Racing Photogs be careful

[Tom W]

Found this link over at DPR and thought it was worth sharing.

http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2005/02/13/423306.html

[defordphoto]

I was watching that race yesterday and saw that live. There was a batch (5 I think) photogs that were shooting in what is normally considered a "safe zone." As they all learned, there is no safe zone anywhere when the track is hot. Fortunately none the photogs were not seriously injured.

[Tom W]

I remember several years ago, sitting near the end of turn 4 at Indy - some piece of car flew up against the fence in front of us. Scared me a good bit, and I was halfway up the stands! I'd hate to see how it looked if I were down in front of the fence, or on the inside.

Things happen very fast at the racetrack (as you certainly know).

[steven]

Lost another one to ditech.com :)

[Illegally_Alive]

Lost another one to ditech.com :)
LOL! That's so bad! (but funny!)
Very clever steven, very clever indeed. :lol:

[Belmondo]

Lost another one to ditech.com :)

Ho! Ho! Someone who watches television and actually pays attention! :lol: :lol:

[IndyJeff]

LOL Steven.


That is why I don't shoot the pits. My friend Glenn Smith is down there shooting and also had that shot move for AP.

[defordphoto]

Yeah. I noticed the ditech.com sponsorship on that car also, but at the time, it was not even funny and it's barely funny now. The one guy on the right came very, VERY close to getting crushed by the car into the barrier. These guys are very lucky and it could have easily been much more serious.

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

This is why we were warned every event to keep our eye on the track.

When setting up for the show (cabling, cameras, track surveying etc) we really needed to pay attention to everything around us.

This shows that even paying full attention, sometimes it is not enough.

I'm glad to hear there were no serious injuries. That picture is scary.

Closest I've been is to have a car go into the wall high in the corner below my position. Lots of spare parts flying around (Confetti to those familiar with the term).

My first NASCAR race was where #3 ended his career. That accident was nothing compared to the multicar crash in the back stretch that went flying by my position, just 20 laps earlier.

This can be a scary job, sometimes.

I wish these people a quick recovery.

(Edit to rephrase a paragraph for clarification)

[defordphoto]

You could have this photo, maybe even a video and write: "So you wanna..." Be a Motorsports Photographer story like IndyJeff did earlier today re: wrestling.

I had to hop the pit wall once in Paul Tracy's pit as he came in, but nothing even remotely close to that ARCA incident, thank God. The pits are very dangerous for photogs. You can never be too careful.

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

I've seen pit crew get hit (was there when the helmet rule came from the crew that got hit).

Most spectacular "don't take your eyes off the track" was a photog in turn 4 (Homestead) was either chimping or changing CF, and a car went into the wall in front of him. The car exploded into flames that carried over the wall and enveloped the photog. He was not seriously hurt (Met his partner in the airport the next day) but was severly embarassed. He was lucky.

I bet we could fill pages with the horror stories around the track.

No one in their right mind would do the job. Which explains why I did it.

[Mike Panic]

sometimes it just hurts to be a photographer

[Persian-Rice]

To think both my brother and I applied to work as the track crew for F1 races in Canada..........Yikes. If you wan't to be near the track, whether it be pit crew, photographer or a streaker, you need to accept that you are at very high risk.

Mike Panic, yes it does, and for the first time it has nothing to do with our wallets.

[S230]

Found this link over at DPR and thought it was worth sharing.

http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2005/02/13/423306.html
Thanks for sharing. I was planning on doing some shots in the near future at the tracks. Need to keep my eyes opened! Not sure but I think the guy that was struck was carrying what I believe are Canon gear. They seem to have survived.

[Red]

Seeing those pics did make me go :shock: , but then I found it ironic that I'm only looking at this because when 5 photogs were getting hit, another one was still snapping away. ;)

I remember when Colin McCrae hit a photog that was standing on the edge of the road of a Rally circuit. When he was asked about it at the end of the leg he just said "Well it was a stupid place to stand". Even as a photog I can agree with that