If you had told me three years ago that I would be sitting here, eagerly leafing through internet article after internet article on performance rally cars and subsequently the photographic knowledge of how to make them look nice on “film” I would have laughed in your face. I was never all that interested in cars growing up.

So it was with a bit of surprise that when Chris Maydaniuk asked me to come to Rocky Mountain Rally 2008 with him and his father to take some photos, that I ended up enjoying it as much as I did! I have been dabbling in photography for a few years, never really taking it seriously. I did a few shoots for my friend’s rock climbing, mountain biking and white water kayaking, but until 2008 I never really thought of doing it as any more than a hobby.

Chris and his father have been competing in performance rally for years, and as we drove to Calgary in my trusty pickup truck I quickly realized I had no idea what was going to happen at a rally, let alone how I would be allowed to take photographs (I assumed people needed media passes). We arrived at the Deer Foot Inn during a period of relatively good weather, and in between shooting worried glances skyward, hoped it wouldn’t rain on us too badly for the event.

Were we ever out of luck! The rain during the entire event was torrential.

First day of the Rally, Kananaskis. Travis McKenna and I drive out to the stage in the pouring rain, only getting lost two or three times on the way, and eventually making it out to the start of stage 1. We parked, took a few pictures of the entrance and hiked in about a km to a nice looking little corner. Not knowing much about rally but understanding the basics of how things were going to happen we figured this corner was as good as any.

As we sat and waited, Travis having been delegated to the Umbrella holder (we had raided the local Wal-Mart the night before, purchasing 4 brightly colored umbrellas to use as a camera cover…we have since purchased a waterproof cover for it) but it didn’t rain overly much for that first stage.

When Pat Richard came around that corner in his 2008 STI I knew I was hooked. The sound of the engine, watching the car drift, and the atmosphere of energy charged excitement bit me with the rally bug and wouldn’t let go.

We watched the stage happen, and then as we drove back to Calgary we met Antoine Lestage and Nathalie Richard on the side of the road. They were missing a tire from the last stage and were out of cell phone range to contact their service crew. We gave them some food and drove quickly towards town where we were able to call their service crew and get them picked up. Very nice people, I had the pleasure of talking to Nathalie and Antoine at Baie-des-Chaleurs Rally in New Richmond, Quebec later that year.

The rest of the rally went by in a soggy, wet mess. We were fortunate enough to meet Louren from www.lourensansregret.com and wander through the stages with him for a time, picking up some tips, offering some, and generally having a great time in the atmosphere of a performance rally event. Rocky was a fun event from my perspective, despite the rain we enjoyed our time there immensely, especially the special stage at Race City which was about as exciting as I’ve ever seen motorsports!

I’d like to thank the organizers and Volunteers that made Rocky 08 such a great event, it got me hooked and started me down the path of a rally photographer!