How to get into Motorsport Photography

[Mr_Thyroid]

Anyone got any tips about how to get into Motorsport Photography? How do you get a photographers pass so you can get the wrong side of the safety fences along side the marshals?

[StevieBee]

For press passes, you need press accreditation and for that, you need to be appointed by a magazine, newspaper, website, etc. This can sometimes be done simply by offering your services on a freelance basis where they only pay for pictures published. It's very rare for a circuit to issue passes without this accreditation.

Forget the main magazines - consider approaching your local rag and offer to cover local drivers.

To make money, the photos you take need to be different. There's already too many very good photographers out there that take very good panning shots of cars, etc. Search Darren Heath or Bernard Asset and aim for stuff like this.

And do be aware that a chasm exists between the very best 'enthusiast' and a very average 'professional' motosports photographer.

[Marc W]

Also don't expect to ever make any kind of money, certainly not enough to do it as a full time job. There are very few who fall into this category and with the amount of competition around these days the chances of becoming one of them is very slim indeed. It amazes me the amount of people I meet who think it's a way of making lots of money! I spoke to someone earlier in the year who wanted to be a driver and thought he could make enough money as a photographer to pay for his racing!

[mike80]

You need to be working for a media outlet. This is what I do for a living, so if you have any specific questions let me know.

There's a bit of a difference between doing it for fun and for work!

[LordGrover]

^^ The link to your website is broken or the site is down.

[mike80]

I know, I need to put my site back up. I work for a photo agency so I don't rely on my personal site to make me money these days!

[mike80]

Have a few on flickr though, from a couple of years ago mostly, but still doing similar things.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdh-photography/page2...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdh-photography/25904... - self-portrait.

[dxbtiger]

mike80 said:

Have a few on flickr though, from a couple of years ago mostly, but still doing similar things.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdh-photography/page2...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdh-photography/25904... - self-portrait.

love the shot of the MC12's arse.

[DiscoColin]

A friend of mine has full accreditation to shoot motorsport with the pros - he got that because he shot as an amateur and once upon a time the right person happened upon his site and made enquiries... Combination of skill, luck and getting the images out there. Motorsport wasn't how he got into sports photography though and he also has a full time day job and does it essentially as a hobby - what he makes barely covers what he spends doing it... I know a few other semi-pros and they reckon that if you want to make money (a) niches are the way in and (b) people with horses and dogs like to buy pictures...

I have only known one person who made a proper switch from their old day job to full time sports photography and he is admitedly extremely good. He is US based and got into it via shooting his daughter's gymnastics meetings (now he also does things like the NFL and NBA...).

So not that I have ever done it, but I suspect the answer to the question in the title of the thread is to shoot something else a lot, shoot some motorsport from where you can; then get good and get a bit of luck. I wouldn't build a career plan around it if I were you, but if you have the ability - just maybe...

[Robbie B]

OP are you actually looking to make money?

One of my closest mate's Dad is a multiple Sports Photographer of the Year winner and he has made a lot of money (nice house and a brand new Porsche) but he is obviously a rare case and he grafts like you wouldn't believe. He flew all the way to the US open, paid for the flight and 2 weeks accomodation in a hotel + all other expenses relying purely on his ability to make the money back.

If however, you're like me and want to just to get into motorsport photography for fun, just start attending events. You don't always need a press pass to get good shots and 2 of the events I have been to recently have resulted in me firstly getting a press pass for the event next year and the other I was allowed to wander out of the spectator zones.

Here are some of my shots, self taught and mostly in spectator locations. Obviously if you're going Le Mans or something, you might need a re-think

http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanbob/sets/7215762...