as it's just like this is a sun hat and
it keeps me from. Getting sunburned.
Because I'm super pale, but alsolike no matter where I'm

(33:42):
standing, my drivers, my friendsknow where I'm at.
Yeah. And I think that's really cool
because it. Leads to something to find that
photo. Yeah, it leads to some special
shots. Like I remember Fiat has said to
me before. He's like, Oh yeah, there's Sam
over there. Let me show him the wise fab.
You know, just let me angle out a little bit.
And here check out the inside ofmy wheel. 110% and I love that

(34:03):
because like I love when my friends show off for me.
We're all, we're all just here to show off.
So like, let's see it, man. Yeah, well, why haven't you
ventured into any video? Explain what the distinguish is
for you personally on why you can't make that story in a
video. I I won't say that I can't.
I'm trying to. A lot of people ask me for

(34:26):
video. I'm going to be honest, it's
what makes money nowadays. I mean here we are recording a.
Video. I mean, you're kind of arguing
differently, though. Like you're out here making
money off of this photo, Yeah. Yeah, that is super fair.
I just video requires so much forethought in my mind.
Like there's a lot of planning that goes into it.

(34:48):
There's a lot of there's just a lot.
Actually, you know what, I can sum this up really easy.
The very first DSLRI ever bought.
I was actually like a film maker.
I was in high school, I was writing scripts.
I almost went. To college.
For film. Fuck that.
And I got a DSLR and I'm shooting video.
And then I found out that takingphotos is way easier you.

(35:12):
See those videos of like some dude with a massive gimbal and a
crazy camera taking a video going.
Slow like half this weekend I have spent with a camera that
literally fits in my pocket and I've taken some of my favorite
photos of the season thus far with this little guy.
What are you shooting on? This is a Fujifilm X100, my

(35:32):
primary. This is like my fun camera.
Yeah, my primary camera is a Canon R6.
I also shoot Canon 5D4. Like literally the first camera
that I bought when I was 15 years old was a Canon and I've
shot cannon ever since. That's crazy.
My first one was an M50I. Ended up one Sony.
Yeah, yeah, of. Course.
Yeah, no, I ended up down that route of it.
Rabbit hole. See, and like, I'm not a gear

(35:54):
guy. I don't admittedly, I don't know
how cameras really work. I just like taking pictures.
All it is for me. You're proving it to work no
matter what. I mean YouTube will teach you
anything if dude YouTube. University, well, and that's
like a lot of the video stuff that I know I taught myself on
YouTube and stuff like that. So it's like to go back to your
initial question, it's not, it'snot that like video's a totally

(36:18):
foreign concept to me. It's like an old friend that I'm
not very acquainted with anymore.
That's fair. And from the video that I used
to do, which was genuinely like I've shot a couple feature
length films. They're not bad or they're not
good, and we're not going to talk about them.
Because it was in high school. Oh, I want to talk about it.
Let's go. No, no, no, no, no, no.
They're on their young YouTube somewhere.
I'm not going to give any information.

(36:38):
But tag them in the comments. You might be able to find it.
Put the link in the comments. But like it was just it's
different working in that manner.
You have a script to follow and there's beats and all of it is
written and there's so much pre production before you ever get
to post production that you kindof have a general idea of what

(36:59):
you're going to be doing once you sit down at your desk versus
this stuff like, I don't know man, I don't know.
Open source dog. I'm winging it.
I have. Yeah, exactly.
Like I have no idea how to tell this story.
And a lot of film makers always talk about like the story
happens in the edit. And I've found that that's very
much true. Like I don't know what you.

(37:20):
Shoot for the edit as best as possible, but the story will
always finalize itself. In 110% so it's like.
Yeah, I mean, you always have the concept and the basic like
shots and details to a video that you need to make sure is
there. But there's also that like one
of one stuff that just happens on a whim.

(37:41):
Yeah, that really feeds the story.
And there's no amount of predicting you can do to do,
yeah. Absolutely.
Well, and I think that's just the nature of Motorsports.
You know, like I said, I came from theater and filmmaking
environment where you have full control over everything that's
happening. That's the whole point.
Yeah, You have control over everything.

(38:01):
I have control over how much sound is in the room, Right,
Right. Versus here is like, I've always
kind of felt I call myself like a documentary photographer.
I'm just capturing what's happening in front of me.
I have no influence on the scenewhatsoever.
Yeah. And it's a very different story
to tell in that way. Absolutely man, I love that.

(38:21):
That's good advice dude, and good chats.
As far as from a photographer's standpoint, what is your advice
you could give to drivers that could help them with their media
and like being up to afford a photographer?
That's my point. OK, yeah, I'm.
Tired of drivers being cheap? Yeah, yeah.

(38:43):
I mean, and that's, that's something that I still struggle
with to this day. Like I, I personally like the
reason it took me so long for this to become a career of mine
is because I didn't want to makea living off of my friends.
I had no interest in that. All of my friends oftentimes get
media for free because they're my friends and I just want to
give them what I do. That's how I share my love.

(39:05):
It's a gift from me to you. But what I have struggled with
most of my life, still to this day, a year into this profession
now full time, is like discounting myself.
I often undervalue myself. Whereas like the way that I've

(39:25):
started pitching it to myself. And again, this is like this
month I've had this conversationwith myself.
Of like. People are asking you for this
because they need it, not because they want it, not
because it's something fun to have.
They need this content. We have an inherent value in use
in our work. Sometimes, and especially as an

(39:48):
artist, as a creator, we're our worst critic.
We don't see that. But it's taken me 10 years to
go. Hang on.
I should be getting paid for this.
Yeah, dude. You should.
Because I just way more than youprobably are right now.
I and that's that's just part ofthe game.
That's something we all have to navigate.
You know, Larry Chan always talks about like there's room

(40:09):
for everybody. And I think I believe that too.
But it's also just, you know, there's corporate entities and
I'm just a little guy, like no different than the driver that
you were talking about earlier, like a kid in the dirt, the
grassroots guy. I'm the same way.
You know, I've been shooting grassroots for nine years and
now I'm in the professional world and it's a different ball
game. It's a totally different ball

(40:31):
game. Absolutely.
So I think that like to, to put it succinctly, like the best
advice that I can give is to know your value.
And it's very hard to put a dollar sign on that.
And especially for someone like me, we're like, I've just been
doing this for the love of the game.
I do it because I love it. It's hard to put a dollar sign
on that because I'm just grateful to.

(40:51):
Be here. And especially with the common
knowledge of a photo being so devalued in general now, it's
that makes it even harder. So at least with video, you know
you can go off of the basis of someone else that's doing the
exact same thing right now because that's what is
happening. Yeah.
And like, what I'm working on inmy business right now is, like,
building packages and going, OK,this is what 5 photos is worth

(41:14):
to a driver? Yeah, this is what 5 photos is
worth to a company, you know, and trying to figure out.
And I burn myself a time or two.I asked for too much money,
Someone said no, I lost the gig.Yeah, but that's all part of the
learning. And that's several times myself.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's, it's no different.
Like I said, you can kind of when you talk about a program,
you can kind of compare a media to a driver to a company, Yeah.

(41:37):
It's all the same. It's all sales.
It's all just solving a problem.That's what all content is.
You're solving a problem. For anything.
Yeah, that's exactly it. It's all the same.
If you can learn to solve any problem out there, then you can
make something work and no matter what.
You like 10% and honestly, like I've been taking a lot of
knowledge from guys that shoot other series.

(41:59):
Like admittedly, once I started,you know, in the last year or
two, I've started traveling and genuinely experiencing other
Motorsports. Like I went to the 24 hour
Daytona for the first time this year.
Yeah. And like, what an Unreal
experience, but to be a shooter there, I don't know if a lot of
people are prepared for that amount of work.

(42:19):
How do you mean? Like I mean to to genuinely
cover the 24 hour of Daytona, it's 40 hours worth of work.
Straight up fuck because you're you.
Get time to sleep and stuff. It depends on your workload.
You can if you want. I mean, and again, like I was
just there as a spectator, but like watching the way that those
guys operate. I've seen I've watched a couple

(42:41):
videos like I think everybody knows Jamie Price photo like
he's huge on TikTok. And then one of my favorites as
of recently is this guy Greg's video garage.
Like and he does a bunch of tutorials and stuff on like,
hey, here's how I started shooting MSA.
Here's my workflow. Here's what my edits.
Look like is that? The other and like honestly, in

(43:01):
most other Motorsports, they're held to a pretty high standard.
Like it's no different than shooting in the NFL.
We need our edits and we need them right now.
Right now. Dude.
So I'm. I assume that shit would be so
fast-paced, yeah. I'm trying to hold myself to
that higher standard as well. And that's a big part of why I
don't care about social medias because like my photos go to who

(43:23):
paid me for them and then I'm onto the next one, which is like a
weird place to be because I lovemy work and I care and I want to
share. But it's also just like, I'm
here right now. I'm on track next weekend, I'm
on track the weekend after that.Like it just.
Doesn't stop. Yeah, I don't have the time.
Almost becomes way too overwhelming and.
Yeah, and it, and it's like, I don't want it to sound like I'm

(43:44):
not having fun because I love mylife.
I'm I couldn't be more grateful for what I do just to be sitting
here talking to you, doing this in a state that I've never even.
Been to before. I'll kill you, dude.
But it's just like it's also like it's a lot.
It's busy, it's non-stop, it's immediate.
It's like get it out now get on to the next one.
Yeah, simple as that. You miss 100% of the

(44:07):
opportunities you don't take. Man, ain't that the truth.
That's it dude. Well, when does the camera turn
into a car? I don't know, man, it's so
funny. There's like in my local friend
groups, there's like this joke of like, is Sam a car guy?
Because like I for those that don't know, I drive a 2006 Dodge

(44:27):
Dakota. I've owned it for eight years.
It's got almost a quarter million miles on it.
Dude, that's. Impressive.
It's it looks like it's got a quarter million miles on it.
I'll tell you that. It's lived in Ohio it's entire
life and it gets me where I needto go.
All my money's in my camera bag.Like I would love to have
something fun and cool. I just don't think I have the

(44:51):
mindset to be a drifter. I really don't.
I am. I am too cheap and I see cheap
Drifters and I don't care for the programs that they operate.
So I'm just going to keep myselfbehind the lens.
I would like to get into some grip racing, some time attack
type stuff, maybe even wheel to wheel eventually.

(45:11):
But right now that stays on the SIM because when I'm sitting in
the pits with the whole front left corner off the car and I'm
like, man, that have been real expensive my.
Wallet would have killed me right now.
Dude, I don't know about it. Yeah.
So like I, I've always been around cars.
I'm very car adjacent. I just don't know that I care to
have my own. Like, I think I want like a
little Honda. I just want something that gets

(45:33):
me good gas mileage. I can put wheels and coil overs
on it, and it looks all right. Yeah.
And I can drive it to Californiaand not worry about it.
That's all I care about out of acar.
Fuck yeah dude, keep it simple A. 100% man.
Absolutely. I love it, dude.
Well, I really love to see the progression that you've had.
Thank you. Just you're killing it with the
camera. I really hope that things get

(45:53):
even better, you get more gigs, all that stuff.
Yeah, this year picture in the video a little bit.
More yeah, This year shaping up to be a big one.
I've been working really closelywith Grip Royal, doing a lot of
video stuff for them. I love those guys.
Just taking every opportunity that I can, saying yes to what I
can. You know, you can check out Kyle
on YouTube, Bitchin TV. We got B wag B wag 88.

(46:14):
Like I supplement all the footage for those guys.
So like I shoot video I just don't do anything with.
It and that's the best way to doit though 100%.
I just usually don't have an editor anyway so.
Well, and like I trust like especially Kyle, like his
videos, he's been crushing it these last couple of weeks, like
with the uploads that he's gone.So like I genuinely trust, like

(46:35):
I can just give Kyle or B wag raw footage and they'll do
something cool with it, right? You know, right.
That's also a very special relationship to have with a
driver when I know I can hand them my work and just go do
whatever you want with it. It'll look good.
Yeah, I feel you. I mean, that's any work that I
do as far as media company stuffis mostly post production

(46:56):
anyway. So you're sending me your
footage and I'm spicing it up right on.
So, you know, other than that, Idon't really care to do camera
work. Yeah, it's just not.
You don't. Like having the camera in your
hand. I know I love it.
I love it 100 times more than editing, but the value of time
is spent way better in the editing process rather than
being because the camera. Because the editing is my least

(47:16):
favorite part, and if I could pay someone to do it, I would.
Yeah. No, yeah.
And I have an editor, like I'm not the only one that does it
for all this stuff. So it's my brain would go numb
if I had to. But yeah, man, we could go all
day about camera stuff and editing it.
Doesn't stop. But we better shut it down
before copyrights get through the roof.

(47:38):
Oh yeah, yeah, the. Concert's starting, I guess.
It's almost time for emo night, so you got a recharge on beer
and get going. 100%. Hell yeah, I'm ready to throw
down. Yeah.
Oh yeah. It's going to be a good one.
Well, thanks for having me on, man.
This. You are always welcome.
I love them dude, I love you. Brought it back to Polecat.
Yeah, absolutely, man. I love the mobile setup.
This is sick. I'm really excited to see where

(47:59):
this goes this year for you, man.
I love to see it, man. I want to see you grow.
I'm excited for it. It's awesome.
You have real, genuine conversations with a lot of
these guys, and I'm sure you have a blast doing it too.
It's got to be. It's a curious dork, man.
I do, but you have to be curious.
I'm curious. Too.
I like asking questions. I want to know why is that that
way or what are you doing right?Yeah, like it's, it's how you

(48:19):
gain life experience, I think. The way I see it is it's all
just the same conversations we're having in the shop, it's
just backed in. I was too nervous and too like
scared to ask any of it and I had to.
I sorted a lot of the shit out myself when it came to cars.
So if I can bridge that gap for somebody else that is scared or

(48:40):
doesn't want to open their mouthand ask, I can even you can just
listen. I can even say the same thing
about photography. Like that's why I have always
been like when somebody asks me a question, I will answer it to
the best of my ability. Because when I was coming up, I
didn't really have anyone to do that for me.
Not for lack of trying, not because anyone was an asshole,

(49:00):
but it was just the way that things were back in the day.
I don't really have anyone to teach me anything.
So like if I it can be that harbinger of knowledge?
I don't know if that's the rightword, but like if I can.
Take that knowledge and. Give it for somebody else, like
why not? Absolutely.
Like give it share the value. Why not?
We're not even competing bro. I know right?

(49:21):
Like. As simple as that.
Oh dude, that's. A We're out here for fun, man.
It's so stupid. Yeah, well, I normally ask this
question in every normal podcast.
I haven't asked anyone today this question, but if you had
the opportunity to speak to the entire world, what would your
one message be? Be nice to people, man.

(49:42):
It's really not that hard to be nice.
Don't let your bad day turn intosomebody else's bad day.
Don't let a bad moment turn intoa bad day.
Cool, just try your best to be nice, have a good day, have a
smile on your face, and I think life would go a lot better for a
lot more people. One of the most complicated
things is just staying positive.Oh man, ain't that the truth.

(50:04):
And it's a fight. It's a fight every day, but we
got to do it every day because what else is there?
Absolutely, I love it dude, you got a good heart and good
personality on you. I hope the best for you and
really appreciate you taking time.
Right on, thanks for having me man, this is awesome.
Welcome to anytime dude. Staying away to the center trust

(50:26):
no bitch can't catch no feelings.
I've been taking long flights from the baby with bezel get
home run. I'm a ball like Jeter.
I just want 444 then I leave. I'm a young pop star called a
boy Justin Bieber got a little money.
If you want a teacher whole lifea movie you can watch it in
theater. Staying away to the center.
Trust no bitch can't catch no.

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Gridlife South Carolina - Behind the Event PART 1 | Circle of Drift #140

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Gridlife South Carolina - Behind the Event PART 1 | Circle of Drift #140