A Little F1

[Steve Mitchell]

Here's are a few from today's first F1 practice session. Click here (http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/showgallery.php/cat/1457).

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/1457/0.jpg


http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/1457/50.jpg

[cox]

When I saw the top picture, my first thought was, "RUN STEVE!" :) A cool bunch of shots, I envy you your job. Wait, those aren't all cars...

[Steve Mitchell]

Nope not all cars...much more to come the next few days.

When I saw the top picture, my first thought was, "RUN STEVE!" :) A cool bunch of shots, I envy you your job. Wait, those aren't all cars...

[nhfirefighter13]

That landscaper is gonna be pissed! :D


Nice shots.

[Steve Mitchell]

Little did we know the race would be the biggest sports story in the world. (or even bigger than usual this year)

[Shawn]

If you have a pic of starting line with green flag fluttering and ONLY 6 cars in lineup. Now THAT will be worthwhile. While all the photographers around Danica P on the sideline, that will be priceless:D
P.S I do like your pics. What lens? And do you need a press pass to get shots like yours?

[Anders Östberg]

F1, a bunch of primadonnas if you ask me. Too bad they had to mess up the race with politics, I think they should have put the paying audience before their infighting. Rather disgusting, and unfortunately just one more reason to lose interest in this already boring sport. It's strange, it should be exciting but it isn't.

[lecter]

I'm with you Anders...

It should be better!

PHOTOS are awesome BTW Steve!

Rob

[mzdial]

I was there working. In protest, I took no photos. I boycotted it myself. :-)

Matt

[MatsP]

If you have a pic of starting line with green flag fluttering and ONLY 6 cars in lineup. Now THAT will be worthwhile. While all the photographers around Danica P on the sideline, that will be priceless:D
P.S I do like your pics. What lens? And do you need a press pass to get shots like yours?

Shawn, yes, you do need a press-pass to get inside the enclosure. If you're outside the enclosure, you'll be quite far away and you'll have a big fence between you and the cars, unless you're even further up the stands, in which case you get a "from above" shot, which isn't particularly pleasing, you want to see the side of the cars.

I've done some Motorcycle racing photography in the past, and it's got the same problem. Unless you've got a press-pass, you can't get quite close enough to the target.

As to lens, I think Steve is either using 300/2.8 or 400/2.8. You need something in that range to get a decent picture of these things, even if you have a press-pass.

Getting a press-pass ranges from "absolutely impossible" to "quite hard", depending on the "size" of the event. For F1, you'd better have a good amount of published works before you get there, apply in triplicate to the right people, etc, etc. For a local stock-car race, you may be able to wing it in there with a piece of paper that says that you work free-lance for the local newspaper.

--
Mats

[Shawn]

Thanx MatsP,

I am in Ohio and this weekend we have Cleveland GrandPrix and I was thinking of attending, specially after seeing F1 pics, they are very good.

[MatsP]

Thanx MatsP,

I am in Ohio and this weekend we have Cleveland GrandPrix and I was thinking of attending, specially after seeing F1 pics, they are very good.

Go for it. I haven't been to an F1 race, but I'm sure it's great and exciting entertainment. I've been to World Superbike a couple of times at Brands Hatch here in England, and it's pretty good too. I don't know what sort of prices they charge for tickets over there, but F1 is plenty expensive here, never mind the fact that Silverstone is out in the sticks with only a single lane in each direction, so it's always traffic chaos, unless you own a helicopter [Silverstone is the busiest airport in the world on the race-day, beating both Chicago O'Hare and London Heathrow in take-off/landings].

--
Mats

[Shawn]

MatsP,
I don't think it is F1 cars at Cleveland GrandPrix. It is at Burke Lakefront airport. So pics with lake in the backdrop should be good. Prices range from $5 to $350. Next stop for GrandPrix circuit is in Toronto.

[scott]

It's champ cars at Cleveland... but if you were one of the lucky folks that had a ticket to F1 USGP, they will accept it as general admission in Cleveland!