Motorsports Road Drag Racing Stock Photography Images US
This image was captured during a recent Championship Cup Series (CCS) event at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) in Millville, NJ. It was taken on the back straightaway between turns three and four on the legendary Thunderbolt road course…one of two road courses at this amazing venue. We could certainly use this picture to discuss the merits of wheelie control on road racing venues. Just look at this bike launch skyward as it crested the hill. But we’re going to talk about business here…the business of professional racing photography. As a professional motorsports photographer I find myself producing images for publication in two different ways. The primary way I work is under assignment. I could receive a call from a magazine editor, or the editor of an online web based motorsports news outlet, asking me to cover a specific event and to provide an assortment of images from the event. I basically have creative control over what vehicles I photograph and where on the track I photograph them from. I always familiarize myself with all of the facts before I hit the track. I find out who is racing, what the series point standings look like, who to watch, etc. I use a scanner at most of the events I attend which allows me to stay abreast of who the leaders are in any given race. Obviously you want action pictures of the riders/drivers that eventually climb onto the podium at the end of the day. I sometimes start earlier in the day at driver/rider introductions or even capturing behind the scenes shots in the pits and paddock areas. Sometimes I am under assignment to cover a particular car, motorcycle, driver or rider. I am usually working with the race team and/or their public relations people for those assignments. On a few occasions my services are retained by a race team sponsor, series sponsor or a manufacturer of aftermarket performance products to get their name/product published. The second way my images hit the market is through the sale or lease of my stock images. Stock photography is simply described as follows: At any given event I may walk away with hundreds of images of the action. When I am on assignment perhaps a handful of them will find there way into publication. The rest of my images are maintained in my stock library where parties can view them and purchase or lease them for their own editorial, advertising and public relations needs. Due to budgetary constraints some clients make use of stock images only. They can’t justify the course of assigning a photographer to an event and paying their creative fee and expenses. Stock photography often serves these outlets perfectly.