San Jose Grand Prix Qualifying Pics

[m3elmo]

I was able to get full access to this weekends events with something similar to the photo/media pass. Here are some pics..note: I'm a complete amateur.

[m3elmo]

more pics

[GT3]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a very tight track.

[GoneFission]

Oh, you lucky dog! I got stuck behind the two rows of fences like everyone else. :(

I did find a gap in the fenceline where I could get some clean shots, but naturally it was too small for panning, so I've got a bunch of pictures of "parked" cars. Oh well, it was still fun!

Great job on the pics, very nice!

[chrisvw]

Nice photos! What camera are you using??

[m3elmo]

Nice photos! What camera are you using??

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm using a 20D, and all the pictures were taken with a 70-200 F4L lens. I'll be there again tomorrow, and I'll post a lot more pics after that :)

[defordphoto]

Tip: Watch you backgrounds. Try not to take photos of other photographer or ChampCar officials drinking water. ;) Try some panning shots to get the backgound blurred so it's not so dominant in your photos.

You show potential in #2 sans the guy with the photo vest. ;) That track looks nasty tight. Heard of the huge fiasco with the track not being ready on Friday. :rolleyes: It'll be inbteresting watching the race. I almost went down for it, but I had to shoot ALMS in Portland this weekend.

What kind of pass did you get?

[JacobPhoto]

make sure and get some pics of the drifting ;)

i've been there the past 2 days, i'll be there sunday too.

[m3elmo]

thanks for the tips RFMSports. Very good tips and I will keep them in mind. I'm 100% amateur and have only had this camera for a few months now.

i was able to get the pass by being a pass/check worker. I worked for most of friday, then spent the rest of the day roaming around. As a worker, i have the pass that allows me in no mans land and in the pits. Also with the 20D and the L lens...i blend in well with the other media/photo workers :)

[defordphoto]

LOL! Yeah well, the real photographers know what credents you need to shoot and you might get detected. We caught a "worker" at the ALMS race trying to shoot and we chased him off. Told him to go to work! :)

Good luck.

[defordphoto]

make sure and get some pics of the drifting ;)


:rolleyes: That's the worst excuse for a motorsport I have ever seen.

[Croasdail]

We caught a "worker" at the ALMS race trying to shoot and we chased him off. Told him to go to work!


You all chased him off?? Just curious - why? If the chap had done his shift - what's the difference? I must be missing something....

[Croasdail]

Reason for my comments here... a buddy of mine (actually former boss-now buddy) is a pit marshall in that area and puts himself in harms way to make these events come off safely... and when not officiating - he will go take some shots. I would personally find it hard to tell him he hasn't earned the privalage. But I also don't know all the rules for photographing events like this.. so I could be being clueless. He is also the guy that got me into racing... cheers.

[defordphoto]

You all chased him off?? Just curious - why? If the chap had done his shift - what's the difference? I must be missing something....

When you are properly credentialed, you sign a contract with the track and the sanctioning body. If something happened and that guy got hurt, there would be hell to pay. Part of our contract with the track and sanctioning body is that of we see unauthorized persons accessing unauthorized areas, we are obligated to act. If we ignore that, or allow it (one in the same) we can lose our credentials. ChampCar is one of the strictest bodies when it comes to media credentials. However, depending on how San Jose issues credentials (wrist bands or whatever) it's very likely he will be okay.

On the other side of the coin, as professional photographers we earned our way for that kind of access. Workers are there to work, not shoot photos.

[defordphoto]

Reason for my comments here... a buddy of mine (actually former boss-now buddy) is a pit marshall in that area and puts himself in harms way to make these events come off safely... and when not officiating - he will go take some shots. I would personally find it hard to tell him he hasn't earned the privalage. But I also don't know all the rules for photographing events like this.. so I could be being clueless. He is also the guy that got me into racing... cheers.

I have huge respect for those guys and know quite a few of them. Not sure our guy here is an SCCA official. I am thinking he isn't. Have seen them shooting photos and that's not a huge deal, but still there are photo licensing issues that go along with the higher-end professional sports.

I know Eric at ChampCar would have a HUGE issue if M3Elmo was "caught."

[Croasdail]

Thanks for the info.... knew there must be more to your comment then was there on the surface. The guy I know's first name is Gregg (I'll leave last name out for his sake), but he is a big guy, so if you have met him, you would know him. He works most events when not personally racing in Northern California. Cheers!

[m3elmo]

I'm not going to go into detail about how i got access, or if it's proper for me to get access to be able to take these pictures or not...I was very friendly to other media there, and they were very friendly to me. I personally feel i did not abuse any privelidge that I received. I did not take these pictures for money or profit...simply for practice, fun, and the fact i love racing.

Anywho, here is one more pic..i'll post more later.

Oh yeah the drifting..those guys were amazing, and the crowd loved it!

[m3elmo]

more pics....

[m3elmo]

last one...paul is my favorite driver in the series..

[defordphoto]

Good to hear you didn't get busted. That could have gotten ugly. All the photo guys are great! Nice shots. I love close shots and that was one tight place on the track where you were shooting.

Too bad you couldn't have shot over at the trolley tracks. Those cars were flying (all four wheels off) over that ill-prepared area of the track.

The San Jose fans like that drifting crap? Weird...Portland fans yawned when they came out.

[kenyc]

Great shots, thanks for sharing!
KAC

[KartGirlsMom]

Too bad you couldn't have shot over at the trolley tracks. Those cars were flying (all four wheels off) over that ill-prepared area of the track.

That was one of scariest things I have ever seen. I haven't seen any stills of it yet. Can you imagine what those drivers bodies must feel like this morning.

[m3elmo]

That was one of scariest things I have ever seen. I haven't seen any stills of it yet. Can you imagine what those drivers bodies must feel like this morning.

I have some stills of that...but the quality of the image was low. On friday I was working that area when they were flying around there. The most i saw was 2 wheels off the ground. I spoke to someone in the pits, and they said their meters showed 30G of force on the body of the car during impact on the ground. It was a VERY loud sound too, like an explosion when they landed. Most of the drivers learned the track and were able to swerve to avoid the bad spots.

[defordphoto]

That was one of scariest things I have ever seen. I haven't seen any stills of it yet. Can you imagine what those drivers bodies must feel like this morning.

That was nuts. It was hella loud on TV so I could imagine what it was like live. In stop-framing the video they definitely had 4 wheels off every time they went by there. I haven't seen any stills from that area yet either. Gotta check the ChampCat site and see what the LAT boys shot. :)

[Skip Souza]

m3elmo,I like the shots you managed to get.
I also checked out the the CART site and the photography from LAT. I really do not like street courses. Like racing "Hot Wheels", all armco and concrete with no real places to pass.
Keep up the good work and have fun.