Formula One

Thanks to all of you who responded about Shaun.  Here's the post I started, but didn't finish...

I'm sorry, you're going to have to speak up, if you want me to hear you.  You see, I've been at the F1 track in Montreal for 3 days, and I still can't hear anything, except the earsplitting sound of sound of 2.4 litre naturally aspirated V8s which produce up to 780 bhp.  For those of you who aren't race car enthusiasts, really loud cars that go up to 350 KMH.

I have shot many Canadian Grand Prix's, every year I look forward to it.  Recently, I have been shooting it for Corbis.  Working with my editor, Seth. is always a treat.  He's a great guy, a fabulous editor, and he makes me a better photographer.  He set it up this time around so that my photos went live to the archive immediately, without any editing from him.  He's a trusting guy, I wonder if they'll be any sales of those nude self portraits I uploaded with all my formula one pictures?

More after the jump...

The biggest challenge, for me, when shooting a Grand Prix, is to try to make different pictures. At the end of the day, it's really just some very expensive cars going around and around a track, and then doing it again the next day.  One way I mix it up, is to spend some time shooting in the pits, as well as trackside.  I am fortunate that my Corbis accreditation allows me into the pits, not everyone gets such good access.

Shooting in the pits is tricky.  The best trick is not getting run over by a 20 million dollar race car.  The pit crews don't like having to pick bits of photographer out of the front wing of their nicely polished car.  All kidding aside, the drivers are professionals, and they assume that everyone else in the pits is too.  That means, when they pull into, or out of, the pits at about 60 miles an hour, no one will be where they aren't supposed to be.  It's truly awesome having these incredibly powerful machines within inches of my lens.

Yours truly, sporting the latest in ear muffs
Photo by Didier Debusschere

When I'm shooting in the pits, I'm by no means the only one.  I would guess that there are probably 75-100 photographers accredited to shoot the Canadian Grand Prix.  It can get crowded, invariably everyone wants to be in the same place at the same time.

McLaren team driver, Jenson Button, pulls out of the garage in pit lane.
N.B.  That's another photographer's flash firing on the other side of the car

The photographer's room. 

The work that goes into shooting an event like this, starts a few weeks before, when I start reading Formula One news, so I'll know what's going on when I get there.  I need to know what the latest stories are. who's winning, and who's embroiled in the latest controversy.  An ongoing story this season, are the tires.  It may not sound important, but the tire sponsorship changed this season, so instead of Bridgestones, all the teams must use Pirelli tires.

Sometimes it's not the most exciting pictures that sell the best.

Another aspect, is just getting all my gear across the country in one piece.  The airlines and I play this little game, I won't tell them my carry-on bag weighs 50 lbs. and they won't ask me to weigh it.  The key is to not grunt when picking it up, just kind of nonchalantly fling it around like it weighs about 3 pounds.  So far so good, except for one ticket agent in Calgary.  When he asked to weigh my bag, it tipped the scales at about 48 lbs.  After moving some gear around, and putting my Nikon D3 and 200-400mm lens over my shoulder, you're allowed to carry a camera as well, gotta know the rules to play the game, he finally let me go.  I walked around the corner, and promptly put everything back in my bag.

This time I was using two big lenses, my 200-400mm and a 600mm F.4.  I never would have got all that stuff through carry-on, so, Saint Carol Martin of Nikon-at least that's how I refer to her, arranged to have a Nikon loaner available for me when I arrived in Montreal.  That made travelling 8000 kms a bit easier, not having to lug a heinously heavy box full of glass and metal through airports.

Michael Schumacher cuts a corner during a practice session
Shot with a Nikon D3 and a 600mm: F.4 @ 1/2500 sec.

Canadian Grand Prix-winner, Jenson Button
Nikon D3, 400mm-1600 iso, F.4 @ 1/320 sec.

Ferrari pit crew
Nikon D3, 200mm-1600 iso, F.4 @ 1/1600 sec.

Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso
Nikon D3, 380mm-100 iso, F.32 @ 1/13sec

McLaren Mercedes team driver, Jenson Button
Nikon D3, 200mm-800 iso, F.18 @ 1/20sec

There was an added little bonus this year, it poured rain on race day, which is always fun.  Fortunately, I had the right gear to protect my cameras.  Since I did have rain covers, I didn't mind that it rained, because it made different pictures, and the drivers had to use their rain tires, remember the tire story?  For me, since many of my pictures will sell as archive sales, the more different opportunities that I have to make pictures, the better.

Mercedes driver, Michael Schumacher during the race, in the pouring rain.
Nikon D3, 400mm-400 iso, F.4 @ 1/2000 sec.

The ironic thing is, the race was spectacularly exciting, if you were watching it on T.V.  Jenson Button roared through the pack from seventh position, at the start, to finish first.  All of this in what was, at times, torrential rain.  As Sebastian Vettel, the guy Button passed on the last lap to win the race, put it, "I made one mistake, all race, and that's when he passed me."  However, if you were there, and trying to shoot photos, it was, well, less exciting.  Especially if you factor in the 2 hour rain delay.  Nothing beats standing around in the rain with $35,000 worth of cameras, waiting for something to happen.  You know it's boring when the crowd applauds for the guy who unplugs the sewer.

McLaren Mercedes team driver, Jenson Button celebrates on the podium
Nikon D3, 400mm-1000 iso, F.4 @ 1/800sec

I think, just for comparison, I would really like to shoot some Nascar.  Something tells me it's not the same jet set international crowd at those races.