Why eating dust ?

There is something exciting about being up close and personal with a very fast racing car. I have been lucky enough to have done so from both inside and outside of one. As a motorsport photographer I am constantly trying to look for different ways to shoot my subjects and one of the best is to try and get as close as possible. With rally cars that is not always possible as you will inevitably end up "eating dust" or getting hit on the head with big rocks. Dust gets every where just ask the poor guy who bought one of my old Nikon digital camera bodies. I always thought I kept the sensors pretty clean but then I mainly shoot with an 80-200 or 300mm at f2.8 or f4. He decides his going to use it for stop frame animation and shoots with a 17mm at f22. Lets just say his seascape sequence looked really good apart from a lot of very stationary seagulls in the sky.


Anyway at the last round of the Australian Rally Champion ship, the Subaru Safari Rally Tasmania I was employed by the organisers, Octagon, to be the official event photographer. Safari Tasmania is unlike any of the other ARC rounds in that it is held on very fast wide forestry roads. Being based in the far south west of Tasmania in mid winter means the weather can be a real challenge. Freezing overnight temperatures, thick fog and misty rain can make shooting difficult not to mention pretty uncomfortable. But one benefit was when the sun did shine there was no dust to contend with. Still lots of big rocks to avoid though and no thanks to Darren Windus in his Subaru for one particularly big rock to the back of the head.


On one particular stage there is superb sweeping bend that the cars take at very high speed normally leaving a big cloud of dust behind but with the condtions as they were I could get right on the apex of the corner. I fitted my 17mm wide angle to my D2x, squatted down and waited for the first car to come through. The first 2 cars swept round the corner really nice and then eventual winner Dean Herridge came round really tight and I got the shot I was looking for. Really up close and personal with one of the fastest drivers in the ARC. Yes, he was getting very close in fact the next shot in the sequence cropped the front and back of the car off! Hope you like the shot as much as I enjoyed getting it.