Today’s Guest Post by John Larsen
You do not need a therapist if you own a motorcycle, any kind of motorcycle! —Dan Aykroyd
I decided to go to a number of motorsports events this year with only one camera body and one lens as a challenge to myself to take photos without having to think about optics, focal lengths, etc. It also ensures that I am carrying less camera equipment with me.
One Lens Motocross
My first event of the summer was at a local motocross track here in Ontario, Canada. This particular event was for amateurs that ranged from young girls and boys to veteran riders with vintage motocross bikes.
My camera body was a Canon EOS 5D Mark 4. My lens choice was the Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 IS II USM. I felt this lens would allow me to bring my subjects closer and still allow for slightly wider panning photos.
Spectator access at this track is excellent as you can be close to the starting line, the jump at the finish line as well as some corners that provided passing opportunities for the riders.
One of the accompanying photos shows a rider falling behind another while they are in mid-air. I shot a sequence of this incident and the zoom (focal length) of this lens was ideal. After this rider was attended to by paramedics, his father arrived to grab the damaged bike. I asked him how his son was doing and he said it appeared that he likely had a concussion but no broken bones. He saw my camera and then asked if I had any photos of the crash. I confirmed that I did and said I would come to their trailer during the lunch break. I then took a photo of the number plate so that I could hopefully find them. It took me almost an hour to search the grounds of hundreds of trailers and teams. I approached the rider’s mom and asked how he was doing. She then asked if she could see the sequence. My sequence consisted of 30 images that started with the two riders going over the jump, hitting each other and then scrambling off the track! They asked to buy copies of all the photos. We agreed to an amount and made arrangements to send the files electronically.
Motocross is dirty and a little noisy but the action is incredible and very challenging to photograph. Find wherever your local track my be and check out the action.
John Larsen is this blog’s Senior International Travel Correspondent, whose website is www.photograffics.com.