Through The Mods Eyes (TTME): Mindz' pictures of C5F5.

[Mindz]

So this year, I had a lot of pictures from the first two days, which is a good thing, since running the car show didn't leave me any time to do anything else on Saturday. Below is a recount of my experience of Camaro5Fest V in Baytown, Texas. Feel free to post your comments.

[Mindz]

First up was arriving at the hotel and getting a good nights rest to wake up early and deal with jet lag to help the vendors set up on Thursday. The Canadian Camarovan had made it Wednesday evening and had a variety of cars and mods showing in the parking lot.

Upon arriving at the track, we had vendors trickling in steadily all the way until 4:40 or so when the last group of the day made it through the gates. Chevy brought an impressive display of toys to the fest including a Al Oppenheiser's CTF Z/28, the Indy 500 Pace Car Z/28 and a Spring Edition convertible. At the end of the day, we were generously treated to a brief moment with the pace car in front of the drag strip for an impromptu amateur photoshoot.

[Mindz]

More vendors and my pace car photos. CamaroSpike23 wanted to photobomb so I obliged him. I also didn't want to pass up the opportunity, so thanks to MercuryMan, I was able to get a shot of myself with the Z too!

Afterwards Spike was considering hopping in the car and never coming back, as told by his mischievous grin.

[Mindz]

Here are some of the shots that I was able to shoot at the hotel. After the phenomenal Meet & Greet put on by the great folk at Rodgers Chevrolet (Thanks Becky, Joe and Maureen!!!), I was able to meet quite a few people, but typically had my camera in the room, so I apologize for the lack of crowd shots. Next year I plan on taking a lot more candids and member shots.

I was however able to capture the ever-elusive Greg Norris, as well as some of the late night activities of whom I can only guess are members of Thee Circle. I don't know what they are/do, but I do know that Mikey Shaw must have been a prospective member as he seemed to be really interested in Mike Lee, who tends to be an emissary. I know Ice Hole is the key to figuring out their secrets, but only Kyle Gilmour knows.

[Mindz]

Drag racing is always a huge draw at the fest. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get very many shots at all. Thankfully Steve Dallas was shooting video with his quadcopter setup. Very cool rig if I do say so myself!

Jaime in his BEASST must have known I was there and wanted his own burnout montage. Why is it always the orange cars that pull the big smoky burnouts?

Anyways, here are the shots I was able to take.

[Mindz]

Pete and the H-town Camaro Club put on a hell of a CamaroCross this year. I was only able to capture a heat of cars on their three runs, and a few fun runs late Friday afternoon.

I tried to position myself to get shots of cars under loads, so show the body roll (or lack thereof), and had difficulty getting many good shots because the camera was always moving.

Pete's +1 I think if my favorite of the bunch. Poor Malibu.

Also, at the end are some of the elevated shots I was able to get from the grandstands overlooking the vendor section/car show.

[Mindz]

Some of the vehicles that were unloaded on Friday definitely caught your eye. Gen5DiY's car had his one off hand made spoiler resembling a Z/28 spoiler but with a reverse mohawk. AAC/Oracle lighting had their stylish rock crawler.Stingray Marketing had an old LS3-powered apache. ADM/Lingenfelter had their Texas mile car, a Twin Turbo ZL1 on 20" welds owned and driven by Josh Starkweather.

After I had completed my lap of vendor alley. I made my way through the area where car show participants would be parked out towards the grass and followed the grass to the gate. There were a lot of tricked out cars as well as a bunch of really nice, clean stock cars also. There were quite a few cars, each with their own beauty, and attendance would only be bigger on Saturday wen peope were off work and drove down Friday night.

[Mindz]

Here are more of the customization's that I found.

[Mindz]

On Saturday before the gates opened, I was treated to another impromptu photoshoot, this time with the white Z/28. With the sun still rising, the backdrop and lighting was AWESOME. I don't have photoshop so I can't touch up some of the shots for an HDR image, but here are my raw images.

[Mindz]

Finally, after the car show judging finished and awards were given out, I made it back to the hotel and had just enough time to shower and get downstairs to a shuttle bus that had been dispatched to pick us up. We were privileged enough to be invited to Ralph White's for a bbq dinner. For those who don't know, Ralph White is a GM licensed merchandiser who makes the Camaro5 Store's apparel.

The bus ride was about an hour away from the fest, but as we walked into the room where dinner was to be served, one could immediately say it was worth the trip. I'll let the pictures explain why. I will say that we didn't need any flourescent lights on in the place!

After dinner, Joe (Dragoneye) called for everyone's attention. He then proceeded to give a short speech about the appreciation we as camaro enthusiasts share that he has been part of the Camaro project. We hope he enjoys his new position on the Silverado team!

[mlee]

Great pics... wait til Al sees that last one LOL...

[Milk 1027]

Originally Posted by Mindz

On Saturday before the gates opened, I was treated to another impromptu photoshoot, this time with the white Z/28. With the sun still rising, the backdrop and lighting was AWESOME. I don't have photoshop so I can't touch up some of the shots for an HDR image, but here are my raw images.

You need to send me the raw images so I can play with them.
By the way, that is an awesome picture of my car during my one and only fun run. I was spinning the tires through that entire turn.

[TAG UR IT]

AWESOME pix!!! got some great shots, man! my car, dana, ralphs....very, very cool. Thanks for getting that video as well. I was hoping there'd be something we could show!

[Cheetoh]

Great Pics!! Finally found some Pics with My Car in them... Had a Great time!!