That time of year…

So it’s almost the month of May here in Indianapolis.  I know that I don’t have to tell anybody in Indiana what that means, but for the folks out of state; that means it’s RACE season is starting.  Yup, I said said starting.  Most people around the globe know of the Indy 500, and with good reason.  What  more people tend to miss though is the Brickyard 400, or the Indianapolis RedBull MotoGP in August.  These are some major events here in Indianapolis at the Motorspeedway, and having lived here for a while, I can’t imagine not caring about them (even if it’s just to know not to go onto that side of town that day).

(Nikon D2x, 250ISO, Nikon AF 10.5mm F2.8DX Fishseye 1/1000th@F7.1)

As you can tell by the MotoGP Media day up above, there are a lot of people that show up even on Non Race days.  This even was to announce the Motorcycle GP coming to Indy a few years ago.  Cool event, even cooler to see Nicky Hayden take the inaugural ride around the track on an old Indian from 1929 I think it was.  The mechanic who keeps the bike up in the Museum had to give him a push start like he was a 5 year old riding a bicycle for the first time.  While everybody laughed, it was a relatively momentous occasion.  As I said though, everybody seems to know Indy and the Month of May for the Indy 500 more than anything else.

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, 400ISO, Canoon EF600mm F4 with a Canon 1.4x extender.  1/3200th@F5.6)

That photo above is probably the one and only useful photo that I ever took shooting at an Indy 500.  I was in the crows nest up in turn 3 with as much lens as the Newspaper and their CPS account could find.  The photo never went anywhere, and in fact I got in trouble because I didn’t run it the 2 miles back to the editing room after it happened.  I was told there would be a runner if something happened, and I think they just forgot about me up there but oh well. I know that if I’d have run it back there would have been some sort of epic catastrophe that I’d not have gotten had I left, so either way it is what it is.  If you’ve read the blog before you’ll know that instead of shooting the 500 and the Brickyard, I’ve shot the Kroger 200 race at O’reiley Raceway Park. Neat race, but nothing like the 500, or the Brickyard.  I have however done other things for Race teams as well though…

(Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikon AF-s 60mmF2.8Nano Macro, 1/200th@F13.  Single Dynalite 400UNI set up to camera right inside of a 24″x24″ Softbox set to 1/2 Power.  White bounce cards set up all around the trophy on the left side. Joe Lee holding a large piece of Whiteboard over the trophy to prevent the dark ceiling from showing through in the room.  A Large piece of white Foamcore with a 62mm Hole cut in it for my 60mm Macro lens to fit through while on the camera to prevent seeing ME inside the reflections on the Trophy.  Dynalight triggered by a Pocket Wizard Plus II transceiver.)

If you’re from Indiana than you DEFINITELY know what that is.  The BorgWarner trophy is recognizable around the world from being the trophy of the Indy 500.  One thing you might notice about this particular trophy though is that it’s the “Owners Trophy”.  Not everything in Photography is about the Race it seems.  Last year my buddy Joe Lee brokered a deal for us with Chip Ganassi Racing to shoot all their owners Trophies.  2010 was the most winning year in the teams history and they were making a commemorative poster.  Never saw the poster, but seeing all the trophies was pretty neat.  If you look very closely on this image you can see Joe holding a large piece of whiteboard over the Borg here to prevent it’s chrome dome from reflecting all the truth’s in the world.  Will I go shoot to any races this year, or will I just be a spectator who shoots the Trophies after the fact again?  Guess I’ll just have to wait and find out.  More Soon.