Pre-Race Grid (Darren Pierson)
Just before Mid-Ohio I was hired by IMSA to be the Series Photographer for both the Cooper Prototype Lites and the IMSA GT3 Challenge. I had shot both series off and on the the last few years, but only a few sessions here and there. Certainly never all sessions and ceremonies. At Mid Ohio, I only had to contend with adding Cooper to my shoot list as GT3 was not on the schedule. Road America included both support series, so clearly I needed to rethink my day or I was going to be one tired monkey. As I had specific requirements on me for IMSA and less specific requirements for ALMS, I decided that I would forego shooting the ALMS practices which happened at mid day. To be honest, the high direct summer sun of 1-3pm is fairly awful to work in anyway. There tends to be huge amounts of glare and you really have to push to find places that will work. That was my rationalization anyway.
#21 Comprent Motorsports Prototype Lite: Charlie Shears Takes the Checkered Flag in Race #2 (Darren Pierson)
On one hand it was great to have specific shots needed, a hard schedule and deadline….a directive. On the other, it was hard to remember to make sure I had every car nailed in a tight, clear, vanilla shot before shooting more interesting viewpoints. Oftentimes, one location works for one type of shooting and not for others. For example, shooting under the Toyota bridge just before T6 is a great place to shoot tight enough to fill most of the frame with the car while retaining some of the background ambience that helps to reveal the location of the car.
#56 Snow Racing: Melanie Snow (Darren Pierson)
Its not a great place to practice your panning skills however as the business parts of the bridge are not entirely pleasant to add to your frame. You have to think ahead and plan. Even more difficult is shooting a 30 or 45 minute race when you have to shoot the grid, the start, nail some location shots of the leaders in both classes and be back for the checkers and podium ceremonies. As my wife will tell you, planning is not my strong suit, or any of my suits for that matter. It takes more forethought than I am was used to. After the start, you have to head immediately to your location to shoot the top three in each class (as well as any possible podium contenders). You have to know ahead of time where the sun will be and how you want to shoot. You also need a backup plan in case the prime location doesn’t work and you have to zoom elsewhere. Swimming in the deep end for certain, but quite fun one you realize you didn’t drown.
The ALMS race was extended to six hours and moved to Saturday this year, so the weekend was compressed even more than normal. The upside being that the race would; theoretically, finish in some beautiful light.
#18 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09: Anthony Nicolosi, Jarrett Boon, Kyle Marcelli (Darren Pierson)
We are off next to Baltimore to see what kind of race they can put on there. Its a shared weekend with IndyCar, so I plan on being unamused most of the time. Hopefully it will be a race rather than a parade, time will tell. Thanks for reading and looking! You can view all of my work at dPerceptions Motorsports Photography. Complete Galleries of the Road America Rounds can be viewed using the links below
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