My passion is Motorsports – How it taught me to take better photos

I have many passions in life: photography, food, music, fishing, nature, fashion and motorsports. Today, I want to write about one of them, motorsports. It all started when I was a little boy watching the F1 Monaco Grand Prix at my uncle’s house. The speed and beauty of the magnificent machines fascinated me.
I went to my first auto race, the Molson Indy, years ago and brought a Canon EOS ELAN 35mm and a Canon ELPH APS (Advance Photo System). At the time, these cameras were considered ‘high-tech’ and produced really nice results. Below is a photo taken with an ELPH (I got Blacks to convert it into a digital file):



My past photography experiences helped a lot with the photo composition, colour and exposure. I took many photos of the drivers, cars (in the paddock and on track) and other moments from the Indy race. I found trying to capture the cars while they moved so quickly overwhelming and challenging. Overall, the shots were nice, but being a perfectionist, that was not enough. I was determined to improve and with lots of reading, trial and error and research, I did.



I can say I have learned the ins and outs of motorsports photography. I am confident in my skills and hopefully the images posted here will bear the proof to my proficiency in motorsports photography.



While I do not profess to be the best at motorsports photography, I have been learning and working at this aspect of photography for the past six years. I had the pleasure and honour of meeting Richard Prince this past summer. In the brief time I have gotten to know him, he has taken the time to share some of his knowledge and provide feedback on some of my photos. I consider him my motorsports photography mentor and I thank him for being my inspiration try even harder to pursue excellence in motorsports photography. In my opinion, he best represents the art of motorsports photography. Find out more about Richard Prince and his work here: www.rprincephoto.com.



In the next few posts I will be breaking down key elements I feel have helped me improve my photos. I hope you find the advice helpful.