No media publication is complete without photo’s, and you can’t have any photo’s without a photographer. That’s where Steven Knightley comes in. Steven is a promising young photographer keen to establish a career in the industry and today he gave us an insight into the ‘Day in the life of a Motorsport Photographer’.

Steven covers all rounds of the British Touring Car Championship and he was there at Croft last time out to bring you this insight.

Friday 18th June – Preperation
Preparation for a race weekend starts on Friday morning with the simple task of checking the weather reports for Saturday and Sunday. This is to ensure that not only do I pack the right clothing, but I pack the right accessories for the camera as well. Croft looks like it will once again cover all seasons in the space of 48 hours, so the camera’s waterproofs have gone in for a start! When packing the camera body itself and each lens, it’s essential to make sure all have been well dusted and cleaned; this is simply to ensure that no dirt interferes with any of the pictures I’ll take throughout the weekend. Overnight the majority of the power supplied by the National Grid is commandeered to charge all the battery packs used by the camera, flash gun and laptop.

Throughout the week leading up to a race weekend, in particular the Friday before, I am constantly in contact with the teams and various websites I regularly contribute to, taking orders for photos that will accompany news stories and make up galleries. This gives me a chance to plan my weekend and be vaguely aware which sessions I need to be track side for, although chances are I’ll be receiving ad hoc requests up until cars are feeding onto the track!

Once packed, planned and charged it’s an early night ready to get up at what is effectively night time tomorrow morning…

Saturday 19th June – Qualifying
Up at 4, and out the house at 5 to give us a chance of reaching Croft (which is literally at the opposite end of the country to where I start in Romford, Essex) before second practice. Amazingly, after a 4 hour drive, I made it in time to sign on before Free Practice 1. Its essential to sign on before going track side as it is at this point I have to prove to Croft that I am insured to leave the safety of the spectator areas and bravely step forth onto the track where there is potentially only a stack of tyres between me and a Plato-Neal ‘racing incident’. At each track photographers are issued with bibs so marshals can easily identify who should and shouldn’t be in the danger zone. At Croft, however, we are given cycling proficiency belts!

When considering which corner to stand on, you need to be aware of the position of the sun, where it will move to and if its likely to become overcast. Arriving at Croft in the wind and rain, however, made these considerations pretty much a moot point. Consequently I could take my pick of corners and elected for the Complex on the second half of the lap for both Free Practice 1 and 2. The series of corners here guarantee lock ups and the odd excursion off to the extreme boundaries of the track. There is also a somewhat vulnerable tyre wall here so all in all its often one of the best places for photos. After taking a few routine safety shots, I use the practice sessions to experiment, specifically with different shutter speeds. 1/40th is a favourite as this gives extreme tyre and background blur, emphasising speed.

By qualifying, the sun was beginning to make the odd shy appearance which causes havoc with the camera’s settings. This is because it is always trying to readjust to the changing light. Consequently I chose to spend the qualifying session at the chicane as the action makes up for difficult light; from past experience drivers tend to over stretch themselves here and bits of touring car can end up scattered all over the ground!
Alas not this time, so its up to the media room to transfer all the days pictures onto the laptop ready to resize, edit and despatch to waiting publications before heading to the hotel. Once there, more pictures need to be selected for press releases which will need to be ready for sponsors and guests to read tomorrow morning. Once finished its time to see how good the restaurant is and also see who else from the paddock has turned up. Its always nice to catch up with people away from the circuit and many Saturday nights are often spent exchanging pleasant small talk. There may also be time for half a larger shandy!

Sunday 20th June – Race Day
Thankfully, due to television schedules, race day rarely commences before 10 this season. At Croft, the pitlane walkabout provides a gentle start to the day and an opportunity to take ‘people pictures’. Photos of drivers and grid girls are always popular.
Sunday morning has provided a Mediterranean climate so light is certainly not a problem. While this provides perfect conditions for taking pictures in, I have to be very aware of shadows as one misplaced can easily ruin a photo. As the first race begins at just past midday, however, the sun is right overhead so for now this isn’t such an issue. Therefore for Race 1 I decide to make my way over to the second corner (Hawthorns). This position enables me to capture the first corner mêlée and any subsequent door handle to door handle/paint swapping action. Rather disappointingly, instead of said expected brawl, Shedden comes through heading a conga line; even the plastic corner marker survives! In fact for the entire race the only action to speak of was the excursion into the gravel of a Silverline Chevrolet which easily provided me with the best picture opportunity of the race.

Race two was similarly quiet for me, this time positioned over by the chicane. Throughout the race I concentrated on taking group shots; trying to squeeze as many cars into a frame as possible! In these photos I also try to include a few spectators to emphasise the popularity of the championship and the excitement infused atmosphere in general. MacDowell and George provide the only action for me, as with each lap each car seems to disintegrate lap by lap, making interesting before and after shots. These made up for the fact that being so far round the track makes it nigh on impossible to make it back to the podium in time on foot, and photographers are unfortunately not provided with circuit transport…

Race three is a different matter. As I was on the hairpin for the last race of the day, the podium was in easy grasp and is always a nice way to end the day. The race itself was particularly hectic at the hairpin, with everyone having a go on everyone else! As the slowest corner in British motorsport, it does make it easier to capture the action here, but somewhat harder to depict any motion. Subsequently I choose to take the photo when as little of the wheels as possible are facing me. This is because the impression of motion in a photo is largely taken from the rotation of the wheels against a slow shutter speed. In other words, how blurred the wheels are. Most of my photos from the last race, therefore, show the cars either coming head on, or driving away down the pit straight although if anything does happen where the wheels are in full view, I won’t turn it down!

At the end of the day, before signing off, I have to make sure my best shots of the day are sent to those publications wanting to publish headlines immediately. This involves a quick trip into the media office to resize and touch up my selection and email them on. The rest of the photos will be gradually sorted throughout the following week.

Once that’s done it’s a quick goodbye to everyone and time to recover the car from whichever field we left it in. Then it is the inevitable, slow realisation of just how far Croft is from Essex….

Photo Credit: Steven Knightley
Article Credit: Catherine Milton<

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.