As a long time photographer and motorsports enthusiast, it's the perfect fit to be the one to document the Festival of Speed race weekend at the Auto Club Race Track in Fontana, CA. It's also a thrill to see our image on the cover of a great publication like Pando, the official monthly magazine of the Porsche Club of America OCR. In the case of this image, the right opportunity arose to nab a priceless shot from the vantage point of the smaller, inside stands over the pit area. This is a good spot to shoot the beginning of a race, and the high angle show the graphics on the track, which gives a nice sense of place.
Panning was used here to accurately portray dynamic motion in this image. For motorsports photography, this technique is perhaps the most important skill to learn. It takes having an understanding of how to utilize the different focusing modes of a camera--and then--practice, practice, practice! It also takes having the right gear-- for this image I used one of my favorite camera/lens combos for documenting the sport: a Nikon D500 and a 200 to 400 f4 Nikkor zoom. Because of the camera's cropped sensor, when combined with this lens, you virtually get a 300 to 600 f.4 zoom. Yes, we love to geek out on photography gear and cars equally--and preferably at the same time!
Location: Fontana, CA.