CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

In September I posted a feature on the rig shot conducted by fellow X Photographer John Rourke with the two Proton Competition Porsche 911s at Spa-Francorchamps ( CLICK HERE ).  I ended the feature by saying the next rig shot was going to be with the Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid Le Mans Prototype (LMP1) at its home track at Fuji Speedway in Japan. This shoot was arranged for Thursday morning before the car was due to go through scrutinising (pre event technical checks) so we had just 45 minutes to complete this shoot. John, along with his photographers Ade Holbrook and Gabi Tomescu, worked swiftly to set up the carbon fibre rig and get the shots taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 and XF10-24mm f4 lens. I shot it all on video for the FIA World Endurance Championship website and social media feeds using my X-T2 and 10-24mm f4 zoom lens.    Here is the video - And here is the final image shot by John - The image above is the property of John R...

Andre Lotterer - Audi During a race weekend the manufacturer teams hold 'Meet the Team' events for the international and national media that gather to report on the FIA World Endurance Championship.   Today at the Circuit of the Americas, near Austin, Texas, Audi and Toyota both held 'Meet the Team' events in the foyer of the International Media Centre.  First up was Audi with their six drivers - Tom Kristensen, Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi, Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer.   Next up was Toyota with Nicolas Lapierre, Sebastien Buemi, Stephane Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Alex Wurz. The two events gave me the opportunity to further test the new Fujinon XF56mm f1.2 lens, shooting wide open to create a very shallow depth of field. The images were then converted to black and white in Silver Efex Pro2. Loic Duval - Audi Marcel Fassler - Audi Tom Kristensen - Audi Anthony Davidson - Toyota Nicolas Lapierre - Toyota ...

Le Mans this year is extremely busy and the opportunities for taking images are few and far between.  However I went up to the top of the main grandstand on Wednesday evening during the first qualifying session and set the D800 to a very slow shutter speed to get some interesting effects as the cars travelled along the main start-finish straight. The first shot was taken at 1/10th of a second and shows the nr71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia The second shot is more extreme and was taken at a 1 second exposure, handheld and panned across the frame.  The car is the Toyota TS030 hybrid and is recognisable (just) amongst the light trails of the lights on the main grandstands on both sides of the track. The newly unveiled Michelin Tower will be used for the first time in 2013 and will make following the race a lot easier for the 250,000 fans that will be at the race tomorrow. For more information on qualifying for the FIA WEC at Le Mans CLICK HERE -------...

One of my duties as the Photo Delegate for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is to assist in the setting of the cars for the traditional group photograph on the grid ahead of the official test.  With Eric Gilbert, the official photographer, high above the track in a 'Cherry Picker' it was my job to co-ordinate by radio the placing of the cars on the grid, which numbered 35 out of the 56 cars entered for the race.  It took around 45-minutes to get all the cars into position and the resulting shot was worth all the effort. Here are some of the images I took of the grid full of cars from ground level along with the official shot from above the track by Eric Gilbert of motorsport.com. The impressive grid of 35 cars out of a total of 56 taking part in the 2013 24 Heures du Mans   The group photo drew the attentions of the press corps gathered at Le Mans The official image taken by Eric Gilbert / motorsport.com - COPYRIGHT ACO / 24-lemans.com Pushing the cars back to...

Fuji X100 - 19mm f2 - 1/55 @ f2 - ISO1000 This shot was taken on Thursday evening of the Toyota TS030 Hybrid Le Mans Prototype that competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship.  The car is in the opulent surroundings of the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London and was on display in the Rotunda as part of the media launch for the 6 Hours of Silverstone and the Tourist Trophy which I had organised in my role as the FIA Media Delegate for the Championship. To get the car into the Rotunda was a feat of precision by the Royal Automobile Club and the guys from Toyota as the car had to be put on its side and squeezed between two pillars.  It did fit, but by just 1.5cm.  However the result certainly attracted a lot of attention by the members and visitors to the Royal Automobile Club during the week it was on display. The 6 Hours of Silverstone is the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship and will take place on the 12-14 April. ...