This was not my first event with credentials but it was stressful as I was working for paying clients and I knew I had to produce images for those clients and I had deadlines for getting them their content. When I had been accreditation before the 2018 season I tried my best to treated it like I had paying clients but pretending and the real thing have a complete different feel to them.
The track hands out a track map with locations of access points to get trackside to then get to the photo holes which is handy but some times things change or you think you can walk from one access point to another and find out it is block so you have to backtrack to the last access point and then walk to the next access point and then continue to the photo hole or spot you want to shoot. This was my issue on Friday and I wasn’t getting many images and with me still trying to find a rhythm to my workflow, ingesting of images, selecting them, tagging, and editing, exporting and uploading I was behind from the first session. I truly felt bad for the clients and was disappointed in myself for such a bad day and it bugged me enough that first thing on Saturday morning I apologized to the clients in person.
Saturday was a much better day as having the first day over and knowing where to go was a huge encouragement but the best moral boost was having Jamie Sheldrick working with me! Saturday went pretty smooth and enjoyed scouting different locations and being more relaxed helped with my productivity. Near the end of quailifying it started to rain and I was on the drivers left on the exit of T1 and watching the drivers trying to make it through while sliding on the paint on the runway was cool .
Sunday morning warmup was fun as the light was awesome! Most IndyCar sessions are at high noon so the light is always harsh and you have to really work at getting a decent photo. The weekend was capped off with a client getting on the Podium and as I was excited it was not fun as the sun was beating down on a mainly white backdrop and the drivers of course are wearing hats so trying to see their eyes and make a good exposure is near impossible. Use flash you say, well when your 35 to 40 feet away a Speedlight doesn’t do much to help you.
Thanks for visiting and here are a few of my favorites from the 2018 IndyCar race at St Pete.
