A quality photo draws half of its admiration from composure and depth in the subject; the other, and probably most important other half, is understanding the photographer's inspiration in capturing the photograph. Those are the photographers who are respected greatly by CompetitionPlus.com.

Mark Rebilas is one of the few amongst drag racing's photographic community, along with Roger Richards, with the keen eye for understanding there's more than meets the eye when snapping a photo.

Rebilas has drawn worldwide acclaim for his talents, and in a play off of the extremely popular "Bazemore Files", we present a modern day version of the sport from one of the more talented lensmen canvassing the drag strips when not out pretending to be a fisherman.

We've provided five samples of his work and at the end of these five, be sure to click on the link and visit his blog. You'll be impressed with the art he creates.

A quality photo draws half of its admiration from composure and depth in the subject; the other, and probably most important other half, is understanding the photographer's inspiration in capturing the photograph. Those are the photographers who are respected greatly by CompetitionPlus.com.

Mark Rebilas is one of the few amongst drag racing's photographic community, along with Roger Richards, with the keen eye for understanding there's more than meets the eye when snapping a photo.

Rebilas has drawn worldwide acclaim for his talents, and in a play off of the extremely popular "Bazemore Files", we present a modern day version of the sport from one of the more talented lensmen canvassing the drag strips when not out pretending to be a fisherman.

We've provided five samples of his work and at the end of these five, be sure to click on the link and visit his blog. You'll be impressed with the art he creates. - Editor

SHOOTING ZIZZO - Zizzo portrait shoot: After a busy day of shooting qualifying at the Gatornationals, I had a portrait shoot scheduled with T.J. Zizzo for his 2012 marketing campaign. I have been buddies with T.J. a few years now and the guy is just a blast to hang around with. As the sun was setting I got the crazy idea to take T.J. up on the roof of his hauler while I got on the roof of their hospitality trailer. By doing that it made for nice clean backgrounds for the photos which is the name of the game when you're trying to produce great imagery. As the shoot was winding down I wanted to have a little fun with some photos. I had my two assistants, Andrew and Jason, along with T.J. jump up in the air for a photo. The result made for a fun photo that really lets Zizzo's personality shine through.

REFLECTING LANGDON - At many races you can find me walking around the staging lanes looking for cool photos to take. As a photographer there are countless good photo ops as the drivers prepare to race. You can simply walk through the lanes and be firing off shots left and right of every driver but usually that will yield you a bunch of below average photos with distracting backgrounds. What I like to do is try and find any type shot that will produce a different result than the normal. In this shot of Shawn Langdon from the Atlanta race I saw Shawn all strapped into the car. The angle of the light was making the whole wind visor on his car reflect the blue sky and I couldn't even see Shawn. Luckily right about that point a crew member came and stood by the car. His reflection off the visor enabled me to see through the visor and get an abstract look at him in the cockpit.

CAPTURING THE INTENSITY OF THE RIVALRY - At the second Charlotte race NHRA always sets up group shots of the championship drivers posing together prior to the opening qualifying session. A group shot like this really isn't that important to take since most people only care about who wins the championship, not the nine drivers who don't win it. However, it can make for some fun behind the scenes photos. As National DRAGSTER was lining up the riders for the photo I saw Hector Arana Sr joking pretend to hit an unsuspecting Andrew Hines over the head. Little moments like this is why I love NHRA.

THE TRUE VIOLENCE OF AN ACCIDENT - I have shot countless drag racing crashes in my career but I gotta imagine it will be a very long time before I shoot a Pro Stock crash anywhere near as visually exciting as the Shane Gray crash. I can close my eyes and perfectly play the crash through my head. I was following him as soon as he got close to the center line. I have shot NHRA long enough to know that the odds of saving an out of control Pro Stocker is very low. I knew the car was gonna flip over once it got sideways but never in a million years did I expect the car to lift off the ground after flipping over. I haven't shot a Pro Stocker at an angle like that since I shot Ed Heck going airborne in Pomona at the 1994 World Finals.

THE AGONY OF DEFEAT - The Finals at Pomona is one of my favorite races of the year. Nothing is quite as exciting as documenting the highs and lows as drivers become champions or they come so close to a championship only to lose. Happiness and sadness make for great images so I do my best to detach from the situation and cover the stories as they unfold. I have been friends with Ron Capps for awhile now. I was one of only a few photographers to shoot his initial test runs in the Skoal funny car back in 1997. I was hoping Capps would finally hoist the championship Wally. Unfortunately for him teammate Jack Beckman would have other ideas and would win the championship by a couple points. When Ron climbed from his car after losing it was quite apparent that he was crushed to once again fall short of the championship. He walked around stunned with a blank look on his face. Once the tow vehicle arrived, Ron's daughter Taylor climbed out and embraced her father as tears streamed down his face.

 For more exciting photos just like these, visit the MARK REBILAS BLOG

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