FORZATOGRAPHY SPOTLIGHT: PID1969
Hi i'm PID1969 on the Xbox One and pretty much anything else I game on.
I've been around a few years in the gaming world, my first ever gaming machine being a Sinclair ZX81 with a massive 16k expansion brick. My real name is Stuart, something I don't normally reveal on any game system, and if I hear someone call me by my real name on Xbox live I probably won't respond because I don't realize they are talking to me. It's just Pid on live.
Ever since I was small I can say that I have always been interested in cars and Motorsports. Ten years ago I was lucky enough be able to afford my first DSLR camera(hyperlink to DSLR info page here) and started snapping my favorite subject, cars. I often attend Brands Hatch, a twenty minute drive from home. On test days entry is free! If you look through my photo galleries and albums you wouldn't think I have any kids as 99% of my photos have a car in them (a bonus if there's a grid girl in the vicinity).
In 2007, I purchased my first Xbox 360 (always been a Sony boy until then) and Forza Motorsport 2, with this game I was in my element. I no longer needed to travel to events and walk around circuits to snap photos of cars, which could get costly, I had it all in the one game. I hate exercise, and the coffee is always expensive. Now my furthest walk is three feet, and coffee is free, even better if I can get my daughter to make it. I struggled with the first few versions and getting the photos I wanted which inspired me to start racing. Over the years I've met some great people. Some I would consider closer friends than the friends I have outside of gaming, I have been lucky enough to meet a few of them in person too.
So, fast forward to 2014, I entered my first hot lap competition on FM.net which was being run by some guy called PTG Coops. Over the week the competition was run I gradually got faster, chasing 100ths of a second to get one place higher. Getting quicker all the time, eventually I was noticed and Coops invited me into a race lobby one evening, now you know who to blame!
Over the next few months I thought I'd try my hand at the photos again and on Forza Motorsport 5 I was finally getting photos that I was happy with. I'm not a fan of what a lot of people call arty shots, that's just someone taking a photo with the wrong lens, I can't be bothered to change it. I like the action shots displaying the car, all of it, and try to capture a shot that shows the car is moving.
Now with Forza Motorsport 6 I will try and recreate some of the shots I have taken in real life at Brands Hatch. Over the next few months I will be looking to spend more time taking photos than I do running hot laps, so expect to see plenty of photos from Brands Hatch, both real and Forza Motorsport.
So there you go, I made it, I can breathe and get back to the track.
Enjoy the game!
Pid