Hello, friends! I’m pleased to announce that I will be leading an information-packed photography seminar for avid amateur photographers who want to create better motor sports images at the San Francisco Dainese store on Sunday, July 15th. I will be sharing as much of my motor sports photography experience as I can cram into three hours, including secrets about camera settings and shooting techniques that can only be learned from long experience or a pro who is willing to pass such specialized information along via an opportunity like this.
I was going through my archives the other day and happened to take a look at the images I have from 2007. They aren’t good, frankly, at least by the standards I use for my work now. I got to wondering how much better my photos from 2007 might have been if I’d had even a fraction of the knowledge then that I have now. I could’ve avoided a lot of mistakes of many kinds, from what type of equipment I brought, to what I did with it, to what types of images I tried to get, to where I chose to stand, to what camera settings I used, and on and on. Though as a long time hobbyist I was competent with a camera, there was too much about motor sports photography that I didn’t know to get really good shots. Wouldn’t it have been useful to have a pro sit down for a few hours and share his knowledge and experience!
So that’s what I plan to do a week and a half before MotoGP comes to Laguna Seca. I’m going to tell a small group of interested folks what I’ve learned since I started really concentrating on getting the best racing photos I can. Laguna Seca is where I practiced and learned motor sports photography from the spectator side of the fences, and where I developed the skills and experience to move from an avid hobbyist to a professional. Laguna Seca is quite friendly toward non-credentialed photographers, offering many opportunities for interesting images.
Here is an outline of what I plan to cover:
1. Problems with photographing fast-moving objects
2. Solutions to these problems–Theory and Practice
3. General Camera Settings
4. Settings and Techniques for Different Type of Images a. Conveying Motion b. portraits c. landscape/environment d. details e. story
5. Equipment-Specific Technique (handling long, normal and wide lenses)
6. What gear do you really need and how to get it when you need it7. Workflow8. Local Knowledge–Laguna Seca’s best non-pass-holder spotsWow, that’s a lot to cover in three hours! I guess you should be ready for a pretty intense pace as I pass on the the most useful experience and information I’ve gathered over the past few years. We’ll begin at 9am and take a short break for some snacks and drinks around 10:30, then wrap up at 12 as our generous hosts at the D-Store open for business.I’ve set the limit at 15 people to ensure a small, intimate setting that provides opportunities to ask questions and hear the answers. The price to attend is only $125 up until the day before the presentation if spots are still available then.Please use this link to sign up via Paypal. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you there!
