1956 Jaguar Mk1. Photography by Vernon T. Williams

It’s hard to believe that when this car was introduced in 1956 it took the British racing world by storm.  The Jaguar Mk1 was the first real star of the British Touring Car Championship, which has been going strong for over a half-century and has always featured some of the most spectacular driving the world of motorsports has ever offered.  The early years of the BTCC were what racing is all about; daily drivers tuned for high output screaming sideways on skinny tires.  And the Mark 1 and Mark 2 Jags dominated this world until the American muscle cars came onto the scene in 1965.  This was the favoured car of Roy James, the legendary get-away car driver who was at the wheel in 1963′s Great Train Robbery.

Richard Hammond gives us a brilliant history of the BTCC in an episode of Top Gear and shows us what this car is capable of.  He takes the wheel of a Mark One that could be the twin of this car, all blaring throttle and four wheel drifts as he throws it around the rain-soaked track.  I just watched that episode again tonight and it breaks my heart to see this specimen decaying slowly into the forest floor.  Would that I had the means to rescue this big cat and give it the loving restoration it deserves.

Mark Packer, MD, FACS. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

Just before Christmas I had the pleasure of meeting Doctor Mark Packer and his wife, Corinne.  Mark is a highly accomplished ophthalmologist and eye surgeon who works here in Eugene but travels worldwide giving presentations and surgical demonstration.  I was asked to make some updated portraits to accompany some of the magazine articles he has coming out and was happy to do so.  Our original location fell through at the last minute and the staff at the Hilton Eugene were gracious enough to allow us to use their facility for the shoot.  We got a variety of great images, but this one was one of my favorites.  Mark’s half-smile shows a little of that mischievous sense of humor that hides beneath his quiet manner and I love the feel of the old-fashioned wall decor.

Sipping Dreams. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

This is part of a recent day-long shoot I did at the Sipping Dreams production facility here in Eugene.  We did an on-site studio setup and the mandate was to get a variety of shots of the chocolate and its packaging for the Sipping Dreams website, and photos of the preparation process to show how to make the drinking chocolate once you get it home.  The production was done in conjunction with Attic Media, who shot video to go with the stills I produced, and special thanks go to Ryan for being such a pleasure to work with.

Akaka Falls, Hawaii. Photography by Vernon T. Williams

It’s a beautiful place, Akaka Falls State Park.  A half-mile hike through a grove of the second-biggest bamboo I’ve ever seen.  The largest I’ve experienced was on Puerto Rico and they dwarfed these, but still I felt like an ant as we made our way through this giant grass.  The bamboo was complemented by the most amazing variety of tropical plants.  At our feet were tiny, watercress-sized sprouts.  At eye level were ferns with fronds the size of small blankets.  And disappearing into the heights above were vine-laden trees that wove an impenetrable mat with their branches.  All of this green made me so glad I had brought my infrared camera, and when we came upon the waterfall I was doubly so.  the warm Hawaiian air and the constant moisture of the falls have created a thick growth of moss that really pops in infrared.  The falls may not have been very heavy, visiting as we were in the drier time of year, but there was no lack of drama thanks to the highly reflective vegetation.

Fish Lake, Oregon, in June. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

Fish Lake, Oregon, in August. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

Pretty cool place, Fish Lake.  Go there in Spring and you’ll find a lake; good fishing, clear water, and eagles diving for their prey.  Go there in Summer and you’ll find a meadow; green grass, warm sunshine, and maybe a deer or two at the tree line.  All thanks to a bed of young lava that is too porous to hold the water for very long.

Either way, it’s worth a visit.

HipHop 2000 by Tazroc. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

I had an appointment at Funk/Levis this week and I spotted this behind some dumpsters a few blocks away.  It’s got a couple of tags but it’s in pretty good shape, all things considered.  I don’t know if I could still look this good after spending eleven years in a back alley in Eugene.

Johnny Knoxville and Wee-Man. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

“Hey, Vernon.  Come over here.  I got something for ya.  Wait a minute, it’s in my pocket here.  Nope.  Must be the other one.  Yep.  There it is.  Wait.  It’s stuck.  God damn it.  Must be gum or something in there.  Got it – THERE IT IS!  BAM!  GOTCHA!”

Some gifts you keep forever.

Euphoria Chocolates. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

No long story here.  I just thought it was time for a snack, so here’s a little something from a shoot I did recently for Euphoria Chocolate Company.

Coast Guard Helicopter 6575. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

That moment between calm and fury, when the APU has broken the evening’s silence but before the engines have started.  In a moment the sound will ramp up to a scream and the main rotor will turn, slowly at first but with gathering ferocity until it is beating the air into submission.  As pilot and co-pilot run through the startup checklist the crewman listens for items that require his response, but they are relatively few and his mind wanders over what he knows about the mission ahead.  In this case it’s hoisting a suspected heart-attack victim from a cruise ship out in the Gulf.  It’s a procedure he’s gone through dozens of times, both operationally and in drills, but not one he takes lightly.  He projects himself forward in time, the helicopter already in a slow hover over stern of the cruise ship, its speed perfectly matched to that of the vessel below.  He envisions attaching the Stokes litter to the heavy stainless steel hook, guiding it out the door and down as he lowers it to the deck, all the time calling positional instructions to the pilot over the ICS.  He pictures the litter steadied by the ship’s crew, every passenger gathered at the railings above to watch the unscheduled show.  He feels the hoist button under his thumb and sees the crew working hurriedly below as the patient is loaded into the wire stretcher for the ride back up.  Standing here on the ramp he responds to another item on the checklist but a half hour ahead, in the cabin of the hovering aircraft, he is calling position to the pilot as he works the hoist to bring the occupied litter back up to the helicopter.  The helo slows to a stationary hover and allows the ship to pull away.

The engine start checklist now complete, the crewman tells the pilot that he’s going off ICS and disconnects long enough to stow the fire bottle next to the hangar.  As he walks quickly back to the running helo, his head low, the patient in his mind is now safely in the cabin.  He reconnects to the ICS.  Visualization and reality blend and in both he slides closed the door of the cabin.

“Pilot, radio.  Cabin secured and harness locked.  Let’s do this thing.”

But in his mind, it’s already done.

Darron Thomas at the University of Oregon. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

Ryan Katz at Oregon State University. Photography by Vernon T. Williams.

In honor of the civil war game this weekend I thought I’d run these two side by side.  Yes, I know Ryan hasn’t played for the Beavers since September, but that’s why I chose this particular image.  The metaphor is supposed to be subtle.

These are from a pair of studio sessions I did earlier this year for 1859 Magazine; from the session with Darron I’ve previously published another studio shot and a more relaxed moment after we’d wrapped.  From the shoot with Ryan I’ve previously published a single frame.

Anyway, we live in Eugene, so Go Ducks!  But my wife is in her last year at OSU, so Go Beavs!