 Even
though people living in northern latitudes have used to arctic weather,
that day was something from another planet. The outdoor temperature
was about minus twenty-five degrees of Celsius, and the wind was
blowing fast and steadily from the icy Baltic Sea. I was standing
on ice once again about to take some photographs. But the combination
of cold air and icy wind made me wondering why on an earth I was
there!
It was time of yearly Eden Rally, held
on an ice track in Nallikari, Oulu. Nallikari is more known
of it's relative long beaches and the camping area, so the place
is very popular during warm summer days among the citizen and tourists.
Now it was a little bit hard to image anybody playing beach volley
out there -- the temperature difference compared to heat days was
more than fifty degrees of Celsius! |
|
 Despite
this not-so-nice weather condition I was there ready to shoot some rally
pictures. It was quite first time for me to photograph fast cars on a
track, so I didn't expect any real success. And I was there just for enjoying
of photo snapping, not doing any photography assignment which do
limit your freedom and decreases a fun factor.
The first disappointment hit me as soon as I got on
location: the most interesting starts were done way before I arrived.
I'm talking about small, very beautiful old looking rally cars which I
had to settle to photograph without any driving action. Great start for
my rally photographer career... :-)
Main photograph: "Racing cars", Winter
2001, EOS5, EF70-200/4 + 1.4TC, monopod, Fuji Sensia II 100
Well, luckily there were several other starts during
that day, so I didn't need to leave the happening with empty hands (or
with empty rolls of film). Since I haven't been shooting these kind of
rallies before, I was little bit uncertain for example how close to the
track could I go. For sure I knew that some of the racing cars were equipped
with tires having quite long studs or prods, so I didn't actually wanted
to be accidentally hit by those cars..
 If
there is something good with white Canon L-lenses, it is the fact that
they give you some kind of "press" look. This makes you possible
to go places where normal public is not necessarily allowed to go. This
rule applied also this time, so I could step around the track quite freely.
Another good idea was to ask other photographers about ideal photography
spots.
 First
I was standing in a long out bending curve, where from I managed to get
some photos. There where couple of problems, though. The first car disintegrated(?)
snow and ice so much that it was quite impossible to shoot any other cars
coming behind. Secondly, because of wind this snow cloud soon caught me
and I was in a hurry to cover the equipment. And not to mention that 300mm
was absolutely too short for that place.
So I decided to get even closer to the track in another,
this time towards inner side bending curve. I got a brilliant idea to
have a little chat with track security guys, who where standing right
next to the curve. After talking a while I "forgot" myself there
and took photos start after start. Well, the idea was not so cool after
all, because I didn't get so much closer to cars compared to the first
photography spot.
Maybe the most important photography skill in this kind of racing competition
is not to know how to handle camera, but to know things about the
race itself. When to go where, and what to shoot at. Before leaving the
race I photographed a start and I was about to take the last photo. The
leading car came out from a curve very impressive way being an excellent
photography target. I missed the situation not worrying it because I thought
I could make it in the next round. Guess what, that start was stopped
soon after cars bypassed my position, so I never got that "excellent"
photo. Anyway, a guy standing next to me did get that photo. It was published
next day in a local news paper...
Here are some racing photos I managed to get ("Racing
1,2,3,4", Winter 2001, EOS5, EF70-200/4 + 1.4TC, monopod, Fuji Sensia
II 100). Sorry, no larger photos available.
 
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