becoming an f1 photographer

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becoming an f1 photographer - 23.5.06, 13:01:52

Guest

I am an a level student in devon who is keen to become an f1 photographer but dont really know how. Any tips and advice on what steps i should take?

Thanks

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RE: becoming an f1 photographer - 7.6.06, 15:09:23

James North

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Hi there.

Firstly I'm going to be blunt. It's bloody hard! There is so much competition it is unbelivable and extremely difficult to make money from, let alone make it your main source of income.

Now with the unplesantness out of the way, I'll add some encouragement!

I don't know what kind of level, or what kind of equipment you are at or use. But I'll start from the beginning.

I started in 2003, simply by attending the F1 testing as public specator, I used a compact "point n shoot" camera (fuji s602z to be predantic) and began from absolute rock bottom. I was woefully inept! The reason I am saying this is to underline the importance of learning the basics public side with equipment that isn't going to break your bank account. It's much more risk free.

By basics, I mean picture composition, and techniques such as panning etc. Also it helps to begin your understanding of what the various settings on the camera do, and how they affect the picture.

Now, I'm not a particulary outgoing person, but I also knew and know, that a role as a photographer was not going to come to me, I was going to go to it. So I worked on being chatty trackside, talking to anybody and everybody, ranging from the security, track marshalls, burger van people, public, working photographers, and even on lucky ocassion the F1 drivers. Don't get carried away by that last statement, as it's rare to see a Driver in person from public side at a F1 test. But I was on ocassion lucky, meeting Ralph Firman after he had broken down in 2003, and later on Timo Glock who was amazingly walking around in his yellow overalls around the luffield terrace during the lunch break!

Now, a driver isn't going to help you into your photography much, but the point I'm making is, that it helps to talk to anybody, it could be a bin man for it matters because you never know what you could learn, and who you could meet from it.

My development sped up, when I in jest asked a working photographer at a test a few questions. The guy is a legend, he's taught me most of what I know about my camreas, and he was the spur of my upgrading to DSLR, an absolute must if you're serious about motorsport photography. We kept in touch at the trackside, and after about a year of getting to grips with my camera from the mortal side, I began making bigger investigations on how to take it further.

I contacted all manor of media agencies, be it photo people like Sutton or LAT, xpb.cc, or magazines, newspapers etc. Now obviously 99% of people don't reply, normally the ones that do, politely turn you away. I was lucky, I managed to achieve regular accreditation to the F1 testing. But as yet, I do not make any worthwhile money from it.

I view it as an opportunity to gain experience of the trackside/pitlane working, and also doing the processing publishing bit in the media centre.

I often send updates of my work to Sutton, because I had an interview with them last September, and narrowly missed out on becoming their new junior. But they encourage me to keep on learning and sending in the pictures.

Basically it's just practise practise practise and dedication.

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RE: becoming an f1 photographer - 7.6.06, 16:30:34

Steve Fleuty

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Well said James, I agree with all of the above. Regards, Steve.

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RE: becoming an f1 photographer - 7.6.06, 16:54:57

James North

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And to add to that, it's also a very good idea to have your own website. Treat is as an online portfolio.

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RE: becoming an f1 photographer - 26.1.10, 14:16:51

Gee Tourismo

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having read the comments in this thread and to add my tuppenny worth.... as a Professional Photographer unless you are contracted to a magazine such as F1 racing or Haymarket publications, then becoming a dedicated F1 photographer right off the bat is at best a pipe dream. You need to be flexible in your approach to shooting Motorsport. A good analogy is the ladder drivers have to climb to get into F1. Start at the bottom of the pile, with Karts and club meetings. You don't need a press pass to get decent images at places like Brands or Snetterton. build a portfolio of your crowd side photos and keep it either up todate or adding to it. Try and get to the Goodwood Festival of speed its about as close as you can get to the cars and drivers without a press pass, generally drivers are in a good mood and willing to pose if you ask politely. I'd give it a couple of years to learn the craft, everybody and his wife thinks making a decent racing shot is easy...It ain't! To hone your skills such as panning prefocusing and develop a compositional eye takes time. When I was starting out it cost me a small fortune in dev and printing with the advent of digital cameras this has become soo much cheaper now. In terms of kit a DSLR obviously, a flash gun and just a couple of lenses a short and a long zoom something like a 28 -105 and a 100- 300 will do, you don't need a shed load of kit, remember a lot of the pros who are carrying big lenses are getting paid to do the job and can invest in big aperture lenses. if your starting out save your money until you are getting paid to shoot. Finally once your happy with your portfolio start sending it out to the agencies like Sutton, LAT etc... good luck

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RE: becoming an f1 photographer - 6.3.10, 17:12:23

dxbpics

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Gents, Just joined as a new member.... Interesting topic and can say it is very difficult to get accreditation and have not been successful so far.........keep on trying. On that note of having your own site, I have my own (private/ hobby) www but have heard that you are not allowed to post any F1 pics, is that true because I have loads from attending races and would like to show them?

I will most definitely post some on F1-Photos.net and hopefully have some approved. Thanks for your comments on my question above and hope to hear from somebody soon.