A question of etiqutte & Safety

At a recent race I was not allowed a press pass for "safety reasons". I was not the one asking for it the team I was there with was trying. They only used thier own track photographers for saftey reasons.

Once the race had started I noticed some of the photogs moving about the track during the race. I am very new to motorsports photography but they were doing some stuff that as a newbie I would think they would know not to do and I definatly wouldnt do.

Crossing the track during full green racing (or at all?)

Setting up in the run off areas of high speed turns?

While moving from one place to another turing your back to the racing? (ie. someone could loose control and slide into you becuase your in the runoff area)

These are all things I would never do. I expected more out of a track worried so much about saftey of the photogs. Is this normal stuff or did I just see a bad example?

The real reason I think you weren't allowed a press pass is because the track wishes to make money off their own photographers from teams, and not let anyone else profit.

Do you have public liability insurance? It's required in the UK for motorsport photographers, dont' know about there.

what asylumxl said was correct plus most tracks want a couple weeks notice for press passes.. it could be just and excuse from the track so the track photographer has no competition. I've been through that before also. i was restricted to certian areas and the track photographer wasn't, so i just left the track and went home. and i wasn't even there to sell photos..

In the UK you will be promptly thrown out of the circuit if you cross the circuit whilst racing is underway. Full stop.

With regards to facing the other way to traffic, I do it when I'm in a "safe" place. Sometimes you have to do it to get the shot you want but I'm always aware of what is happening around me and I usually try and stand next to a marshal so they can alert me if something kicks off.

I can't comment on accreditation abroad though. I know how it works here but not there. Here you have to prove how your presence will promote the circuit.

And just to dispel a common myth, insurance is not always required in the UK to go trackside. I have a Brands season pass and don't have PI insurance. You only need it for testing or trackday photography.

Joffan wrote in post #3828257
And just to dispel a common myth, insurance is not always required in the UK to go trackside. I have a Brands season pass and don't have PI insurance. You only need it for testing or trackday photography.

I've yet to go trackside anyway last year i was under 18 so any event i wanted to trackside i couldnt. this year ive had a levels and uni to worry about. Oh well...

Does make life tricky when you have the whole life thing to go on.

Good luck with getting trackside. It can take hard work, luck and then some more hard work and luck!

asylumxl wrote in post #3826975
The real reason I think you weren't allowed a press pass is because the track wishes to make money off their own photographers from teams, and not let anyone else profit.

I knew this but would going to leave my opinion out of it. When every one of the 100's of bikes there wants a picture of the race there only the track photographers to buy from.

Forget all the stuff about press passes and insurance. Would you guys cross the track while the race is running? Set up in the runoff areas? Turn your back while in a runoff area as you move to another spot?

Sounds like a "bold" photographer. Remember the old saying about pilots? It applies to other fields, too.

There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.

I shot a classic car racing event last year that was set up on the runways of the local Naval Air Station. While we were allowed inside the spectator fencing we had to remain behind waist-high concrete barricades. We were allowed to shoot in one portion of the course away from the spectators, but we had to be taken out there in one of the pace cars and had to remain during the entire heat. We had to follow the instructions of the turn worker to the letter and were admonished that any violation would get us ejected from the race.

silvrr wrote in post #3829089
Would you guys cross the track while the race is running? Set up in the runoff areas? Turn your back while in a runoff area as you move to another spot?

It really depends on the situation involved. At a factory-team testing session for AMA motorcycles a few years back there were about 10 bikes, 5 photographers, and 2 fire marshals... that's it. We had full roam of the track, but you needed to keep your head on. We would shoot on one side of the track... and if a bike wasn't coming... cross to the other side. There were times we were sitting/kneeling within inches of the curbing on the inside of corners. Others where we would kneel in on the outside of the corner (admittedly farther away than when on the inside). Yes, it wasn't a race... but the track was hot the whole time. At no time did I feel we were ever unsafe or in any extra danger. Would I have done it at a trackday - hell no!

Would I walk with my back turned... well it's safer than walking backwards and tripping on something... but I tend to look over my shoulder from time to time to make sure nothing is headed my way. I also keep my ears out... it's rare for a car to go into the runoff and sound 'normal'. Also, most runoffs are quite a ways off from the action and you have time to get out of the way incase something goes wrong.

This behavior is actually quite regular when working over the wall in a hot pit lane (which due to the tight spaces is even more dangerous than on track). When you want to cross the pits you just get permission from one of the safety workers and then off you go... similar thing at some tracks (especially during testing sessions when the track is hot for 4 hours at a time).

Most tracks don't allow photographers in those situations, especially during races, and will go out of their way to make sure that it doesn't happen. All the way to the point of setting-up established shooting areas with k-walls and tires. If the track isn't setup for photographers, then there maybe there is a safety concern in letting in another photographer who they don't know much about. I wouldn't discount them having an official photographer who for business reasons is the only one allowed to shoot at the track, but there may also be safety reasons.

-Todd...

PS - Some photographers are just stupid as well... like those who stand between two sections of k-wall, have their feet between the walls and curbs at street courses, stand on foam blocks at the highest impact corner of a track, wear a red shirt to a road race - then take it off to shoot with no shirt on - on the outside of a corner in 'no man's land'... I could go on, and on, and on...

In most cases if it is a race meeting, crossing a hot track will get you removed, even when the track isn't hot you normally have to get the ok from a marshal before you cross.

Yes I walk with my back to oncoming vehicles, sometimes you have no choice, but you look over your shoulder often, stay as far back from the track as possible and keep your ears open.

I don't shoot much of motor sport, except for few speedway and motocross races every year. But I would say it's about same for every sport. There are rules and they differentiate from one even to another. Personally I don't want to have problems so I obey those rules as much as I can. Next to that, there's common sense, and sometimes this is even more important then obeying rules. Even if rules doesn't prohibit crossing track, you should still watch out and think before you do something stupid. This isn't rule, but only way to stay alive
Would I cross track on those few moto races I shoot? No, because there's rule you can't. Even though it's perfectly safe sometime, I still don't, since as someone mentioned, it's same also here, you fly out of there in second, and your press pass is revoked, if you do.
Would I cross track on alpine skiing World cup, even if officially there's rule you shouldn't? Yes, we all regularly do. From photographers on skis, to coaches who are also on skis. But everyone, including chief of competition appointed by FIS, know it's no big deal, so noone makes problems with this... of course if you are careful. But in skiing you have people coming down the hill every minute or even more, so you have time to cross 5m wide track. And with that I'm a bit more comfortable then running through 50+m wide track where cars or bikes are speeding by with 200km/h