A few friends and i attended the WERA event at Road Atlanta on Saturday. This was my first time shooting Sportbikes ans my first time trekking around Road Atlanta. The Gear used was my Nikon D300/ 70-200 2.8/ 300mm AF-S.

f10/ ss320 @102mm iso 200


f4.5 ss1600 @102mm iso200


f10 ss250 @180mm iso200

Great stuff. #3 is the pick for me. Plenty of motion blur in the background and the subject is tack-sharp.

yep, the 3rd is a good shot, a little dark in areas, and I like the 4th too, the stranded rider off to the side, while his competitors keep going. The WERA guys doing RA are nuts, they clearly have no fear.

Agree with the 3rd shot. I haven't made it out to Road Atlanta yet...I need to.

Nice work!

Thanks guys, that 3rd is my favorite the shutter speed is on point. I think i could have gotten more like that if it wasnt for the blistering heat.

In #2 &3 you might have been positioned on the wrong side of the sun.

Next time consider scoping the track to position yourself for the best natural light at the time of the races. Those harsh shadows are unrecoverable.

They run them at the worst time of day for photogs, you think they would have more consideration for us....:

Technically excellent work

Rags

Rags Hef wrote:
In #2 &3 you might have been positioned on the wrong side of the sun.

Next time consider scoping the track to position yourself for the best natural light at the time of the races. Those harsh shadows are unrecoverable.


that is an excellent point, and tough for someone shooting RA for the first time. anything midday is the worst.

Looking at your grid shot, I'm curious if you shot anything from the bottom (back) of Turn One. The riser there is a bit out of position, but if you go down to the ground, step back from the wall (don't walk up... stay back and low) you have a terrific shot of the field jockeying for position heading into the turn. And, the low point of view with some shallow DOF in the foreground is pretty dramatic.

I would also think with the bikes that the shots working through 6 and 7 (from riders right) would be good.

There is also a bit of a 3/4 head on come up the crest as they exit turn 5.... the cars get pretty evil there... the bikes must be absolutely chaotic.

RA is a great track. I've been the track for photographer for Petit Le Mans for three years... there's a lot of nice spots especially if you work the light.

These are my 2008 Petit Le Mans images from RA
2008 Road Atlanta Petit Le Mans

JT

Mr. Thawley, you are very right about those vantage points at RA. But unless you have access to those areas, you can't get to them, Turn 1 especially, but it is a great place to catch the action at the start heading into Turn 1. John has some great advice for shooting RA, his experience shows. His work has been a major part of my inspiration for the last few years.

WOW! Thanks for the Road Atl Tips. I was so unprepared, of course i didnt know it til i was there. Ive only shot there once, for the Formula Drift event so, i didnt know the track lay out well. I know i could have done so much better, if it wasnt for the heat. When i wasnt being burned by my 70-200 i was wiping the sweat from my eyes. Honestly, i decided id better pay more attention to my health than to worry about good shots. I will see Road Atl again....

John did you have press credentials @ the Le Mans event? Can i get to those spots without credentials?

John has the best of credentials, take a quick look through his galleries, he gets all access to all the events he goes to. I am jealous beyond explanation.

You can't get to the Turn 1 spot without credentials at a major event, or permission from the organizers of a smaller event. And getting inside the spectator fence makes a huge difference. I have shot at RA probably 8 times, the last two times with all access, and it makes a huge difference. The best spots at RA, you really need to have access inside the fence, it gets a lot of clutter out of your way, and gives you some of the best angles on the action. Especially when you can be right next to the walls, just feet from the track.

Rd. Atlanta is a tough track to photograph without credentials. You did a great job considering the conditions.

The only way images 2 & 3 would have turned out better if you were able to shoot in early morning....or late afternoon.


T1 spot John was talking about can only be accessed with credentials, and you want to use a long lens...the run off area there is one of the deepest at the track. There are many good spots at the track to shoot, but it takes some hiking to see them. If interested i would be willing to share some images from a couple of years ago.

keep up the good work...........NOW go to an AMA race and see how INSANE the riding can get. Many of the TOP US riders use WERA as a stepping stone......Ben Spies AMA Champion, Colin Edwards World Superbike Champion, and I believe Nicky Hayden MotoGP World Champion to list a few.

I keep telling myself I will get out there to watch a motorcycle race, I have driven Road Atlanta in a car at speed more than once, and it is a rush, I can't imagine doing it on 2 wheels.

My last event at RA, I hiked the outside of the wall from Turn 1 all the way back to the TV stand at Turn 6 and on to Turn 7. Some of the best shots I have from RA. Inside the fence, on the inside of the track at Turn 2 and 3 is another great spot for cars, probably for bikes too with the added chicanes near the esses.

Nice Shots.

My friend won a couple of the vintage races down there. Did you get any of those races? I think he is #129, in honor of the infamous Dragon here in East TN.

Thanks for posting JT.

Took a look at you link, I really enjoy your work. #22238 really is a unique look at the track (deformation); a great shot.

Every time JT posts is an inspiration

thanks again

Rags

Rags Hef wrote:


Every time JT posts is an inspiration



TBH, he is why I got into motorsports photography, and back behind the viewfinder in general. I saw some of his work about 3 years ago, and got back into it after a long hiatus. So, imagine my surprise when he posted in this thread...

First and foremost, thank you all very much for the kind words. Honestly, it's humbling to read inasmuch as you never really see yourself that way. And, honestly, I don't. My biggest motivation is the fear of not being good enough. So.... really, thank you very much.

Look, I know that credentials give us access that's not available to everyone else. And, it would be very hard to do my job without them... for the most part. But with tracks like Road Atlanta, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Mosport etc... there are LOTS of amazing shots to be had without credentials.

Seriously, you have to shake yourself of that mindset. There are LOTS of shots.

Please give a read to this post I made after Long Beach this year. This is something I've thought long and hard about and continue to work on with each race in 2009. There's more than photo holes... seriously.

http://www.johnthawley.com/journal/2009/4/21/thinking-outside-the-hole.html

What is tough, and what you have to prepare yourself for, is WALKING... or finding a way to MOVE. Seriously, I don't care which side of the fence you're on or what track you're at, you have to move.

I often see shots from guys who've attended a race without credentials... and you know what... there problem wasn't lack of credentials. There problem is they didn't move. You have got to move. You've got to dig and hunt. It doesn't matter that there's a fence between you and the credential. You have to hustle your ass and get around that track. We all have to do that. In fact, for those of us with credentials, we're working just as hard if not harder to out shoot each other. It's not like we show up, get a credential and shots magically spill out of the camera. We've got to find things we missed the year before... we've got to hike through the woods and risk blowing a whole session because we were wrong. The challenge is the same if you really want to produce good work.

FYI, at Petit Le Mans, I spend about 30 minutes of the "magic hour" on race day sitting among spectators making pictures of the esses.

Thanks again,

JT

Well JT I can credit you with telling us we can shoot thru a 2 1/2" cyclone fence, I 've learned how to do it.

Additionally I support your encouragement to move. I had a 125cc bike I used, until I almost got a ticket at Laguna. Now I use a mountain bike. I go around the track with the natural light. You can't recover some shadows of a moto rider shooting into the sun.

Its all good advice, thanks for offering it.

Rags

i got my first magazine cover as a spectator at Laguna Seca the first year Motogp came back to the U.S.

There are some advantages with shooting outside the fences.....many of whom that have credentials stay within the fences, so people outside the fences can get that different shot. BUT you have to walk to find them.

these were taking as spectator....

this shot can't be taken inside the fence...not at this angle



this one outside the fence at Daytona....if inside the fence, you'd get the cluttered background.



same with this image.....standing on a milk carton.

I have to agree, RA is a great place to shoot as a spectator, but as JT said, you have to be willing to work for it. I love shooting there, and am going back next month. When I shoot there, I probably walk 4 miles in a day. I do it all on foot, stopping from time to time, to see if where I am has a new angle on the action. It is such fun...I can't wait to get back to it.

Tony, those are some very sharp, great images, the colors are incredible, very good, creative eye, especially on the last one.

While it's true some shots are best gotten outside the fence, but the best (& most) low angle shots are inside. More importantly the trip around the track is shorter..

Plus you have a greater choice of track topography and don't need as much reach.

Here is an example of the credentialed guys shooting the shadowed side of the riders at the best whoops at the Honda Supercross in Daytona. The source of the light was above the grandstand

the best low angles may be from inside the fences...but does not mean they are the best angles. problem with MX shots like the one above it the clutter normally behind them. i'd rather see the track than lights.

the advantages of having credentials is that you have MORE options to play with.


if i were shooting MX i'd would rarely shot from ground level, cuz the track is built up. and if my observation is correct, the photogs can only stand on the outside of the track.