Welcome back to the 2025 edition of my Rolex 24h Hour-by-Hour series. We’re rolling into Hour 4 now, and the sun is starting to dip, bathing the infield in a wonderful golden hour glow.
Hour 3 wrapped early with a yellow flag after a quick stop on the shores of Lake Lloyd. We’d covered about half of the infield by this point, and the break in action gave us the perfect opportunity to stop by the car for a much-needed snack break. I also did a minor gear reset, putting things back to their proper place inside my bag. It was time for me to grab my film setup. I couldn’t let the evening light go to waste.
We’re now on the clock to get as much of the infield as possible before the track is plunged into darkness for the next 13+ hours.
Hour 4: Golden Hour Scramble
4:40PM - 5:40PM
We returned trackside at around 4:50PM. This hour starts at the entrance to the International Horseshoe (T3). We have about an hour until sunset, and I want to make it as far along the infield fence as I can in that time.
I started the hour with my film setup. It was my first time using film since Friday afternoon. I shot a little bit in the grandstands Friday morning, but with the race-day crowds, I knew I didn’t want to take it up there again until later in the evening. Leaving it in the car felt like the safer move during the mad rush of the first few hours.
This specific photo has been a large thorn in my side. I’ve tried converting the image at least a half-dozen times with various software, and I just can’t get the colors where I want them. It’s unfortunate because the composition in this photo is almost perfect, and it’s the exact shot I envisioned all the way back in Colorado when I was packing my Pentax 6x7 for this trip.
I actually took 3 versions of this photo. The first two were at 1/60s, and at the last second, I grabbed this one at 1/500s as a banker. I’m glad I did because the two at 1/60s were too blurry to be usable. Upon reflection, I actually prefer this version at 1/500s, even if the others at 1/60s had been sharp. Without the motion blur, you can see all of the fans tucked in along the fence across the way. You can see how each person has their own way of enjoying the race. Some take photos. Others sit atop their RVs.
Film is special to me, so I wanted to make sure it gets shared in this series, even if the photos themselves aren’t the best (like this one). I’m sharing some of these film photos as additional bonuses this hour.
Settings: 1/500s | 300mm | ƒ/5.6 | Kodak Ektar 100 @100 | 4:51PM-ish
I only remember these settings because I recorded myself taking this photo
After packing up the Pentax, I spent another 6 minutes on this angle with my digital setup. My goal was to recreate a photo from 2024, but better. I wanted a shot of a car perfectly centered underneath the Ferris wheel.
Several attempts with the car not quite centered and I realized 20 fps wouldn’t be enough, so I bumped my R6 up to 40 fps just to get the exact framing I needed. It’s one of the features of the R6 I love, even if I only use it on rare occasions like this. I came home with over 200 usable photos of this exact angle, but only two were this perfect.
And yet, somehow I did it on film with the shot of Rexy, without any burst, on only my 3rd attempt.
Settings: 1/40s | 127mm | ƒ/16 | ISO 100 | 4:54:07PM
I was satisfied with the framing of the Mustang and decided it was time for some variety in my photos. I dropped the shutter speed and tightened my framing. I wasn’t confident in my ability to pan with the Pentax earlier, but I still wanted a shot with a nice creamy background.
(not so) Fun fact: Toyota’s booth is set up right below the Ferris wheel, and their giant spotlight was turned on all of Thursday and Friday, so every Ferris wheel shot I have from those days has a giant bright spot at the bottom
Settings: 1/25s | 200mm | ƒ/16 | ISO 100 | 4:57:26PM
Sunset is such a special time, and it’s the hour we moved and shot the most, so I decided I wanted Jackie to share one photo from both of the main locations we visited. This is her first photo, and here are her thoughts:
"WHIP PAN TIME! I had a lot of fun trying whip pans throughout the weekend (with mixed levels of success) and this is one of my favorites. Specifically, I love how the Ferris wheel baskets look almost like they are made out of liquid while the car is frozen. In this shot, I can tell I had gotten particularly bored with the other photos I was taking because I was trying to whip pan the opposite way from normal. Even though Aiden looked at me like I was a bit crazy, I am really happy one of these worked out."
Settings: 1/4s | 92mm | ƒ/22 | ISO 100 | 4:55:49PM
Hike #1
My obsession with the Ferris wheel delayed our arrival at the exit of T3 to 5:06PM. This is the #1 spot to shoot sunset from at Daytona, so if you want a spot on the fence, you need to be here early. Since we weren’t there early, the fence was completely full, which meant it was time to improvise. We’d made the same mistake on Friday during the Michelin Pilot Cup 4h race, but found a simple solution.
Our solution: step back a few feet and zoom in past the crowds. With a wide enough aperture and tight enough focal length, the fence becomes completely invisible. The small gaps between spectators become windows to the race. Every few seconds, a car barrels through, and if you’re quick enough, you can grab the shot before someone shifts their weight and the window closes.
This shot has been on my Daytona bucket list since my first trip, but I completely forgot about it at the 2024 Rolex, and HSR wasn’t busy enough for this shot to be possible. This was the first time everything lined up the way I needed it to.
Settings: 1/1000s | 200mm | ƒ/2.8 | ISO 100 | 5:06:28PM
Once I checked that photo off my list, I switched gears. Shooting the gaps is a one-and-done for me. The photos all look the same, and you have to get lucky and hope the car looks good during the brief moment it slips between people, and that they don’t partially block it as it goes past.
My favorite thing to do when shooting through crowds is drop the shutter real real low. At that speed, the fans in my way become blurs of color, and the car stays razor sharp, while the background melts away.
This year, the cold snap meant most spectators weren’t wearing the usual colorful attire. Those along the fence wore grey and black jackets, but I feel that actually makes the photo more impressive. With the foreground muted, all the attention shifts towards the beautiful sunset colors.
Settings: 1/10s | 127mm | ƒ/20 | ISO 100 | 5:09:07PM
This is my second bonus film shot. I share this partly because I love the look and partly because it helps explain many of the issues I had with my Pentax during this trip.
I got the Pentax for Christmas 2024, and in the eBay listing, the seller stated it was in perfect working order. In reality, the camera had extreme shutter capping* that affected most shots at higher shutter speeds. When I first received the camera, I noted the issue occurring only at 1/1000s and resolving at 1/500s and below; however, the stresses of Daytona must have taken their toll on the Pentax, because by the end of the weekend, the capping was present as low as 1/250s.
On the Rexy shot, I used a linear gradient to mostly fix the image, but if you look back, you can see noticeably less shadow detail on the right 2/3rds of the shot compared to the left 1/3rd. This negative shows an extreme loss of density on the right half compared to the left half.
Settings: 1/250s-1/500s | 300mm | ƒ/4 | Kodak Ektar 100 @100 | 5:14PM-ish
I didn’t record or write down my settings for this one, so this is a guess based on the nearest shot
Hike #2
With light rapidly fading, it was time to find somewhere on the fence to shoot. It took us nearly 10 minutes of walking to find a location with a good background and an open sightline. The trek didn’t feel that long in the moment, but I guess it does take a decent bit of time to pack up our gear and cover the 1/3rd mile walk from the very tip of T3 all the way past the kink, especially with how packed the fence line was. I wasn’t helping things by being indecisive and stopping every few hundred feet to check if the framing looked right.
I’ve got photos from this angle with pretty much every car on track, but this one stood out to me. The Vasser Sullivan Lexus isn’t a personal favorite in terms of design or livery, but for this shot, that doesn’t matter. Everything in this picture is balanced just right.
I started this area at 1/125s, much faster than I usually pan, just to lock in a few banker shots while the light was good. At the kink, cars are barreling past at over 140 mph, barely 70 feet from where I was standing on the fence. Under most circumstances, 1/125s feels a little cautious, but here, with that kind of speed and proximity, it’s just enough to get creamy background blur without freezing the image too much.
Settings: 1/125s | 107mm | ƒ/4.5 | ISO 100 | 5:25:44PM
While we were in that position, I realized a pano would fit the scene perfectly, and, with only a few minutes of light remaining and only one photo left on my roll of Ektar 100, I fired off my last photo of the roll. I would continue to lug the camera with me all the way until our final car stop at 11AM Sunday morning, shooting a whole 2 rolls (20 photos) in that entire time. Totally worth the extra 15 pounds of gear on my shoulders
The infield is absolutely beautiful at sunset. As the sun dips towards the banking, the light starts to skim sideways across the cars. Shadows stretch, and everything gets that nice warm haze.
Settings: 1/125s | 300mm | ƒ/4 | Kodak Ektar 100 @100 | 5:29PM
This one I actually did write down the settings
The sun continued to drop, and the lighting got better and better. At some point, I dropped my shutter from 1/125s to 1/60s. I had gotten all my banker shots and wanted to start making photos with a better background. 1/60s is perfect for this angle. Not too slow that parts of the car blur, but slow enough that the distractions in the background are reduced to creamy streaks.
Settings: 1/60s | 107mm | ƒ/4.5 | ISO 100 | 5:34:24PM
This angle is why I kept looking over my shoulder as we walked down the fence. I specifically wanted this spot for sunset, with the grandstands looming over the infield. I love this spot during the mid-day hours because it shows Daytona’s calling card and why it’s such a unique track in the world of sportscar racing. At sunset, it’s even more impressive as those massive bleachers cast shadows across half the circuit.
Settings: 1/60s | 107mm | ƒ/4.5 | ISO 100 | 5:34:35PM
Right before we packed up, I swapped to the 500mm for its only use during sunset. My goal was to catch the cars as they dove into the braking zone at T5, long shadows stretching to the side, while the low sun casts sharp lines across the bodywork. This was an angle I had shot at HSR and at the 2024 Rolex, so I knew I needed to revisit it at least once during the 2025 event, too. Unfortunately, the sun had slipped lower than I realized. By the time I got set up, the infield light had softened, and T5 was already tucked behind the shadow of the high banks.
This photo also helps set up the story I’m going to share at the end of this episode.
Settings: 1/500s | 500mm | ƒ/4 | ISO 1000 | 5:39:34PM
Like I said, we shot so much that I wanted Jackie to share 2 photos. It's hard to believe that her first photo and last photo were only 40 minutes apart. The light changes so fast during sunset that you really don’t have time to do anything other than lock in. I’m jealous of this photo. Here are her thoughts:
“During sunset, we did a bit of light chasing and ended up with some really awesome glow. I really liked how this car threw a shadow that tells you just how close to night time we were at that point. This is also one of the only good photos of this car I have from the whole weekend which is really cool.”
Settings: 1/125s | 100mm | ƒ/5.0 | ISO 100 | 5:36:40PM
And now, allow me to tell you a story about how not double-checking a location cost me one of the shots I wanted most.
Early on in the hour, I had the idea to recreate a photo I’d seen online, with the sunlight streaming low through the windshield of the cars as they head into T5. During WeatherTech qualifying on Thursday, I stumbled upon the perfect location to capture this photo. Unfortunately, I made several critical mistakes that culminated in a lot of wasted time and frustration, and in the end, it cost me the shot I wanted.
1) I didn’t check if the shot was even possible during the race. I knew on Thursday when I found the spot that an RV might arrive, and that it would make accessing the location difficult during the race. I didn’t check if that theory was true when we were walking past that spot in hour 2. My hunch was correct, and the spot was blocked off, but I didn’t know until it was too late.
2) I lost track of time and basically forgot about the shot until about 5:40PM. I was forced to pack up my gear in a hurry and scramble to the location. What I didn’t account for was the amount of time it would take me to make it around the outside of Turn 5.
3) I didn’t realize how the banking affected the sunset on track. Even though the official sunset was at 5:57PM, T5 was fully in shadow around 5:40PM because of the high banks. The shot I wanted was gone before I even began to move towards it.
This all culminated in me ditching my photo spot at the kink – a spot good enough for one of the most well-known IMSA photographers set up right in front of me. I ran around the West Horseshoe in a hurry with my gear haphazardly flopping around, and blew past where I wanted to shoot because it was hidden by an RV. Eventually, I watched the sun completely set as I backtracked to somewhere I could see the track again.
Double check your locations, folks.
Hour 4 – By the Numbers
Race Conditions:
Temp: 55º | Cautions: 1 | Retirements: 1
Miles walked: 4.84mi (Total) / 0.92mi (This Hour)
Hourly Shooting Breakdown:
1716 Photos Taken | 437 Keepers | 25.47% Keeper Rate
Most Photographed Car: #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus & #65 Ford Multimatic Mustang - 20 shots each
Cumulative Photo Stats:
4675 Photos Taken | 974 Keepers | 20.83% keeper rate
Most Photographed Car: #77 AO Racing - 48 shots (49 if you count film)
Post Note:
*Shutter capping: When the two halves of the shutter operate out of sync and hit each other during the exposure. The second shutter curtain catches up to the first before the exposure is complete, causing a dark, uneven gradient across the image
I wanted to include the film photos of the #65 Mustang and #9 Pfaff Lamborghini from this post in this edition, but since I’ve already shared them on Instagram, I’ve elected to share some of the other film shots from that roll. The point of this series is to share photos that have never been seen, and in some cases are ones that would never see the light of day if I didn’t do this series. Photos like #7 with the shutter capping.
Finally, I want to apologize for the long delay between parts 3 and 4. I got diagnosed with ADHD back in spring, which kinda explains why I can’t finish anything until the absolute last minute. That’s why I restarted this with ~50 days to go until Rolex 2026. My new goal is to finish the series asap. My main job is relatively light right now, even if my evenings are full from the holidays. I’m going to be trying to push out one of these roughly every 2.5 days, while also editing and uploading two 1h+ YouTube videos before Jan 21st. That means the captions here will likely drop down to 2-3 sentences instead of the normal 6-8 if I’m going to maintain the 10 photos per post. It’ll sound more like photos 9-12 instead of 1 and 7.
All that to say, more posts are coming soon.