CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

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...

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF50-140mm f2.8 (140mm) - 1/60 @ f2.8 ISO1600 Racing after sunset is part of the DNA of endurance racing and presents the photographer with some fantastic photo opportunities but also with some unique challenges.  I went trackside during the night practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship event at the Circuit of The Americas in Texas with the Fujifilm X-T2 and the XF50-140mm f2.8. With floodlighting and car headlights getting the right exposure is going to tax any automatic exposure system so I set the shutter speed, aperture and ISO manually to ensure that the variation in light doesn't affect the end image. Fujifilm X-T2 + XF50-140mm f2.8 (50mm) - 1/30 @ f2.8 ISO400 The image above of the no42 Strakka Racing Gibson is a good example where I exposed for the pool of light and waited for the car to cross into the correct place.  The autofocus system on the X-T2 was able to track the car perfectly, in fact I used t...

This week has been a busy one for us with two visits to Edinburgh for meetings and a new computer system installed in the office (more on this tomorrow!).  We are also working on a new website design, which will be unveiled next month. This has left little time this week to update the blog, but we are back online now.  I did manage to grab this shot of the floodlit Edinburgh Castle while I waited to catch my train at Waverley Station.  Edinburgh Castle still impresses me and is one of the most instantly recognisable sights anywhere in the world.   The image was taken on the Fujifilm X100 and held steady by putting the camera on the fence surrounding Princes Street Gardens.

Yesterday I arrived in China for the next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the impressive Shanghai International Circuit.  This will be my fourth visit to China for a racing event and the fifth race I have run the FIA Media Office.  The first was in 2011 when we raced at Ordos in Inner Mongolia and then in Beijing with the FIA GT1 World Championship and then for the past three years we have visited Shanghai with the FIA WEC. On arrival in Shanghai yesterday morning, after a long 11 hour flight from Paris, I grabbed a quick shower and changed into my WEC uniform at the hotel before heading to the track.    Monday is the day the teams unload the containers of all their equipment they will need this weekend.  This is a big job as hundreds of tonnes of equipment are unloaded and unpacked.  I wanted to get a sense of this frantic activity in the paddock and so I set up the X-T1 to record a short timelapse video of the unloading proc...