Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:54:35 -0700
From: "James N. McBride" <jnmcbr@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [OM] Re: "Real World Tests"
Stephen,
I was flipping through the channels last night and happened upon a program
about accidents involving race photographers. Some brutal stuff. One guy was
standing in the middle of the road photographing something on the side
during an evening rain storm. A driver, peripherally blinded by the water
and bad light, didn't see the photographer and hit him. That victim was
being extremely stupid. Several others were hit by cars losing control and
flying way off course. Most of these were road race and rally type events
where there is little crowd control. I'm sure it's tempting to want to be
where one should not be. It's certainly not a place to be careless. Have you
or Mike had any close calls?
/jim
Jim,
Hmmm...sounds like an interesting program. Never heard of anything like that.
Most of Mike's and my shooting for pro events is at places like Sears
Point in Sonoma, CA or Laguna Seca in Monterey. There, we are behind
"K-wall" for almost all of our shots, and often shoot through
photographer's/corner workers holes in the chain link. I've been
around racing for a long, long, time, both as a spectator and as a
(now former) motorcycle roadracer, and with all that experience, you
learn about where the "impact" areas are. Also,we can only go where
the corner workers will allow us to go. This will vary from event to
event. I can shoot at the inside of the apex at Turn 7 hairpin at
Sears Point for club motorcycle events, but there's no way to get in
there during a Le Mans prototype event; cars are too fast and
dangerous. It's probably even more limited for NASCAR, where those
big heavy cars are likely to spin. The most dangerous place to be is
in the pits, where cars or bikes are coming in or going out at a high
rate of speed. You learn never to turn your back to the pit lane, and
always look down pit lane when crossing. For pro car races, e.g. CART
or American Le Mans, you are required to wear a fire suit during the
race. These are few and far between, and usually available only to
AP Press or series photographers.
Sometimes you get lucky and get a nice shot even without them.
http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_cat/cartlagunaseca2003///GigantePIt.jpg
The above photo was snagged as a grab shot while leaning over the pit
wall. This shot also shows why you always have to look up the pitlane.
That poor bastard that was hit should have never, ever, under any
circumstances, been on a "hot" track. Even crossing a hot track can
get you thrown out and very likely you will never get a credential at
that track again. It's imperative after sessions are over to check
with corner workers to be sure that the track is "cold" before
crossing. The bottom line is that you have to learn to have eyes in
the back of your head when shooting motorsports, as sh*t can and does
happen. For our club events, like go-kart, supermotard, etc., you can
cross the track during an event, but you still have to be damn
careful...even a 100cc Honda supermotard bike can close on you pretty
fast in tight confines. The closest call I've ever had is dodging a
spinning go-kart. Wasn't too hard as it was only going 30 or 35 mph.
The most dangerous event is likely rally, where the cars are always
in a controlled spin or drift, and there literally is no barrier
protection. As to getting tempted to go where one should not be....I
certainly don't get tempted. It's dangerous even when you're being
safe, and just like with riding motorcycles, stupidity has no place
in those situations.
-Stephen.
--
2001 CBR600F4i - Fantastic!
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