Dancing In The Dark At Gridlife
Dimming The Lights

One of the biggest challenges as a photographer is finding an outlet to unleash your deepest, darkest, creative urges.

I’m lucky enough to have Speedhunters as a platform to express my creativity in the photographic sense, and when you pair an event like Gridlife Alpine Horizon with the challenge to come back with something that hasn’t really been done or seen before, that’s when I start to get really excited.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters

As the night started to set in and the evening drifting course was set up at Pikes Peak International Raceway, we were fortunate enough to see one of the most beautiful sunsets of the week, even if it lasted all of three minutes.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters

If you’re somewhat into photography or have even tried to take a photo in low light with your cellphone, you’ll understand that without a flash or proper lighting it can be quite difficult to get a usable shot that doesn’t have too much noise or grain in it.

With the sun setting and the extremely low levels of light available on the track, it was time to get a little creative.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Cue The Music

When it comes to low-light motorsports, I tend to find myself chasing as much light as I can find, usually with silly-low shutter speeds.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters

For Gridlife, Ryan Tuerck, Chris Forsberg, and a few other drivers installed under-glow and light accents all over their cars which amplified the light and also gave some interesting effects on panning shots.

With that in mind, I cranked my shutter down to a 1/4th of a second and let loose.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Challenge Accepted

Shooting at a 1/4th of a second is fun and all, but it wasn’t really a challenge as I find myself around the range of 1/4th to an 1/8th for most of my panning shots.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters

A couple of clicks later I found that my happy place turned out to be around 1 to 2 seconds for my shutter.

While I would have loved to have shot these images on something like a 400mm 2.8 lens, my 70-200mm 2.8 was versatile enough to get the job done.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Going Out With A Bang

As the last sessions wrapped up, only the diehards were letting it slide.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters-2613

With the last few runs of the night complete, Ryan Tuerck finished off the night with a couple of donuts that came out in an interesting fashion at a 2-second shutter speed.

Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters

Gridlife is one of those events that you could go in with a loose concept and come out of the other end of the weekend with memories and art that sum it all up better than words ever could.

Keiron Berndt
Instagram: keiron_berndt

Cutting Room Floor
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
Dancing in the Dark - Gridlife Alpine Horizion 2019 - Keiron Berndt - Speedhunters
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11 comments

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1

Awesome, now i remember why i came to this site. Explore this!

2

These are amazing. Absolutely love them, Keiron. Light art with cars... and I really appreciate the narrative through how you took the shots. I'd love to improve my photography and truly enjoy it when the process is discussed. You have a 400 2.8? Daaammmn

3

i can't see shit

4

I have no idea what I'm looking at.

5

What the hell is this crap?

6

As is said, this is light art, but with cars. Don't you know it's art when you see it?

7

This is what screaming tires and race engines bouncing off of limiters feels like, bravo. Did you breathe while taking these? lol panning game on point

8

I love this! It is great that creative shots like these are allowed space here. Thanks for sharing and for keeping automotive photography beautiful.

9

Yes boi!

10
Sebastian Motsch

Very creative, Keiron. I love the artistic approach. This is a great exception from the regular drift event coverage.

11
Martín Brandán

Holy crap, now we're talking! Absolutely stupendous work.

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