Leesburg Cars and Coffee: October 24th, 2021

Thanks to a lovely couple I’ve been working with who are equally, if not bigger, gearheads than I am, I got a lead on Leesburg Cars and Coffee; a Cars and Coffee event I’ve known about for quite a while, but had never made it out to until recently.

The plan was originally to meet up at this car show in the morning to hang out before their engagement photo session later in the afternoon, but unfortunately their Daihatsu Rocky ran into mechanical problems that morning that kept them from making it to the show. They did make it to the engagement session later in the afternoon, which you’ll see in a separate post later this month - car meet snapshots are a lot faster to edit than paid portraits.

Cars and Coffee Pop-Up at The Boro Tysons Corner: August 8th, 2021

Earlier this Summer, Adrenaline Lifestyles and RevNation hosted a pop-up meet at The Boro in Tyson’s Corner; a one-off cars and coffee in this newly built complex’s colorful parking lot. I’m admittedly not familiar with the two host groups, but the event drew a healthy mix of import tuners and exotics.

The BMW Ultimate Driving Experience: 2021

Over the years I’ve driven many interesting cars.  Not as many as an automotive journalist, or perhaps a used car salesman, but plenty for an average car enthusiast, which is to say, many more than the average driver.  This is due in part to my relationships with other petroheads, but also comes from the number of automotive events I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend.

Following with the likes of Jaguar, Lexus, Kia, and McLaren, this past June I was able to finally attend BMW’s performance driving experience - the previous time BMW had this event locally, I was fresh out of knee surgery and wasn’t able to walk yet, let alone drive anything (I missed a Cadillac event in the same timeframe too).

Arrival

Like most car meetups and events, I attended BMW’s Ultimate Driving Experience with my longest petrofriend Jake.  We unfortunately arrived a few minutes late to the event, and got bumped to the last timeslot of the entire event, so we were only able to enjoy one of the multiple portions of this event, but luckily we were able to participate in the one we were most interested in: autocross in an M440i.

Following his love of British car design, and the tragic T-Bone totaling of his beloved Jaguar XF, Jake had just bought a Jaguar F-Type several weeks prior (which you will see highlighted in another blog post from a car cruise soon).  So it was somewhat ironic arriving at the BMW Ultimate Driving Experience only to park next to another F-Type, this one a V8 specced in Sorrento Yellow bearing an autocross 777 number on the sides.  That being said, there were more BMWs than anything else in the lot, so there was no question if we were in the right place.

The BMWs

After checking in, we looked over the new i4 and iX; BMW’s latest all-electric vehicle offerings, following the i3’s success in BMW’s i sub-brand.

I could go on about BMW’s current design language with the increasingly bucktooth kidney grilles, but that would be repetitious since everyone else has already shared my thoughts on the matter.  I will say, however, that they did very a very good job on the completely non-functional grilles on these two new electric offerings considering their massive size.

The iX was especially impressive, with its BMW Individual Aventurine Red Metallic paint reminiscent of red wine, and the matte rose gold accents that would typically be chrome or piano black on most other cars; the iX despite clearly being an upscale grocery-getter, dazzled in the sun.

The star of the day however was the BMW M440i.

This car is especially interesting to me, as it’s the modern direct competitor offering from BMW to my own car.  In fact, when I bought my Infiniti G37 S 6MT Coupe, a BMW 335i Coupe was one of only two cars I cross-shopped it against, right around when BMW was restructuring their model numbers; the 3 Series coupe was being rebadged into the newly introduced, coupe-only 4 Series.  Admittedly, a different German performance manufacturer has long had my top interest, but a 4 Series coupe is still on my interest list.

Until this day, the only BMWs I had driven were a handful of E36 and E46 3 Series models.  I learned to drive stick in a 318i and an M3, so it saddens me seeing the ///M Power badge being watered down into just trim packages and second-tier performance levels.

The BMW 4 Series offers several models: The 430i equipped with an inline 4 delivering 255HP, the M440i sporting a twin-turbo V6 outputting 382HP, the M4 with horsepower boosted to 473HP, and topping out the line, the M4 Competition with 503HP.  Only the M4 model does not offer an xDrive option, and quite depressingly, BMW axed the manual transmission from this performance driver’s car from the entire 4 Series line in 2020 - truly a travesty.

Today we’d be driving the 382HP M440i model.

The Ultimate Driving Experience

After being issued our credentials, our group was given a rundown of the M440i and a short lesson on performance driving basics (apexes, braking / acceleration through corners, weight transfer, etc).  Then one of the driving instructors slowly drove the course for us to observe while another instructor explained how to navigate each section - extremely basic instruction, but necessary given the audience, since the group ranged from enthusiasts with track experience all the way down to a soccer mom in slippers who was actually scared to drive this car (which I would argue is yet another example of the US needing stricter standards for issuing and renewing driver’s licenses, because this type of driver on a public road is statistically more dangerous, causing more accidents than the enthusiast drivers who are typically targeted and demonized).

This was my first automotive event since COVID-19 struck, so things were a little different, but most things were the same.  The pre-race briefing actually did go into more detail about driving dynamics than most of these events, which instead save that for in-car instruction, if you even get any at all, and instead focus on a car’s specs, features, and design highlights.  This event was socially-distanced, and instead of swag bags most manufacturers provide (I still use my Jaguar thermos to this day, 8 years later with lots of wear), participants were given masks and BMW branded hand sanitizer - a little disappointing; I was really looking forward to something really cool branded BMW or ///M.  Cars were sanitized between each set of drivers.

One benefit to the social-distancing was that a driving instructor was not in the car with you.  You still had a dedicated instructor talking you through the course during your runs, but via radio.  If there is an instructor, my preference is for minimal driving instruction while driving; full tips are nice on a first lap, but after that, minimal input helps me so I can focus on the course and learn the car - I think instruction while actively driving is distracting and sometimes intimidating, which can cause more problems - I find that input and tips for better lines / laps / etc are helpful, but best saved until the run is done so I can focus while driving, and apply the driving instruction to my next lap or run.  Between having to gear events toward the widest audience of skill levels (see my example earlier - the slippers lady was finally convinced to drive, but it was of course more like a parking lot cruise than an autocross hotlap), and my personal preference, plus differing driving personalities, you wind up with a range of different driving instructors with different instruction styles.

I should note that not all events like this even have driving instructors - I’d say it’s about 50/50, but BMW was one that did, and it fits, since BMW also offers a Performance Driving School, at three locations in the US with 42 different courses available, most spanning multiple days of time spent behind the wheel.  The classes range from teenage driver’s ed and beginner motorcycle instruction all the way up to race licensing, defensive and tactical driving, off-roading / overlanding, and even trophy truck racing.  The instructors at today’s event also teach at the BMW Performance Driving School, and have such backgrounds as test drivers for Porsche and Ferrari, and tactical driving instructors to the FBI and Secret Service - we were indeed surrounded by tomes of performance driving knowledge.

Jake and I paired up for our 9 laps in three sets of 3.  Our first run our instructor was a bit uptight and was guilty of watering down the course and driving notes for our experience - even though a first run is almost always going to be slow and sloppy, one of the other instructors noticed both our runs, took us aside, and told us he’ll take us for our remaining runs.

This new instructor was much more laid-back, and was comfortable with us pushing the car and eeking out more of the performance it had.  In fact, based on our second runs, he told us to run in Sport+, which disables the traction control, because the car’s electronic nannies were holding us back.  For me, this meant my third run was my fastest, but also very sloppy, because I was again re-learning the car; I thought Sport+ heavily relaxed traction control on BMWs, but it actually disables it entirely, which I figured out very quickly after unexpectedly oversteering through two corners and oversteering the tires past their limit in a third.  Jake’s laps after mine had the benefit of my warning him of this, so his third run laps were a bit cleaner than mine.

During some of this we attempted to film some of our runs - Jake only filmed my second run, which wasn’t my fastest, but it was likely my tidiest.  I filmed all of Jake’s runs, but my phone was on its last legs and some of the videos had multiple corruption problems - I recovered what I could, but unfortunately not all the footage made it.  You can see video from the event and both our runs here:

In the video you see that Jake was plagued by slower drivers on the course, and got a few bonus runs to try and make up for it.  We not only were the last group of the weekend’s event, but also one of the last cars to finish as a result.  Staff were already breaking down tents and prepping cars to load onto transports when we pulled into the pit lane.  When we pulled in, one of our car’s tires went PING as a loose piece of rubber broke off following our abusive hotlaps.  Several staff and lingering participants actually gathered around our rear tire talking about how mangled they were while we were wrapping up discussions with our instructor who had been great during our extended runs.  I didn’t see where the tread had spalled, but the amount of scrubbing on the surface was impressive, and the group gathered at the rear of the car had apparently pulled some sticky rubber off of the paint; very cool - M drivers need to budget for frequent tires and speeding tickets.

Even-though BMW’s Ultimate Driving Experience was a little different than previous events I’ve attended, and I only got to participate in one portion of the multiple activities at the event, this was solidly one of the most enjoyable thanks to the amount of seat time we got - most similar events only give you ⅓ or even less seat time, which always bugs me.  I still of course wanted more, to further learn the car and hone my lines on the course, but I’m grateful that BMW doesn’t skimp in either the performance or the tailored instructional elements of its traveling brand experience.  I look forward to the next time BMW is in Washington, DC.

Best of 2020

Let’s just say it: 2020 sucked. For everyone. At moments the year flew by, at many others the year seemed endless. But 2021 is upon us, and although for many, myself included, it meant more time at home than out in public, I still captured perspectives of this year the World will never forget.

It’s unsurprising that many of my photographs in this year’s Best of 2020 are barren of people, and those that do have people are individuals or small family groups. I quickly enacted a number of COVID-19 best-practices that meet or exceed those required by Virginia law, and have strived to maintain the safety of not only myself and my vulnerable family members, but those of my clients. Because of the unprecedented reduction in assignments this year, particularly of commercial clients due to the cancellation of events, a greater portion of this year’s Best Of consists of personal work, but you’ll see that although it’s personal work, much of it is relatable and has affected everyone in some way or another.

Here’s to 2021 redeeming all the hardship, loss, and overwhelming disappointment 2020 inflicted on the World. May these pictures put 2020 to rest, and may your 2021 be filled with joy and prosperity.

A “barn find” Porsche on display at the 2020 Washington Auto Show.

A Foggy February morning in Northern Virginia.

Toilet paper became scarce in early March as shifts in the supply chain shifted from commercial to retail bathroom supplies, while more population working from home, and public fear incited hoarding, drove demand, emptying store shelves of basic cleaning supplies for months.

Hand sanitizer, gloves, surgical masks, and N95 respirators became nearly impossible to come in Spring. By Summer, the market was flooded with price gouged, counterfeit, or unregulated KN95 masks, antibacterial sanitizing wipes, and hand sanitizer.

At Ronald Reagan National Airport, nearly all concessions closed indefinitely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

At Ronald Reagan National Airport, airlines cancelled all flights indefinitely for the safety of passengers, and due to low demand while citizens quarantined in place.

Inside Ronald Reagan National Airport’s nearly empty National Hall, a COVID-19 branded hand sanitizer station is affixed to a shuttered Information Desk.

As air travel all but halted, entire terminals of airports were shuttered. With fewer travelers, ad spaces receive fewer impressions, leading to marketing campaigns to be rolled back or cancelled entirely. Above a closed terminal at Ronald Reagan National Airport, a digital ad site displays a creative encouraging proper hand-washing technique in place of normally cycling ad campaigns.

"Black Lives Matter" blazed several neighborhood trailheads, but were defaced with the arguably racist "All Lives Matter," then subsequently corrected back to BLM during the height of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

In Northern Virginia, many parks and playgrounds were closed by guerrilla citizens even before executive orders explicitly closed such facilities. Meanwhile, other inhabitants ripped away barriers or ignored HOA shutdown orders, creating a kind of suburban anarchy.

Jack Zarinsky, CFP, walks into his office in Fairfax City, Virginia.

Jack Zarinsky, CFP, speaks into a microphone while recording for his podcast.

A Polaroid of pickerel hyacinth growing at Ellanor C. Lawrence Pond.

Erik and Jennifer walk in a lavender field on their wedding day, June 27th, 2020. Many engaged couples had to delay or downsize their 2020 wedding due to COVID-19 safety and legality of gatherings.

Polaroid of Alyssa McGuire carrying an elephant ear plant at Merrifield Garden Center, Centreville, Virginia. Alyssa’s favorite animal is the elephant, and as a self-proclaimed “crazy plant lady,” she chose a Colocasia to add to her Rhode Island garden. Alyssa drove from Providence to Memphis, stopping in Washington, DC for a week, to care for her aging grandparents who struggled to get supplies and home maintenance during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

At Washington Dulles International Airport, a health supply kiosk is shuttered inside a deserted terminal.

Rubin and Madonna stand on the ramp at Washington Dulles International Airport with the historic ATCT and taxiing aircraft behind them after Rubin proposed to Madonna minutes prior at the gate they first met.

Elizabeth laughs at James’ jokes during their July engagement session. James and Elizabeth planned for a Spring engagement session coinciding with the April Cherry Blossom Festival, but this became unsafe and illegal as DC enacted executive orders that made visiting the Tidal Basin legally impossible, while the National Park Service feuded with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser by continuing to sell photography permits. Meanwhile in Virginia, early executive orders explicitly closed or kept open specific businesses, but failed to provide operating guidance for unlisted non-essential businesses, forcing many people, like Elizabeth and James, to postpone scheduled sessions.

Lily pads float at Ellanor C. Lawrence Pond, seen through an antique Lubitel 2 medium format lens converted to work on Canon EOS mount cameras, shot on an EOS R mirrorless camera.

The Cumberbatch family poses among the Autumn leaves during their family portrait session in Sterling, Virginia.

J. David Buerk, owner and photographer of J. David Buerk - Photography poses in a werewolf mask and gloves, holding an authentic rusty scythe on Halloween in Fairfax, Virginia. Despite ample candy and decorations, not a single trick-or-treater showed due to COVID-19 scaring off young goblins and ghouls.

Kevin drops to one knee and asks Rhoda to marry him at a snow-covered Stone Tower Winery.

With vines in the background, Rhoda places her hand on Kevin’s chest to display her engagement ring minutes after saying “yes” atop a snow covered hill at Stone Tower Winery.

The sun shines on the steering wheel of an Infiniti G37 S 6MT coupe’s steering wheel.

A handmade, artisan designed and crafted embossed leather journal cover with pewter clasp, featuring a flourishing acanthus leaf pattern. I first spotted this journal five years ago at the Renwick Gallery, and have regretted not getting it at the time, and had been unable to find the creator until recently. To my surprise, it is still available, and the maker even has an Amazon storefront now, with limited supply available. My most loved Christmas gift this year, this beautiful, naturey journal in my favorite color holds the notebook I’ve been using for years, and will hold future notebooks as this one nears filling, fitting perfectly into my daily leather Tumi backpack.

Rubin and Madonna: The Proposal

If you’ve ever met Rubin, you know he always has something funny to share. One of my earliest memories with Rubin is from while I was covering Ethiopian’s 787 Dreamliner being introduced into service at Washington Dulles International Airport; Rubin said, “I honestly don't know what David looks like. I think his face might look like a camera.” Some say he may not be wrong.

When Rubin told me he was planning to propose to Madonna at the Dulles airport gate where they first met, I of course was excited to help capture the moment. Rubin spent several weeks planning the proposal, coordinating with the airport and IT to make his idea of the gate display boards play clips of all the travels and memories they’ve compiled over the years of their relationship, culminating with a special flight information display for the next chapter of their relationship to take off.

To-date I’ve photographed three prior proposals, two of which were also airport proposals, but like everything in 2020, this proposal presented new challenges to solve - namely, for me, how do I blend in with a crowd that isn’t there? 2020’s coronavirus pandemic has heavily impacted the aviation industry, and during a planning walkthrough a week prior to the proposal, it became apparent my usual tactic of hiding in plain sight may prove more difficult given that gate A25 was completely abandoned. Fortunately, given the video Rubin assembled to play on the FIDS, I wouldn’t need to hide much for very long, as the jig would pretty much be up as soon as Madonna saw the video - a marked difference from other proposals I’ve captured, and I’m happy to say it worked out exactly as Rubin planned.

Funnily enough, the day-of, gate A25 wasn’t abandoned! It was populated with passengers social-distancing in groups before their flight departing from an adjacent gate, so my gambit to “look like a passenger” paid off, and happened to come in handy much earlier than I’d planned - as it would happen, Rubin and Madonna were on the same AeroTrain as me when heading over to the gate to set up, while Rubin took Madonna to his office to pretend file some paperwork in order to throw Madonna off his plans and give everyone at A25 time to get in position. When I got off the AeroTrain, I spotted the couple getting off two cars ahead of me and hopping on the escalator - I decided to stick to my plan, and follow suit with everyone else moving through the station, and I walked my rolling camera luggage and backpack onto the escalator adjacent and a few steps behind them - don’t mind me; I’m just a passenger! Later on, Rubin told me he’d spotted me, but played it cool-as-a-cucumber the same as me. I was even able to grab a few photos of them before I paid them no mind speed-walking past with my rolling bag on the way to my “flight.”

Once the time came, Rubin walked Madonna to gate A25, the gate they first met each other as airport employees, and Rubin’s video played on the FIDS with music filling the gate area. And Rubin’s plan worked, because Madonna was taken with emotion immediately. The pictures tell the rest of the story - when the “Will you marry me?” flight card showed at the end of the video, Rubin dropped to one knee to pop the question, and the rest is history!

Just being around Rubin and Madonna you can feel their energy, and seeing how happy they make each other it’s impossible not to feel happy yourself. After passengers and fellow employees and friends alike had congratulated the newly engaged couple, we took some photos to formally commemorate the occasion. As Rubin and Madonna are both longtime airport employees, and to further celebrate the place where they met, we captured portraits on the ramp with Dulles’ historic ATCT in the background as onlookers watched from passing mobile lounges and taxiing aircraft, before heading back to the Main Terminal to meet with friends and family who had gathered to congratulate the pair.

It’s 2020; you have to social-distance and wear your mask:

Also because it’s 2020, it must be said: masks were only off for photos, socially distanced from non-family members.

With the help of a mutual friend of Rubin and I, video of Rubin and Madonna’s engagement was captured from several angles, which I’ve combined to show exactly how it went down.

Dulles’ tagline is “Your Journey Begins with Us,” and for Rubin and Madonna it truly did at Gate A25.