A few weekends ago I was able to photograph something totally new to me. I was able to photograph my first IndyCar race, not only that but it was the first car race I had ever photographed. I had never photographed cars before, even though I am from the Motor City, and it was definitely different compared to anything else I have photographed. The loud roar of the engines and the smell of the fuel in the air added to the atmosphere. I spent twelve hours at the track, but I had a blast and the time flew by. You can view all the photos here.
I approached the day in three “parts”. 1) Pre-Race, 2) Race, and 3) Post Race. For pre-race I approached it as trying to capture the events that led up to the race. Mechanics working on the cars, drivers walking down in the pits or the garage area, scenes from around the track, etc. Next was the race. I was a little bit limited to where I could go, but did the best with what I was given. I knew I wanted to get the cars at the beginning of the race with the Renaissance Center in the background. From there I tried to find other spots to shoot from, but I did not have much luck. I headed off to the media room to send off a few pictures and luckily the race got red flagged which gave me some extra time to send pictures. After sending some pictures, I headed down to pit lane to get some shots of the drivers during the red flag and once again headed back to send some more pictures off. While I was walking around, I saw James Hinchcliffe leaving the track in his SUV. After approximately two hours of red flag the race started and was cut short to only 60 laps instead of the planned 90 laps. The race ended and I had to run from where I was shooting the finish line all the way over to the winner’s circle to get the celebration there. With a quick trip back to the media building to send off the last images, I was on my way home.
Be sure to check out all the images right here.
