Badger is pleased to announce that Octane Photographic have agreed to be part of our Brazilian GP Bash on November 7th, here in Central London.
They’re coming to watch the race with you all, take part in the prize quiz and raffle and of course take a few snaps of the event and the winners.
What’s more – they’re also bringing along a mini-printer type gadget so you can have your photo taken with the Badger – a very rare opportunity!
If you don’t already know about the Brazil event, read more about it here and there’s more news to be announced in the run up to the event. For now though, here’s some info on Octane Photographic and the people behind the cameras… say cheese!
Octane Photographic, was born after a weekend of petrol fumes at the Autosport Show 2010, both photographers shooting for a NW based photo agency at the event, we, Leanne Wilson and Craig Boon, took our motorsport fan photography to the next level by setting up our own company. Our byline ‘capturing the atmosphere not just the image,’ sums up what we believe is missing in a lot of pictures of our sport. Many photos we take will of course fit into the ‘car or driver doing their thing’ mould but we try to do the wider angle on the venue as well – crowds, fans and atmosphere, what really makes the sport what it is today and why it’s loved by the masses.
Both motorsport fan photographers for many years, OctanePhotos is the future we both wanted to pursue. Having a taste of motorsports from the ‘press angle’ Leanne Wilson finished her final year in 3D Product design, allowing a summer of petrol fume chasing to begin, rather than just being a weekend viewer. Between the two of us at OctanePhotos we have covered 19 events this year so far (from British F3 to WRC), with a few more to squeeze in before the end of season, including the Wirral 100 (Motorbikes), British GT and WRC Rally GB.
Craig Boon, works on the website design with some input from Leanne Wilson, having put her degree to good use to design the logo and other issues which might need a more ‘design-y mind’ A member of the NUJ, Craig also freelances for a NW based newspaper (Mersey Reporter) to cover motorsports within the area.
This year, 2010, OctanePhotos, have covered WRC, BTCC, British F3, British GT, Truck racing, Funcup, MG Live, Masters Racing, and the Pirelli International Rally as accredited media, as well as MotoGP and F1 from fan based angles (only the big fish get accredited, though its an accreditation we are working towards!) But we have found a few public spots over the years that can give some spectacular results just like what the accredited media would be getting 😉 With so many events to cover, OctanePhotos have help from Karen Smalley, who did a lot of work in F1 with both the FIA and the teams a few years ago and who is now coming back into the game, helping us out on a freelance base, though covering just as many events!
We are definitely privileged to “work” in this field, one that we know many fans would love a chance to participate in. Getting the best seat in the house, the “right” side of the barriers is a fantastic experience, but what many people don’t see are the early mornings (3am starts when working on WRC weekends!) getting to venues and getting set up to get those photos of teams and drivers getting ready for the days’ track action and the late evenings sorting and editing the days take (beer and wine are valued editing tools :)). We normally work on about 2-3000 photos per photographer for a normal weekend’s racing. Seeing most events in a 3×2 format through one eye is pretty normal though. Shooting with Canon kit, and processing and web work is done via a couple of Macs. We are quite heavily into tech and each carry iPads that are slaved to the cameras for onsite emailing (Rule 101 – Need to act fast to get anywhere in this field). The setup is finished with 5 (yep 5!) printers, 2 A3+ Canons (dye and ink), 1 A4, and 2 6×4 portable dye printers for as crazy as it sounds, on site productions!
Rally is a huge challenge and currently OctanePhotos personal favorite, as there is normally quite a drive or hike ( -22 degrees in snow at Rally Sweden or up through the vineyards at Rally Germany) in getting to a stage in time to get set up. Having the same issue course books the drivers get, we can find our way about (usually), either down the track to get to our spots or just via tracks and back roads. If you are wondering where some of the angles come from then trees, bushes and ditches all feature quite prominently 🙂 Glamorous? – No: Fun? – Hell yes 🙂
Next time you are at an event, keep 1/2 an eye on the guys behind the barriers, it (is more than likely) might be us 🙂 See you all track side 🙂
For more info on the Brazilian GP Bash go here:
