CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

  On Thursday evening in the European Le Mans Series paddock at the Autodromo Internacionale do Algarve in Portugal we conducted an interview with Hollywood star Michael Fassbender, who has been racing in the five round series this year with Porsche team Proton Competition.  We wanted to catch up with him at the end of his first season of endurance racing and get his take on racing in a top European championship. As the ELMS press officer I wrote the questions and did the filming, while with my colleague Sophie Liger asked Michael the questions. The interview was filmed on two Fujifilm X-T4s.  The main interview camera was fitted with the XF16-55mm f2.8 lens and this was fixed to a 3 Legged Thing 'Jay' video tripod.  The second X-T4 was used by me handheld and was fitted with the XF90mm f2 lens.  I also used a GoPro Hero 8 Black to give a rear view of the interview (see still image below). All three cameras were set to record in 4K25 with the final video produce...

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF10-24mm f4 - 1/60 @ f20 ISO400 - Haida CPL + 0.9 ND soft grad One of the things I like doing when working at a race circuit is to go out for a walk in the evening to check out where the best spots are to shoot from and also confirm that the red zones (no go areas) are all marked for when the track goes live. It is also an opportunity to get some shots of the circuit from the drivers point of view, something you can't do when the cars are actually on track.   At the last event for the European Le Mans Series at the Circuit Paul Ricard I took part in the evening track walk and with the setting sun I was able to capture some interesting shots of the kerbs and the run off areas around the circuit.  Paul Ricard is famous for its red, white and blue stripes in the run off areas which have replaced gravel traps for slowing cars that have spun off the circuit. Fujifilm X-T4 + XF200mm f2 - 1/4000 @ f2 ISO160 I suppose it is my fine art or land...

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF200mm f2 - 1/40s @ f2 ISO250 The 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place in less than three weeks (19/20 September) and one of the best parts of photographing a 24 hours race is the chance to shoot the track action in the dark.  Because the world's great motor sport event was postponed from its usual mid June date due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the September date, with its earlier sunset and later sunrise times, will provide more opportunities to shoot in the dark   However, shooting under the cover of darkness also presents a few challenges with regards to exposure and focusing but the results are worth the extra effort required.  Last weekend I was at the Circuit Paul Ricard with the European Le Mans Series for the Le Castellet 240, the only ELMS night event on the calendar and a good opportunity to practice my very rusty skills as the last night race I shot was the FIA World Endurance Championship 8 Hours of Bahrain last December. Fujifilm X-T...

One of the things I learned very quickly when using video is the need for clear audio. It doesn't matter how good the video looks, if the audio is poor, then the video is not going to be well received. Over the years I have invested in good, portable microphones even invested in a radio mic system.  This worked really well but when working in a motorsport environment, a broad range of radio frequencies are used for various uses and radio microphone frequencies are strictly controlled.  in some countries you also need to buy a licence, which can cost hundreds of pounds, so I quickly reverted back to wired microphones. This brought its own problems as when interviewing drivers the surrounding environment can be noisy, so you need to get the microphone as close as possible.  Of course, the extra added complication in the last few months means the interviewer has to stand at least 1.5 metres, which means wires trailing across the floor, which isn't good. In ...