was a blast. It was pure chaos all day. Just driving around seeing people you "knew" in amazing cars all throughout the day. It was a good feeling for sure. Most of us were connected only by your love of cars and driving... we were all buddies for the day. Fun, fun.

Anyway, I'd venture to guess that this is one of the biggest video projects that I've ever done for someone. The amount of planning and organization required to pull this off was ridiculous. I definitely couldn't have done it alone and maybe could've even used even more help.

So, if you're not familiar with how a rally works. It's basically a set of checkpoints spread out over hundreds of miles. In between the checkpoints are routes, called "legs" that take you all-the-hell-over the place. These legs have been driven several times by the rally planners who figure out the exact amount of time that it's supposed to take you. The driver is then supposed to mimic the rally planners' instructions and get as close to that time as possible - no faster, no slower. So the driver is given a set of directions at each check point; they have no idea where they're going - they just know which direction to turn on which streets. They also know the average speed they're supposed to travel on each road. Another challenge is that you could go 20 feet or 20 miles on a given street, you honestly have no idea. BUT, if you follow the directions explicitly, you'll win.

The best part is that the planners are creative and push the drivers through festivals and in huge intersecting loops so that cars are passing each other, etc. It really is a great event.

So anyway, shooting the rally video was madness. Zach and I were scrambling all day to get our shots. It's not easy chasing 50 cars around a 200 mile course to get the shots we wanted. We had no time for anything - especially getting lost... which we did.

There's so much more to say, but I'd write pages (web pages) on it. Hopefully the video will tell the story whenever I get it edited... Anyone got a PCI firewire card I can buy so I can start? haha.

I was so focused on the video all day that I barely got any pics.. but here they are. Zach got more - check his out.

And for my own note...

Things that worked well:
-the truck was perfect
-the gps
-camera lights
-pre-running the route
-the flag
-media crew shirts

Next time:
-plan even more
-don't forget the route maps you've planned out on your desk at home
-don't forget your iowa state map
-split up the videographers and each have our own driver
-get more participants' cell numbers
-get a nice camera mount for the car to catch the driving shots
-get more headrest mount shots - especially on winding roads
-bring more battery power
-use more tripod
-mark the camera crew vehicles better
-encourage more dialogue
-get more of my cool car driving friends involved

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