APEXONE MOTORSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE
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S T N E T N O C PHOTO STORY ...........................................PAG. 3 TRIPLE CROWN OF MOTORSPORT .....PAG. 5 ON THE ROAD WITH APEXONE ............PAG. 13 BEHIND THE FENCE ................................PAG. 37 LIFE IN THE PITLANE ..............................PAG. 47
PHOTO STORY BY HASAN BRATIC
Follow @hasanbratic on Instagram!
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Since last year my colleagues have also called me ‘‘Mister Crash “. Last year I had seven or eight good crashes on screen. That started at Paul Ricard with the Ericsson crash in which his car caught fire. After that I was the only one with the photos from the two Red Bulls in Baku and I had the best photos from Ericsson at Monza. That’s how I got that nickname. Now everyone asks me in which bend I will stand and they follow me. Last year I was in exactly the same corner throughout the Monaco race. Five laps before the end, I thought, screw it, I’m going to the podium.
And when I just left, Leclerc crashed there. This year I said to myself: “No matter what happens, I’ll stay until the end.” Hamilton and Verstappen and Vettel and Bottas were close together throughout the race so I was hoping for action. I noticed that Hamilton’s tires were not that good anymore. Fortunately Max tried it! Monaco is special. You never get that close to the cars. The series of the two crashing Red Bulls in Baku is my most famous series but that was taken from a great distance. I stood here centimeters away from the action. The whole series is great, I have about 30 photos that are all sharp and good.
You play a lot with lenses and shutter speeds while shooting. A few laps earlier I photographed with a different lens and with a lower shutter speed. If the attempt had happened at that time, the photos would never have been so good. Fortunately I had the perfect adjustment at the right time. Sometimes you need luck, but you have to enforce it. I mostly work freelance so I choose other places to be able to take other photos. Sometimes you have nothing, but if you have something, then you are unique.
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TRIPLE CROWN OF MOTORSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
After attending this year’s Indianapolis 500, motorsport photographer Jamey Price reveals what it’s like to have worked at all three of motorsport’s Triple Crown events. Words and photos by Jamey Price as published on WTF1.com. Follow Jamey’s journey on Instagram @jameypricephoto or visit his website jameypricephoto.com for more info.
I come from an American horse racing background. I was a jockey and horse racing photographer before i altered the course of my career to become a professional motorsport photographer. So the ‘triple crown’ term is not a new one for me. In American horse racing, to earn the title of ‘triple crown winner’, a horse has to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. In one year. Only 13 horses have been able to achieve the feat since 1875.
Fernando alonso has recently started his passionate quest for winning the motorsport version of the triple crown. Monaco, Le Mans and Indianapolis. A driver has to win them all to call himself a triple crown winner. Only Graham Hill has ever completed the feat. Many others have been close though. In my career, i’ve been fortunate to be sent to Monaco for the Grand Prix on five occasions. Probably the most memorable of which was the 2014 race which Jules Bianchi famously scored
points, thus cementing himself in history as the saviour of the Marussia Grand Prix Team. In fact, it was my picture shared around the world of Jules crossing the line with the checkered flag waving officially scoring those points. I was working as part of the photography team that supplied images to Marussia for the year, so that image was used heavily by the team, by the media, fans and everyone else, before, but especially after his passing.
‘‘AT THE TIME, I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT MOMENT. I WISH I HAD. BUT I DIDN’T...’’
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I’ve also been fortunate tocover the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times, three of which I was working with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s LMP1 Hybrid team alongside team photographer James Moy.. Yes, 2016 was as heartbreaking as everyone made it out to be. Many tears were shed by all of us. To have the car fail with mere minutes remaining was so disappointing to say the very least. But I was also there working with James and Toyota in 2018 when they finally beat Le Mans to win for the first time.
guy that is somewhat jaded about motorsport events. Race cars in general don’t sound as good, look as good or make me as excited as they used to. It takes a lot for my hair to stand on end before a race. But to feel that energy from 300,000 people and 33 cars was something I’ve never experienced. I had chills down my spine. Even qualifying weekend was something special. Qualifying mattered. REALLY mattered. You might not even make it in the race kind of mattered.
‘‘IT WAS SOMETHING I’VE NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE. I HAD CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE.’’ I won’t debate whether that win was genuine (spoiler, it was genuine). Regardless of anyone’s opinion, it was a great race between the No.7 and No.8 cars and a special moment in Toyota’s history.
It was a six-hour battle of strategy, patience, luck and skill. The wind was whipping, the track was greasy and hot and cars were all over the place.
How many years did Audi compete against mainly themselves? More than a small handful, that’s for sure.
It was incredible to watch the teams make last-minute decisions on whether to make another run and void their time, or to keep their time and hope it was good enough.
But until last weekend, I had never had the privilege of completing the motorsport triple crown myself.
For a few teams, it wasn’t good enough and that’s the beauty of bump day qualifying.
The Indy 500 is an event like none other, and that is coming from a
No one is promised one of those 33 coveted spots in the Indy 500.
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I was sitting directly behind Fernando’s car, with Mclaren CEO Zak Brown holding him there until IndyCar gave the green light to start his run. Zak waved him off, Fernando popped the clutch, spun the tires up and off he roared in a blur of blue tire smoke. Every photographer knows there is a significant amount of luck in our pursuit of the perfect picture. On this day, I got a little lucky. Indy’s iconic grandstands were shadowed by cloud cover, Fernando’s car lit in bright backlit sunlight. It made for almost the perfect series of pictures. And it was on that moment, on Sunday’s bump day qualifying that Mclaren failed to make the field of
But stuff like that is what makes American sporting events so special, and fun! So there I was, sitting above the main grandstand in “the crow’s nest”, about to shoot one of the greatest sporting events on Earth. Looking down the main straight at hundreds of thousands of people as the National Anthem was sung, fighter jets screamed overhead and the command was given to fire engines. It’s a spectacle like nothing else. Maybe you’re a fan of Indycar, maybe you aren’t. But I now strongly believe every racing fan needs to go to Indy once in their life for the 500. You won’t regret it.
‘‘HISTORY HAD BEEN MADE, IN THE WRONG SORT OF WAY.’’ 33 for the 103rd Indy 500. History had been made, in the wrong sort of way. Fast forward one week to race day. The weatherman had been calling for doom and gloom all week. But the skies parted, the rain held off to the north, and Indy was blanketed in glorious sunshine almost all day.
I’ve ticked all the boxes. I’ve stood at the swimming pool chicane in Monaco to watch the cars dance at speeds beyond belief. I’ve been on the Mulsanne at 3am to listen and watch the cars roar past in a symphony of noise during Le Mans. And now I have a photo of Simon Pagenaud dousing himself with whole milk.
As an American, I’m used to the over the top fanfare of our events. I only need to look back at what COTA did for US GP a few years ago as an example. Many of my European friends hated it.
Not that I was ever in pursuit of the motorsport triple crown. It’s more of a testament to the amazing clients I have that brought me there. But I’m thankful to have done all three in my short career.
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ON THE ROAD WITH APEXONE
A SELECTION OF THE BEST APEXONE IMAGES
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NÜRBURGRING
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM 17
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FIA WEC SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
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SUPERCAR CHALLENGE
CIRCUIT ZANDVOORT
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KARTING CIRCUIT GENK
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BEHIND THE FENCE As an unpublished photographer, Rich Webb is always looking to further his ability and experience of this pastime, towards a more expansive, professional offering with the single aim of producing the most exceptionally creative images he can. Today he takes you to his first trip to the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit. When I was investing plenty of time and effort into learning and developing my photography, I used to tart out my galleries to the professionals in the hope of gaining a little feedback or critique to help me improve. I did this quite regularly, especially after the larger events as I knew more interest and a healthier opinion could be gathered. After a visit to the 2016 German Grand Prix, it was no different; I edited up what I thought were my best shots from the race weekend, presented them in a gallery and set about pimping them to the eyes of the world. At the time, I wasn’t pleased with what I had captured at Hockenheim. That was (and still is) a typical reaction of mine to a final selection of images after the furore of a race weekend. I always think I could’ve done better. Still my spectators gallery was out on public view, and here I was, tagging the professionals, asking politely if they would take a look and offer a little input...
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Darren Heath, Vladimir Rys, Clive J Mason, Anthony Rew, Andy Hone‌ as many of the established and experienced F1 photographers that I could think of, all for a morsel of feedback. I also asked James Moy. You might be thinking that what comes next is some sort of derogatory response, or a comment of comedy gold. Could this be where I proved the doubters wrong and where I get my break? Nope. None of that. To my surprise, all of those that I tagged responded, and all of them offered even a few words of encouragement giving me a decent confidence boost. I don’t know how much of it was simply politeness, but at that stage of my photographic journey, I was very pleased with the reactions received. Coincidentally, Mr Moy had taken some images that were very similar, and commented about standing in the same place. He also suggested applying my eye to a different circuit such as Spa, where the dynamics of the surroundings may offer up more variety. I took that advice on board. Three years later on, I have finally been able to visit and experience Spa-Francorchamps in person, camera in hand, sweating buckets, stomping up and down those hills, fighting through the hordes of race fans all weekend.
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As my maiden visit to this mecca of racing, I was excited for the opportunity to shoot the F1’s a second time in 2019, especially at a circuit that so many go rave about. It wasn’t a disappointment; if anything, it was a little overwhelming. Trees, angles, elevation, sun and crowds; a banquet of scenes and opportunity I was simply not used to! It takes time to orientate yourself to new surroundings, never mind find decent locations for images, but typical to my ‘style’, I endeavoured to not shoot the clichés that so many have produced before me. But that classic shot of car flying through Eau Rouge into Radillion is more difficult to avoid than you think, simply because of the awe it inspires. On any occasion I go out with my camera, I find it’s quite a task just to satisfy my own endeavour, never mind coping with the alien surroundings. This was however, a golden opportunity to demonstrate that I could. Five years of shooting as a fanboy, 95% of that at the same circuit in the UK; Silverstone.
Would my experience transfer to utterly different and unfamiliar surroundings? I like to think I found out. Follow @tallwebbo on IG or visit his website www.richwebb.co.uk
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LIFE IN THE PITLANE In a little under 2.5 years, Sergey Savrasov has gone from working a ‘normal’ job to living life as an F1 Photographer. What is your background and do you remember the first picture you took? Along with my day job, I started as a wedding and portraiture photographer in 2014. My elder brother Eugene was shooting weddings and I joined him as a second photographer. I can’t say that I was a fan of photography – music was my thing (I was a guitar player from age 6) so it never crossed my mind that I would become a photographer, especially as a professional. Motorsport came into it in 2015 when I married my wife. As a gift, we received two tickets to the Russian GP in Sochi. I was a big fan of F1 from 2011, and of course, I brought a camera with me. I didn’t take particularly good photos at that time, but I liked shooting the cars! I then started to research the techniques for shooting motorsport soon realised that I could combine photography and motorsports.
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‘‘IF YOU HAVE A CERTAIN AIM – EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE.’’
In 2016 I managed to win two tickets to the main grandstand to the Grand Prix in Sochi. I took my camera this time to try and take some good images – and maybe even make a portfolio to help me find my way into motorsports photography. After I gained a bit of experience I got some support from Ross Ringham, The Director Spacesuit Media. That’s how it then really got started.
Was the journey to F1 similar to that of a driver? Starting off in junior categories and working your way up? In a way, it looks like my path was similar to that of a driver. As I mentioned earlier, the first time I was shooting motorsports was at an F1 race as a spectator. Then I developed my skills at local karting championships and followed by a DTM round at Moscow Raceway. Once I got there I was in love with the atmosphere and decided to go further.
What is the best image you have captured in F1 and why? I haven’t captured it yet. I know it sounds like a cliche, but it’s true. Every new frame is supposed to be better than the previous one. I honestly believe it should be a constant strive to be a better professional and person – because your own personality and background define your vision within the frame. But if I had to say the one I like the most it’s the stare of Lewis Hamilton, driving out of the garage at the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix.
Is it hard to get access to shoot? Yes, it’s hard, but possible. My example proves that – who knew that a guy from province city in Russia would become an F1 photographer! If you have a certain aim – everything is possible. Do good work, make right connections, have some patience and one day you might be there!
Who influenced you and your work? There are two F1 photographers who influenced me the most: Darren Heath and Vladimir Rys. I think sometimes it is noticeable. I do think my background in portraits also influenced my work. I can’t say that I have taken too much inspiration from other photographers as it’s always been an unconscious process for me. When I’m shooting I almost don’t think – I just see some moments and details and capture them. Sometimes you just observe the way cars move and it inspires you itself to create a certain image.
Does the light make it difficult at each race? I hate shooting with dull light on a cloudy day, but whether you like it or not you’re a professional and you have to deal with it. You have to make most of every situation – that’s the part of our job and it’s a great challenge that makes this job interesting.
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What 3 items of kit can you not live without? (other than a camera and camera bag!) My 85mm lens, card reader and MacBook. I love 85mm. I use it a lot during every race weekend. It’s so flexible: you can shoot everything with it – from portraits and detailed shots to action on the track and in the pit lane. I once forgot a card reader and only realised when I was already at the circuit. It was a nightmare and made my life way too complicated… Since then I always carry one in my camera bag and another in my suitcase. As I also spend so much time traveling, I can’t live without my MacBook – it gives me the ability to edit photos on the go.
Do you get access to everywhere and every team? Have you tried and failed? No, I don’t have access anywhere, unfortunately. I can’t stay at the garages, but even if I could there are some strict rules in every team saying what you can and can’t capture. It’s all about the secrecy in F1, you know.. I had a curious moment in Suzuka: I decided to take a walk through the pit lane late in the evening with my camera and 35mm lens only, I saw McLaren’s mechanics working with their car at the FIA garage. I started to shoot them from the ground far enough from the garage, and then one of the mechanics saw me and told me to stop shooting. Man, I was with a wide lens mounted on my camera at least 8 meters away from you, what details of your car can I possibly capture?
Do you talk to other photographers at the races or is it a mad chase to get to the right corner? You know, it’s like a big family here. Some guys don’t talk much though, but I prefer to enjoy being here and I like to chat with my colleagues. You can always ask for advice and count on help from other guys. There are some great blokes out there, and I like this part of my job too.
Do you capture images outside of the circuit? The atmosphere around the venues? Yes, every race I do it. I like to shoot fans, or scenery, or some little details that tell the story of this exact place.
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Follow @sergeysavrasov on IG or visit his website sergeysavrasov.com
Words and photos by Sergey Savrasov as published on wescrutinize.com.
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