Ronny Gabriels Photography

The 2009 racing season in Belgium starts in april and I have to admit that I’m very much looking forward to it this year.  The reason why is fairly simple.  Last year I started shooting a lot more car races and I must say, I liked it a lot.  It’s some sort of bug that I caught and can’t seem to get rid off. 

I liked racing a lot without a camera too, so it didn’t come out of nowhere.  But combining my love of racing with my love of photography was a big hit.  It’s very hard to describe why I like it so much, but let’s just say it’s always a challenge. For instance, getting a great panning shot of a GT car at 1/80th of a second is not going to work every time, not even if you are a pro, but once you get one the thrill is huge.  Even moreso than other branches of photography, shooting panning shots at a racing track requires a lot of practice.  So when you nail one, it’s a bit of a triumph over yourself. 

Now the 2009 racing season.  I have made up a calendar of events that are on in Belgium and in some cases Holland or Germany.  I think between april and october there are about 20 weekends with an event worth mentioning, so getting to all of them is going to be nearly impossible.  That’s why my goal is not getting to as many as possible, but getting as much variety in the races as possible.  That means shooting as many different types of races as I can.  My goal this year is to get at least one FIA GT, one Belgian GT, one BTCS, one Le Mans Series, one WTCC and one DSC race on “film”.  I would also very much like to add one DTM race and possibly a smaller type rally.  You might notice that there is no Formula 1 race in the list, that’s because those races are rediculously expensive and very restrictive when it comes to photography.  If they test in Spa like they did in 2007, I’ll try to be there, but I’m not going to the race (unless someone can get me in with a press badge, anyone?). 

The equipment for shooting these races has changed a bit for me over the winter months.  I acquired some things that hopefully will help me make even better race shots.  The main changes in the “race” equipment are a sturdy monopod and a great telezoom lens.  Until now I have shot races without help of a tri- or monopod, but with the new lens, a Canon EF 100-400mm L, it’s going to be necessary.  Not only does it cover a lot more distance than my lenses now, it also weighs quite a bit more. 

I’m going to try out the equipment in the next few weeks and you can rest assured, I will post some of the testshots on the website. That will give me a fair bit of time to adjust to the lens and the monopod, and in the meantime, make the wait for the start of the racing season a little more bearable. Finally, if you would like to join me on one the racing events, for photography reasons or just out of curiosity, just let me know. It’s always nice to have some company.