Trackday photography

[Derek182]

I've done 2 trackdays this year - Castle Combe with Javelin and Snetterton this week with MSV. Both were excellent days on track.
After Castle Combe Javelin sent me loads of images of my car and everyone else on the trackday, all available for free download with just a small Javelin logo in the corner.
After Snetterton MSV sent me loads of images but want £30 for 10 of them!
I like a record of what I do with my cars whether it's trackdays, road trips, meets etc and if it was £10 for 10 pics I would have done it but £30!
I've got some days off over the summer and will be booking a couple of days, I know it's only a small cost compared to the price of the day, fuel, tyre and brake wear but I'll be more likely to be booking with someone offering free photos.

[Kswap]

Pretty much everyone does free pics and tuition except MSV. They don’t charge less for a trackday though. Someone’s got to fuel Mr Palmers helicopter!

I can’t fault Opentrack.

I used to get the pictures and get the GoPro out. After a few trackdays I couldn’t be bothered with it all lol.

Edited by Kswap on Thursday 2nd June 12:39

[NoBrakesWC]

The upside of MSV track days are less cars on track as they limit them more

[1781cc]

As a photographer who has worked professionally covering sport, I would say its hard enough getting paid for decent work and the kit/time investment, so I don't begrudge MSV charging a fee to have someone like Lee onboard, his work is good albeit a little repetitive in shot setup and could do more "abstract" or overall stuff, but its a salary that needs to be paid and L-Series lenses for EOS cameras don't come cheap...

Less cars on an MSV day is also a plus, I prefer booking with them over any others first

[Kswap]

Can’t say I’ve noticed less cars than other tdo’s or quality of pics tbh. Not that I’ve looked into it, I’ll take your word for it.

I did a road car only day last year with them at Oulton Park which was pretty dead. Got a free garage. Pretty boring going around on your own after a while lol.

Edited by Kswap on Thursday 2nd June 16:55

Edited by Kswap on Thursday 2nd June 16:56

[Oilchange]

1781cc said:

As a photographer who has worked professionally covering sport, I would say its hard enough getting paid for decent work and the kit/time investment, so I don't begrudge MSV charging a fee to have someone like Lee onboard, his work is good albeit a little repetitive in shot setup and could do more "abstract" or overall stuff, but its a salary that needs to be paid and L-Series lenses for EOS cameras don't come cheap...

Less cars on an MSV day is also a plus, I prefer booking with them over any others first

Is it a salary that needs to be paid?

With the cost of petrol skyrocketing and inflation £30 would fuel my car for the day. But 10 pics? No thanks.

[1781cc]

Oilchange said:

1781cc said:

As a photographer who has worked professionally covering sport, I would say its hard enough getting paid for decent work and the kit/time investment, so I don't begrudge MSV charging a fee to have someone like Lee onboard, his work is good albeit a little repetitive in shot setup and could do more "abstract" or overall stuff, but its a salary that needs to be paid and L-Series lenses for EOS cameras don't come cheap...

Less cars on an MSV day is also a plus, I prefer booking with them over any others first

Is it a salary that needs to be paid?

With the cost of petrol skyrocketing and inflation £30 would fuel my car for the day. But 10 pics? No thanks.

Exactly, you are looking after you, they are looking after him, you’ve done right in not paying for what you don’t see value in, I like having a record of it, but the trick is buying all your pics as it brings the overall cost down, so I do

[brillomaster]

I think if possible, i'd rather have a cheaper day and no photography included - i've never bought any photographs from a day.

Javelin now include them for free, but... theres only so many times you can look at pictures of yourself missing apexes/apices, or wincing at the amount of body roll your car has in the corners...

[Cambs_Stuart]

brillomaster said:

I think if possible, i'd rather have a cheaper day and no photography included - i've never bought any photographs from a day.

Javelin now include them for free, but... theres only so many times you can look at pictures of yourself missing apexes/apices, or wincing at the amount of body roll your car has in the corners...

Same here. I normally look back at the pictures thinking "What on earth was I thinking with that line?" or "What's that hanging off my car?" then never look again. The pictures from Opentrack and Track Obsession are usually pretty good though.

[JP__FOX]

I'm a big fan of the Opentrack pictures, I even have a few of them printed around the house

[brillomaster]

ooooh thats lovely.

to be honest, i seem to find that a lot of the photographs have a very fast shutter speed, so apart from the catastrophic body roll, you can hardly tell the car is moving at all.

but that one has a real sense of speed and occasion - shooting at golden hour helps too!

[braddo]

A lot of the photos are pretty dull to look at but can be a nice momento of owning different cars and visiting various tracks etc.

I like this one from Brands because like the one above, there's more or a sense of movement and speed (and compression through the bottom of Paddock!).