Koenigsegg Agera
Whilst shooting at Gatebil earlier this year, I had the pleasure of photographing the freshly unveiled Swedish built hypercar, the Koenigsegg Agera. I managed to capture a couple of decent-ish snaps of the car as it lapped the Rudskogen course, one of which is my favourite shot of 2011. I never for a moment thought that a couple of months later that Koenigsegg Automotive would be in touch to acquire the images for their own promotional use. To say I’m ecstatic would be the understatement of the year. I’ve included the images submitted to Koenigsegg below, I can’t wait to see where they show up!
RWB Number One – Composite Image Build
Post processing a digital photograph is one of the most important aspects of modern photography. Sure, you’ll hear plenty people complaining that it’s ‘cheating‘ but you’ll usually also notice the same people can’t tell their arse from their elbow when it comes to editing an image. After all, even traditional film photographs need to be dodged, burned, exposed etc. before they are fit for purpose. I guess it comes down to each individual situation. Personally, if I’m shooting an event I’ll limit my PP work to a minimum in order to ensure I can get my photographs out as soon as possible and also to give a fair and honest reflection of what occurred. I do think it’s wrong to remove / add items to an image which is to be used for traditional journalism purposes. That is cheating in my opinion. If you’re tasked to create an image fit for advertising or promotional use, then all bets are off. It’s requires a huge amount of thought and vision both during the shoot and through the processing stage. Although I currently don’t shoot a whole lot of commercial work, it’s something I’m interested in. Whenever I have spare time, I usually find myself searching the web for the best contemporary examples of high end commercial photography. I then try and figure out how the image was lit and processed and see if I can replicate it. This is all part of a personal drive to improve my skill set. What I’ve included below is the images which were used in the creation of the above image. It was pretty much an afterthought to use this shot so there are definitely a lot of things I would have changed if I was shooting it again. But what I really wanted to […]
Number One
With December just about to roll around (memo to self, buy Christmas presents) the motorsport season is well and truly done for twenty-eleven. The off-season gives us a chance to relax, reflect and reminisce about the season. We can finally sit back and begin to take everything in. Because their is so little shoots during these dark months, I usually spend my time trying work on my processing styles. This usually involves going absolutely and completely overboard with my processing to the extent that it might make your eyes bleed. But it’s for good reason. By pushing everything up to eleven, it helps me figure out just how far is too far. From this I can scale things back and find a happy medium. I’ve always wanted to try and create a processing style which pays homage to old photographic prints that have faded, been marked etc. I shot this 993 Porsche recently for Speedhunters and thought it was the perfect shoot to revisit and experiment. You can check out the original feature for comparison here. The rest of the images are after the break …
New York City – Part Two
It’s almost impossible to talk about New York City today and not mention September 11th – a tragedy so great that we now only need to refer to it by date. There have been much larger losses of life throughout the course of history but there is something about happened on that Tuesday morning that hit us all so deeply. I’ve wanted to visit the World Trade Centre site for quite some time to pay my respects to all of those who lost their lives. I was expecting to walk into a quiet area filled with sadness but instead I found a place full of energy, recovering from the disaster in the only way they know how – with pride, passion and dignity. Nothing else sums up the people of New York City like the World Trade Centre site. The recently opened 9/11 Memorial is a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and during a separate terrorist attack on the WTC in February 1993. Part two of this story begins with the WTC site and the 9/11 Memorial before exploring the rest of what this incredible city has to offer. If you’d like to contribute to the 9/11 Memorial fund, I’ve included a link to the official website at the bottom. Read on for more images after the break …
New York City – Part One
Growing up, I’ve really only ever had one dream. It was a dream that always stayed with me when others would fade away or would be forgotten as time passed. It was a realistic dream – sure, we’d all love to win the lotto or a couple of Nobel prizes but it’s healthy to keep your feet planted firmly in reality – and one that I knew I would someday be able to make happen. Earlier this year, all the planets and stars aligned for me and I was finally presented with the ability to travel to the greatest city on earth, New York. Ever since I travelled to the USA as a child with my parents, I’ve always had a place in my heart for those United States. This was more of a holiday than a job but being a photographer is something you can never turn off. Armed with my beloved Canon 5DMKII (minus a battery grip to save weight), the Canon 35 F1.4 L and the Canon 135 F2 L, I was sure I was ready to take on the city that never sleeps. This is the first of two parts and I’ll hopefully have the second part online later this week. Enjoy …
Manthey Racing to Retire from VLN & N24 Races?
Popular motoring journalist Chris Harris tweeted earlier that the iconic Manthey Racing Porsches will not be found contesting the VLN and Nurburgring 24 Hour races in 2012. According to Harris, the Balance of Performance system is stacked so heavily against the GT3 R that Olaf Manthey has decided to call it a day. Since 2005, Manthey have claimed five out of six outright wins at what is billed as the hardest endurance race on the planet (the Nurburgring 24 Hour) and a staggering 24 VLN race wins in the same time period. One would hope that Herr Manthey has something up his sleeve …
Business as Usual …
I’ve been out of the office for the last week on a long overdue vacation to the United States. Unfortunately, the auto-responder I set-up before departing got knocked off after a power cut so I apologise for any lack of correspondence in the mean time. I’ll be back in the office from Tuesday November 1st where business will resume as usual. I’ll be sure to share some of my favorite sights from my trip with you shortly …
Team Need for Speed BMW Z4 GT3
Every once in a while, an opportunity presents itself that cannot be turned down. Arriving at an unusually sun basked Silverstone circuit on a Thursday evening in June of this year, I was rather casually presented with the task of shooting arguably the best looking car on the GT3 grid, the Team Need for Speed and Schubert Motorsport prepared BMW Z4 GT3. However, there were quite a lot of restrictions surrounding the shoot. Time was the largest obstacle with a window of just 90 minutes to complete a thorough shoot of the car. Positioning the car was another challenge. As you may know, full race prepared cars do not like to be started and stopped and moved short distances so we needed to arrange a quad bike and two mechanics to accompany and manoeuvre the car. However all of these minor annoyances were quickly forgotten once I looked through the viewfinder. The backdrop of the newly unveiled Silverstone Wing complex and the privilege of being the first photographer to shoot on the new hallowed race surface – the weekend’s FIA GT event would be the first race meeting on the new layout utilising the new complex – more than made up for any of these slight grievances. It was a proud moment when I stood back from the camera and took a moment to take it all in. Here I was within my first 14 months as a professional photographer, standing on the Silverstone race circuit photographing one of my all-time favourite race cars in glorious weather. For all the positives and negatives of my job, I can always look back to this as to why I do what I do. More images after the break …
Gatebil Rudskogen Part Two
Part two of my Gatebil story concentrates on the track action. With drifting to extreme time attack, Gatebil was a no holds barred automotive extravaganza. Caution : This Story Contains Copious Amounts of Tyre Smoke.
Gatebil Rudskogen Part One
The last couple of months have been truly memorable. Not only as a photographer but also as a petrolhead. I’ve had the privilege of shooting some of the best events on the planet, events that only a year or two earlier were only but a dream. I know that things as good as this never last long, but I’m ensuring that I’m enjoying every last moment and having no regrets along the way. It’s not everyday you wake up in your dream job and I can’t thank the Speedhunters and Need for Speed teams enough for allowing me the privilege of working with them. This is the first of two parts from the Gatebil Rudskogen, an event which was held about two hours north of Oslo at the end of July. The word insanity doesn’t even come close to describing Gatebil. More images, as usual, after the jump …
Waterford United Vs. Liverpool FC
Those of you who frequent here may be a little bit alarmed at seeing something non-automotive related. Those of you that know me however will know that behind the racing fuel for blood, there’s a life long Liverpool FC supporter. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at shooting football and when the opportunity arose to shoot my first match and shoot Liverpool, there wasn’t a whole lot that could keep me away. The biggest challenge in shooting football is the erratic nature of the action on pitch. When shooting motorsport, you generally know what direction the action is coming from and what direction it’s heading in but with football you really need to try and read the players and their movement off the ball. It was a fantastic challenge, one which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was pretty tough trying to shoot some fast shutter action in low light conditions too, a real workout for both camera bodies and lenses. A big thanks to Ken Sutton for showing me the ropes, I hope I can make it back out soon for another game in the near future.
2011 ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hour – Part Two
I’ll conclude my 2011 ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24HR coverage with the second and final part of images. These images take place in chronological order from the Friday qualifying sessions right through to the race end on Sunday evening. Nearly a month later and I’m still feeling the effects of the N24. It’s truly the most difficult event one can photograph during the motorsport season. However, it also rewards you for your perseverance. Read on for more images …
Ferrari F40
Ever since I was a kid, there was only one true exotic car that held my attention. Although I respected the Lamborghinis of the same era and I admired the successors that came after the F40, the F40 still remains the only exotic car I’ve held such a deep down desire for. It took me twenty five years to see my first F40 in the carbon and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it exceeded every single preconception or idea I’ve ever held about the world’s greatest supercar. You’ll find some giddy and excited detail shots after the jump.
2011 ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hour – Part One
I’m slowly trying to come around after a couple of very intensive weeks of work. Bouncing from the legendary Nürburgring twenty four hour race to the wild festivities of Gatebil in Norway has taken its toll on this Speedhunter. There are quite a lot of shots from the twenty four hour that I want to share so I’ve decided to split the coverage into two, chronologically ordered pieces. The first part will take you from our arrival in Germany on the Tuesday before the race to the Thursday night after qualifying. The rest of the story is after the break …
A Day With David Brabham
Earlier last month I was tasked with creating the accompanying images for a story of a day in the life of one David Brabham. The Brabham family name is synonymous in motorsport with success and David’s illustrious career has ensured that association won’t be changing any time soon. A racing career spanning nearly thirty years with multiple wins in a variety of classes at Le Mans and a host of other successes across a variety of championships including F1, JGTC and ALMS to name but a few. David would be one of those who you would forgive for having any airs or graces about him but the man behind the visor is as welcoming and as nice as anyone you could ever meet. A true gentleman of motorsport. More images after the jump …
Ride-Along with Julian Smith at Gatebil
[vimeo width=”800″ height=”600″]http://vimeo.com/26436495[/vimeo] It’s slightly more difficult than you’d imagine trying to hold a video camera steady as you’re being flung mostly sideways around the Norwegian countryside in a 500+BHP ER34 Skyline. Soundtrack by Garage D / Nissan RB
Koenigsegg Agera
It’s not very often I post exotics on here but the instant the Agera crested the rise at the Rudskogen track in Norway last weekend, I knew there was something beautiful in front of my eyes. Be sure to keep reading Speedhunters for the most recent stories from Gatebil and I’ll hopefully be able to catch up with things shortly on here from both this trip and the previous adventure to the Nürburgring.
Back from Hell
Apologies for the lack of updates recently folks, I’m still trying to get back on track after another amazing Nürburgring Nordschliefe experience. Lots of fresh stories over on Speedhunters and I’ll be sure to get some photographs up here before I head to Norway next weekend for Gatebil.
FIA GT3 European Championship – Team Need for Speed at Silverstone
As part of my Speedhunters duties at Silverstone, I was required to cover the Team Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 in as much detail as I could. With our Creative Director, Rod Chong and GT veteran photographer Jonathan Moore present to cover the track, I was left to focus on the behind the scenes and pit lane activity. More after the jump !
FIA GT1 World Championship – Silverstone
Any of you that follow my activities on Speedhunters (or look below this post for that matter) may have seen my recent stories from the FIA GT event at Silverstone. It’s quite an experience shooting events of this scale, it’s an even bigger experience shooting the GT1 class. I’ve gathered together a couple of my favorite images from last weekend below. I hope you enjoy !
This Weekend, I’ve mostly …
… been spending time shooting the 2011 Team Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3s at the brand new Silverstone Wing complex. You can grab the desktop of the above image from Speedhunters. Whilst there, be sure to take a look at our coverage from the recent FIA GT1 & GT3 Championships from Silverstone.
ITCC Kirkistown – Rounds Seven & Eight
Saturday gone saw the seventh and eight rounds of the 2011 Irish Touring Car Championship which took place at Kirkistown Circuit in Northern Ireland. Working with the ITCC has been an absolute pleasure and privilege. They’ve provided some amazing and well organised races so far this season and it can only get better. The full gallery of images can be found on my Flickr and the upcoming race report can be found on the ITCC website. There are a couple of more images after the break …
Formula Libre
During the down time between the ITCC sessions at Kirkistown yesterday, I spent some time scouting out photo-locations and trying different lenses and settings to get the best for the Irish touring cars. One of those sessions I used for some trial and error testing was the Formula Libre class which is an open class for single seaters. Photographing some of the cars, in particular the one above, only more strengthened my ambition to one day shoot an F1 race. The above was shot with a Canon 300 2.8 L IS with a Canon MKIII 2X extender on a Canon 1D MKII N.
The Green Hell
In anticipation of the impending ADAC 24HR Nurburgring at the end of June, I’ve been digging through last years photographs from the event and dug out these shots which previously have never been published (well, some of them anyway). The photographs were taken on the Sunday morning of what is surely the most challenging twenty four hour endurance race on the planet. A big thank you to KW Suspensions for arranging the trip and the helicopter!