I blame the tracks. Sure, you could zoom in nice and tight with a telephoto lens that you need 2 assistants to help you hold steady, but this shot of Von Tripps at the ’58 German GP must have been taken with the photographer’s toes on the track. You just can’t replicate the immediacy and drama that close proximity provides.
Being able to see his face sure helps too.
0 replies on “You’ll Never See a Photo This Good of Sebastian Vettel”
The only place where you can get close enough – I know off – is Spa Franchorchamps (La Source – see http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluidimages/2859873066/ ).
In 1930s you could even sit on the apex…
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad130/helioseism/scan0008.jpg
the photo only shows part of the heads of the two guys, the car is in front of them. It’s also taken at the nurburgring.
* Photo from the autosport forum.
It’s also the cover of the book “The Robert Fellowes collection”
It’s not the tracks, its just the safety standards. And telephoto lenses! Most of these photgraphers used wide angle lenses, which provides a much more exciting, less flattened look. Stellar photo, by the way!
von Tripps’ face almost suggests that he’s surprised to find a photog right there too!
Holy crap this photo made my day. Most excellent.
Probably taken by Louis Klemantaski.
I used to shoot at Watkins Glen; with our credentials, we could be anywhere behind a guardrail. You could get just about that close on the inside of Turn 11, the last right-hander, and it was a wide-angle shot. But it’s the tracks, too. I was at the French GP in ’72 at Clermont-Ferrand, a track that didn’t have a continuous guardrail–some of the track had none. And at the hairpin, ordinary spectators could stand 15′ away from the outside of the turn–no guardrail at that point, just a very shallow ditch and some thin shrubs. These days, they wouldn’t even allow a marshal there, or a photographer–let alone the paying public.
taking pics leaning over the armco at an F3000 race in Birmingham was just as exciting and believe me i stood at the carusel as well and i can tell you they go quite slow…
Safety! At our first west coast road races in the 50s, when I was 8-10, we had no crowd control at all. We had a picnic blanket right on the edge of the pavement on the kink in the backstretch at Torrey Pines–I have the photos to prove it. There were lots of areas at Palm Springs and Pebble Beach where people stood on the edge of the pavement inside and out of the corners. Our first fatality was a course worker rigging the PA system at Torrey Pines, dec., 1952–hit by a racing motorcycle. After that there was always snow fencing around the whole course, but it was often very close. Alas, I was using my Kodak Brownie so my pictures make the cars look far away, so I took mostly shots in the pits!
That is a beautiful shot. Pace and atmosphere all captured in one image.