Le Mans in Instagram, l'endurance special edition.

LE MANS In Instagram

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LE MANS In Instagram

By Dan Bathie

With Thanks to Travel Destinations.

an

INTRO

I

love the saying ‘The photographer takes the picture, not the equipment’, mainly because I believe it to be true. I hear so many people say, “That’s a great picture, you must have an expensive camera.” Sure, a nice piece of glass helps but it would be a touch rude to go to a painter and say “that’s a lovely painting, you must have a nice paint brush.”

Yet in photography it seems that the price of your gear and size of your lens seems to be the dividing line between professional and amateur photographer. I hate camera snobs - just because you have £5,000 worth of camera gear, does not automatically make you a photojournalist. That’s why, when I saw New York Times photographer Damon Winter’s account of the war in Afghanistan using an iPhone, I was truly inspired. He managed to capture a war environment in a hard-hitting yet strangely intimate way. Something about the snapshot style drew you in and intensified the experience - it was less glossy, more real. If you haven’t seen it, you should really check it out.

His piece divided opinions though; he used an app called Hipstamatic to edit the photos, basically putting a ‘retro’ filter on them. So he used a

phone camera and still got great photos, but because he used an app to edit them suddenly there is criticism. Apps like Hipstermatic and Instagram seem to make a lot of photographers angry. Why? Well apparently it makes photography easy so everyone is suddenly a photographer and anything boring suddenly looks cool and moody. It’s an interesting point and to an extent true.

Instagram will, 99% of the time, make a rusty gate look more interesting in a normal snapshot situation - but photography isn’t as easy as just applying a filter, or owning an expensive camera.

If it was, anyone with DSLR would be Ansel Adams.

I must admit though that when I first saw Instagram photos I didn’t see the point. Then I downloaded it, and I quickly changed my opinion.

I love Instagram - it’s fun and it’s made me want to take more photos. Surely it’s not a bad thing that people want to take more photos (except,

perhaps, when they fill your Facebook newsfeed)?

So when I found out I wouldn’t be accredited for Le Mans I decided that I would annoy more photographers and set a challenge for myself to do a similar thing as Winter, but for the Le Mans race week. Using just an iPhone, a cheap magnetic fish eye and comical telephoto lens and Instagram, I wanted to find the ‘feel’ of Le Mans.

Obviously Le Mans is slightly different to war, but the event for me has an atmosphere like no other, and I wanted to try and capture that.

Leading up the race I had doubts. As a photographer, leaving a camera behind at one of the biggest events that there is not the easiest thing to do. I caved in and packed my old Nikon D50 and a couple of lenses. Turns out packing the D50 was a mistake - as soon as the journey to La Sarthe started I loved the challenge of just using the iPhone. Having no control of any of the settings apart from flash makes it frustrating at times but a challenge isn’t a challenge because it’s easy.

I started to think more about the composition of the photos and capturing the bits you miss when just photographing cars on track. I often feel disappointed with a set of photos if I feel I haven’t captured the feel of an event - this year’s Nürburgring 24 was a perfect case in point. Some of the photos I like, but as a set I feel it just doesn’t get across the true madness of the event.

Maybe next year.

For me photography isn’t about taking that technically perfect image, it’s about capturing an event in time. For Le Mans, my iPhone and Instagram was perfect for that. I love the unity of this photographic record. For the real motorsport action shots, of course you can’t compete with an SLR with multiple lenses. But this wasn’t about competing. My iPhone Instagram diary is a very personal record of the Le Mans experience, it makes me remember the sights, the sounds, the smells and the vintage filters reminds me of the event’s past. This year I took photos without the pressure of trying so hard to get it right - it was fun. Thanks go to Travel Destinations, who made the trip to Le Mans possible.

These photos document the 80th running of the Le Mans 24 hours.

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END

With Thanks to Travel Destinations.