Assignment 5: People and place, on assignment

For this final assignment I have chosen to cover the Bo'ness Hill Climb Revival, a local motor sport event held annually, so my notional client is the BHCR committee.

The idea with a hill climb is that single vehicles (cars or motorbikes) make a timed run up a hill based course with the fastest time in each of a given series of vehicle classes winning. The photography is strictly “performed to order” in the sense that the event is run to a specific schedule and if a shot of a car on track is missed then there is no opportunity to recreate or direct that shot.

The event has been running for three years in its current guise. In 2008 I first photographed the event and used some of the photos for my OCA Art of Photography course. In 2009 I was in fact commissioned for real by BHCR as a local photographer to provide photographs as the council (Falkirk) had specifically insisted that they needed images of the track opening (by the Provost) that could be used in the media. In 2010 I photographed the event again.

In order not to be trying to get photos through a large crowd and with various peoples heads in the way the key is to have track side access and this means having a press pass. Having covered the event from the outset I now know the press officer and was able to get one of the press passes (they only issue about a dozen).

Even with a press pass certain restrictions are still placed on photographers, mainly for health and safety reasons, for example limiting track access at race times, requirement to wear a hi-vis vest and forbidding flash photography. In 2009 a car hit a straw bale that I was standing behind, I escaped unharmed but it was more than enough to convince me how dangerous track side photography can be.

Notional client briefing

“Cover the BHCR 2010 event over the weekend of 11/12 September, to include the official track opening and cars competing. Of particular interest are motorbikes as they are competing for the first time this year. Also of interest are any very old or unusual vehicles such as the GS1 Squanderbug. Provide a variety of still images that can be used on the BHCR web site and that may be also be used in conjunction with Falkirk Council for press releases and other media. Any images not specifically chosen by BHCR may be sold to the drivers or otherwise used.”

Planning

Planning is essential for this type of event. It is important to know the layout of the track, the likely action spots and the order of running plus timing for events such as the track opening. Walking the track in advance has proved helpful. In the first instance the BHCR web site provides a good resource for getting info.

http://www.bonesshillclimb.org.uk/index.html

Just prior to the event getting the camera gear prepared is important, ensuring batteries are charged and CF cards are formatted etc. There is little time to change lenses so I shoot with 2 bodies, each with a zoom lens. I use a full sensor body with a 24-105 for the closer work and then a crop sensor body with a 70-200 (effectively 110-320mm). In my bag I also carry a couple of fast primes, 50 1.4 & 85 1.8, and a X2 teleconverter and not forgetting the essential chamois leather for wiping the rain off. All this fits into a Kata Photoreporter bag keeping everything safe but allowing quick access.

When checking in as a press photographer you are then issued with an event Programme which gives a list of vehicles and drivers, very useful when fielding sales queries later.

Race control also provide a 'batch list', essentially a list of all the vehicles with numbers and driver names in the sequence they will run and including any late entries that may not be in the printed Programme. By checking the batch list I was able to pick out areas of interest, for example to see when the motorbikes, of which there were only a few, would be running. The BHCR will be keen to get photos of class winners in action but the winners will only be known at the end of the event so to some extent this requires a wide coverage of the entrants, having at least one shot of every entrant is desirable in the hopes of covering a subsequent winner.

The course has a lot of dense tree cover and this places large areas of track in very dark shade at certain times of day so sun position and time of day to some extent dictate location. For example Crawyett (see track layout) is almost always dark but the Courtyard provides good light mid morning to mid afternoon.

I am also looking for images that I can sell separately:

• The paddock allows for direct access to the vehicles and provide potential for stock shots (I mostly sell via Alamy). I tend to cover this early for a first pass while waiting for the drivers briefing and then pop back later in the day for crash wreckage etc.
• There is some potential for fine art images, especially with the vintage vehicles.
• Drivers tend to like images of themselves in the car on the move. I have found that when the cars return to the paddock is a good opportunity as typically the cars are on the move but slowly and drivers will often have removed their helmets so can be seen.
• Action shots are always popular, these are typically pan shots at slowish shutter speeds to give a sharp vehicle against a blurred background. This can be hard to get spot on but there is some tolerance as blur, within reason, tends to just add to the feeling of speed.

The Images

Please click on the individual images to see larger versions with the image notes as captions:

1. Drivers' briefing

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

2. Scene setter – Batch One

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

3. Starting lights

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

4. The start line

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

5. Lotus single seat racer

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

6. Alvis enters courtyard bend

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

7. Steering wheel

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

8. Track Opening by the Provost

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

9. Poised to record

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

10. Motorbike and sidecar in action

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

11. Ducati 749

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

12. Old Norton

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

13. GS1 Squanderbug

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

14. Back to the paddock

From OCA P and P Assignment 5

A larger set of photos from the event can be found on my main web site at:
http://www.astburyphotography.co.uk/photos/events/hillclimb10/index.htm

Conclusions

Having covered this event for three consecutive years it does get easier but always remains a challenge and a little bit of luck always helps as you can only be at one place on the track at any given moment in time. I have a better idea of what shots will prove of commercial worth now than when I first started out.
I have tried to get in close with the shots but suspect that in some cases I could have benefited from getting even closer, something to keep working at.

Technically:

• I find I could still improve on my pan shots which sometimes suffered from too fast a shutter speed when the light was bright. At 100 ISO and around f4 to f5 for limited depth of field shutter speeds tended to be from 1/200 up to 1/5000th. For a good blur on the background not faster than about 1/200th is ideal. A smooth pan is required and with IS set off on my 24-105, set to mode 2 on my 70-200. An ND filter could help reduce shutter speeds during the brighter moments.
• I have tried with and without a monopod but have tended to shoot more without, its more bulk when I have 2 cameras and a bag to carry and swapping cameras is then slower if I have to put them on and off the monopod (even with the quick release plates that I use).
• Metering can be a problem as a combination of wind and cloud meant that the light levels changed quickly sometimes. For this reason I opted for Aperture priority rather than manual. I had used mainly centre weighted metering but there is typically not enough time to set any exposure compensation as a car pops into view around a bend so doesn't work so well if the car turns out to be very dark or very bright. The evaluative metering mode may have worked better though I find too much sky can then give a dark subject.