Spa through a Photographers Lens

Spa is known for being one of the most iconic tracks which is currently on the F1 calendar, Octane Photographic Ltd (www.octanephotos.co.uk) was there covering the action as photographers at this past weekends GP.

The weekend starts on Thursday when we sign on for our media passes, tabards and media centre space. After parking up in the media car park, there are shuttles waiting to take us to the media centre (which is based in the F1 paddock); the first morning, we happened to share the short drive in with Bruno Senna who has just been given a race seat for two races with Lotus Renault,  needless to say he was feeling upbeat for his weekend ahead back in a F1 car. As Spa is huge track photographers have access to shuttle buses which take photographers to any point around the track; this is extremely helpful as once we cover a corner and know we have the shots in the bag we move onto another spot.

Over the course of the weekend, we on average shot about 4-5 thousand shots between the team (Craig Boon & Leanne Wilson), each image has to be evaluated to pick the best shots. This weekend the conditions were brilliant to shoot in, from the wet damp track between rain showers to the brightness of Belgian sunshine, made the the weekend a pleasure to shot in. Though there was quite heavy rain, our camera kits need little protection as the joys of canon Pro kit is that it is weather proof, meaning we can shot in extreme conditions without a worry of damage. There are a lens or two which we like to give extra protection to as they are known within the industry as lenses which get effected by the rain, like the 100-400mm ‘dust bellows’ lens, not only does it suck in dust it like to suck moisture into the interior of the lens.

On race day, the most hectic day for the teams as well as the photographers, the drivers’ parade in the morning is followed by the grid form up and then finally the race. Leanne took her position on the grid to do the drivers’ parade and grid form up  and then moved to La Source (known for it’s 1st corner and re-start action), whilst Craig took position beside the grid for the start (just behind Lewis’ car and protected by catch netting). Once the pace of the race settled down, Leanne worked the pit area to catch the pit stops, whilst Craig moved about the track to cover the Bus-Stop and finish line. If we know we have captured a moment which is unique we will power up our macs trackside to ensure that our editors receive the images as quick after the incident as we can get. As the race continued, with the pit stops finished, both of us headed toward the podium, Craig stayed trackside for the finishing laps on the start/finish line to capture the moment of whoever crosses the line with the usual team cheering their man over the line. Once the track is clear to cross, Craig hopped over the track wall for the podium. The usual winner press conferences have to be attended then the start of race day editing began. We start with the most important shots of day which is normally the podium then we work down through the racing incidents and driver profile images from the drivers parade as well as the forming up on the grid shots. The editing from race day can take about 6 hours including the time which it takes to sent to our agents and editors as the midnight sunday or noon monday morning deadline is not long in appearing.

For the amount of hours which F1 is shown over the course of the weekend, one can double that time to work through the images and update our feeds. Each set of images from the sessions has to be done that afternoon as leaving them a day will mean that they are old news. The weekend through hectic it is, it is extremely enjoyable, the adrenaline rush which you get waiting for those red lights to go out is really worth it.

The selection of images which follow show some of our favourites over the course of the weekend with the ever changeable weather conditions.

Lens: 500mm L IS f4.0

Body: Canon EOS 7D

Apature: f8

Exposure time: 1/250

Body: Canon EOS 7D

Apature: f11

Exposure time: 1/350

Lens :  Canon 17-40 L f4.0