So my assignment for Live Magazine this weekend was to cover the Long Beach Grand Prix. This was my first year covering the event and I was so excited, I’ve always wanted to cover a racing event I’m just happy my first was the LB Grand Prix. As a wanna be sports photographer what better place to have the freedom to take pictures right? Needless to say it was action packed, from a photographer’s point of view there was non stop photo opportunities. Luckily I was given an ALL access pass so I could go in the pits, the paddocks (where the cars get stored and worked on) and other places where the public was not allowed. STOKED!
Friday DAY 1
Start time was at 6:15am for a mandatory Photographer’s meeting, man that was early! But I got my photo vest for the weekend and I was off…I cruised around the track area getting acquainted with my new surroundings. I was learning where my pass gave me access, come to find out that was anywhere I wanted. YEEESSS! As I was walking around I heard the first rumbles of an engine start up and I thought, here we go it’s on! All giddy I head over to the track to get my first shots, when the first set of cars came around the corner I took a few shots then immediately headed right over to a vendor that was selling ear plugs, yup that’s right I totally spaced and when those cars came screaming around the corner I was like OH DANG my ears were ringing. Once I plugged in my ears I was golden and I was a happy camper shooting away. I will have to admit without a fence in front of me and with the right equipment my job was a cinch. I was loving my 50D this weekend with 6.5 frames per second. Basically I used the first day to learn how to shoot the cars, what angles I wanted to take and to scope out the locations I wanted to shoot at. The day concluded with a game plan for day 2 and 3 and a sore back. I believe it was successful day even though my back was on fire from carrying all my gear for 8 straight hours. The life of a race photographer….I guess…(See pics here)
Saturday Day 2
Start time was at 7am, woo hoo an extra 45 mins of sleep! Another mandatory meeting, it was boring but informative…Here is how the day went, I started off way over on the other side of the track by turns 1 and 5 just to get a different perspective. Turns out it wasn’t as great as I thought (SO I thought, more on that later). Since I was over there I basically cruised around and got a few shots of the Drifting cars, btw those drivers are seriously crazy, have you ever witnessed those guys in action? NUTS! They are so skilled it’s not even funny. They drive those cars like they are toys, swinging them from left to right and don’t even get me started on tires. As I was walking around I met a couple photogs from OC they were cool they were actually shooting for one of the race teams. I thought to myself what a cool idea, hmmm mental note…..As the day progressed I found myself back to my favorite spots refining my shooting skills so come Sunday I will be rocking it, I also discovered that I actually had access to other side pit row while the Indy carts were waiting for their turn on the track, SERIOUSLY I thought…Yeah ok I got some rad photos and of course some HD videos with my 5DM2 . The day ended with the old skool band Cheap Trick on the main stage, but before I they came on I had to bounce, my body was pretty tired. I can do a half Ironman pretty much no problem, but walking around with all my camera gear just killed me? Couple of highlights of the day, meeting Patrick Dempsey, getting shots of Celebrity Race winner Brian Austin Green (Sorry no Megan Fox shots), standing next to “The One” Keanu Reeves, getting my favorite shot of the whole weekend (see Day 2 first image of the Jag), being on the driver side of pit row, shooting from the island and getting rad HD videos. (See pics here)
Sunday Day 3
RACE DAY! Start time 7am. After 2 very long days of shooting I was really looking forward to FINALLY seeing some Indy Cart racing. Unfortunately the race itself was uneventful as far as action was concerned, other than one major crash around turn one, the race went pretty quick, there were no close calls with a clear winner Ryan Hunter-Reay (#37 Izod Car), he lead 64 of 85 laps. So of course I took tons-o-pics and once again got some rad HD Videos. It just so happens Sat. night I was looking through some blogs and I stopped by Scott Kelby’s blog, he is the President of National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), an avid pro photographer, author of many best selling books, you name it he is da man! He just so happened to shoot the Grand Prix in Alabama and so I proceeded to read through his blog, I was reminded about illustrating motion in my images by slowing down my shutter speed. Got to say thanks Scott I got some really cool pics because of you! So let’s talk about the highlights, 1) I petitioned to get a limited pit pass during the race after the morning meeting , I guess things change a little come race time, but sure enough I got it, STOKED! That led to a great video of the KV Racing pit crew full in blown action (video coming soon) 2) Great shots of Mark Wahlberg the Grand Marshall this year 3) great shots of all the race crews 4) More pics of Danica Patrick
In conclusion, I had so much fun covering my first ever Indy Cart series, such a great experience and I look forward to hopefully covering it again next year for the magazine. I met a Canadian photog on Friday we got to talking come to find out he is a pro race photographer, I just visited his site and DANG he’s good. So back to the part about the “other” side of the track, the part that I thought wasn’t so good. Well I was completely wrong, the images he got from that side BLEW me away they were that good, but that’s why he is the pro. So I guess what I’m saying is that next year if I’m lucky to get the opportunity I know where I’m headed. A very big THANK YOU goes out to Live Magazine for allowing to cover the event!
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