Ten Favourite Shots of 2015: No5 Eau Rouge

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Eau Rouge is probably the most famous corner on any race circuit in the world.  The run down from the first corner at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamp circuit means that race cars are flat out as they travel through Eau Rouge and then face the steep climb up through the right and left at Raidillon in the distance.  The combination of Eau Rouge and Raidillon is the stuff of motorsport legend, where the greats have won and lost races on the 7km circuit through the Ardennes Forest.

 The climb is very steep and it is very difficult to convey this in a photograph.  I used the Fujifilm X-T1 and the XF10-24mm f4 at 10mm.  Placing the camera on the group I framed the shot with the painted kerbs and the white line as a lead in to the image and the track just trails off into the distance.  By getting down low I have managed to show some of the steep climb that the drivers face.

 The final stroke of luck was the light and the clouds.  The sun lit the scene perfectly and by using a Lee 0.9 ND Grad filter I managed to balance the exposure.

 This is one of my all time favourite motorsport shots and it doesn't even feature a race car.  It makes my Top 10 favourites of 2015 because it does convey the drama that is Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps.  
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