Sports Photography as a Spectator Part 2: Rally

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I hear it said a lot that motor sport is difficult to shoot without a media pass.  Well that is very true for circuit racing, especially at the big venues like Silverstone or Le Mans, but there is one form of motor sport that does afford great access for spectators and that is rallying.  

 To prove the point I went along to the opening round of the British Rally Championship the Border Counties Rally in Jedburgh, which was also Round 2 of the Scottish Rally Championship.  All the access during the event was on a spectator pass, I paid for the car park on the special stage and I shot from the designated areas.

 The result was a great set of images that couldn't really have been bettered if I had been wearing a media vest.  Yes the media photographers could visit all of the special stages, where as spectators were limited to a few, but the pros had to submit a plan of the areas they wanted to visit for approval by the event safety manager BEFORE the event and they couldn't change their minds once they started shooting.


On the subject of safety, anyone visiting a rally must follow the safety rules and obey the marshals and officials.  CLICK HERE to visit the Motor Sport Association UK's website with full details of the dos and donts when spectating at a rally event. 

 Anyway if you want to read the full story here is a link to the feature I wrote for the Fujifilm website - CLICK HERE - and here is a copy of the video I shot during the day.


Photographing the Border Counties Rally as a Spectator from Fuji X Adventure on Vimeo.

Finally here are more images from the day at the Border Counties Rally on Saturday 18 March



















































CLICK HERE to see the first part of the Sports Photography as a Spectator on Rugby.

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ALL IMAGES (UNLESS INDICATED) ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION


MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.  CLICK HERE for more details and availability


Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE

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