Posted by Cleggy on Jul 19, 2010 in
Bike Racing,
PR
Ask any Road racing fan to name an iconic image of Irish Motorcycle racing and the bets odds are a heck of a lot of them will mention the jumps at the Kells Road races in County Meath. Photographers’ images from these jumps have been used on countless Magazines, Newspapers, Books, Calendars, Race Programmes etc and go a long way to promote the event, attracting sponsors money to the races.
This year the Kells club and Chief Marshal agreed that only Five accredited, insured photographers at any one time could Photograph at either jump, a fair and amicable agreement on the grounds of safety. Then about Ten minutes prior to the start of practice that agreement was over-ruled by the powers that be and we were told that no Photographer could shoot the jumps except from the same areas that the public can shoot from. Needless to say there was uproar with the Photographers association even talking about a mass boycott of publicity for the event. However a boycott would not hurt the right people, nor would it help the sport which is already in a very fragile position.
Whilst supporting the sentiments behind a boycott I could not fully support it as I had pressure on me to deliver images for Adelaide Insurance and Irish Racer Magazine. Adelaide not only sponsor the Kells Road races but they also advertise in Irish Racer and sponsor the Irish Racer Awards dinner.
Why one side of the Road is deemed safe and the other side declared as too dangerous I don’t think I will ever understand that thinking! In my opinion nowhere is safe and I’m personally prepared to photograph anywhere that I myself feel comfortable with. As it was I shot some images from the ‘safe‘ side of the Road.
In this image I used a wide angle Nikon lens to capture Australian racer Cameron Donald is in mid-flight on his Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing Superbike.
Towards the end of practice the cruel side of the sport reared its ugly head again claiming the life of Stephen Larkin and predictably in this nanny state we live in today there is now yet another call for Road racing to be banned. Should we now also ban driving to work? or ban Horse riding?
On Race day Adelaide insurance had a few PR girls to assist with PR and out on the grid prior to each race. I again used a wide angle Nikon lens and the ever reliable Nikon SB800 flash gun to capture this image.
Race day was blighted by constant light rain, which then turned to heavy rain by mid-day and eventually conditions became too wet for racing to continue. Definitely not a Kells road race to remember, from what is normally an excellent race meeting.
In my Photograph below, TT race winner Adrian Archibald huddles under an umbrella with fellow racers Davy Morgan and Michael Dunlop.
Tags: Adelaide Insurance, Adrian Archibald, Cameron Donald, Davy Morgan, Irish Motorcycle racing, Irish Racer Magazine, Kells, Kells Road races, Michael Dunlop, Nikon, Nikon SB800, Photograph, Relentless Suzuki, Stephen Larkin, TAS
Posted by Cleggy on Apr 25, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Australian Cameron Donald made the headlines at last years Isle of Man TT practice when he set an unofficial new lap record for the mountain circuit only to crash out of the very next practice session. Cameron sustained shoulder and ligament damage that would end his season there and then, robbing everyone of the opportunity of seeing him and current TT circuit maestro John McGuinness going head-to-head.
Yesterday saw Cameron Donald return to racing action for the Relentless Suzuki by TAS racing team at the Cookstown 100 road races. I captured this image of Cameron leading Michael Pearson in the opening Superbike race.
Cameron Donald leads Michael Pearson at Cookstown
Even before I had returned home from Cookstown, Suzuki Racings PR man was on the phone requesting some Photos of Cameron Donald for a press release. Below is one of my images used on Suzuki’s website.
Tags: Cameron Donald, Cookstown, Isle of Man TT, John McGuinness, Michael Pearson, Relentless, Suzuki, TAS
Posted by Cleggy on Apr 7, 2010 in
Bike Racing
The Irish championship short circuit racing action moved along the County Down Coast to the Kirkistown race circuit for the second round of the Irish Superbike Championships. The early on-track action was held in cold and wet conditions, but as the day progressed it got drier, and a heck of a lot windier and the Sun even put in an appearance.
I started off where I left off at Bishopscourt by using a slow shutter speed for some panning shots. With so many Motorhomes and other background distractions at race circuits these days, panning motion blur can be used to blur a distracting background.
Cameron Donald – 300mm 1/125th
Cameron Donald – 500mm 1/320th
There was some nice light late in the afternoon to shoot the second superbike race of the day, but a very strong sidewind made it very tricky to hold the Camera and lens (with teleconvertor) steady. To minimise the effect of the wind I used the sheltered side of some Tyres and grass banking, a monopod and a low position to help me capture this image of best friends Gerard Kinghan and Kirk Jamison battling it out wheel-to-wheel at Kirkistown’s hairpin.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Bruce Anstey, Cameron Donald, County Down, Gerard Kinghan, Irish Championship, Irish Superbike Championship, Kirk Jamison, Kirkistown, panning
Posted by Cleggy on Apr 4, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Friday and Saturday saw the start of the Irish Superbike Championship season at Bishopscourt. With Northern Ireland currently only having Two race circuits of a suitable standard for Championship racing it is hard to shoot some original images. For this weekend I decided to concentrate on panning images using a slow shutter speed.
Long, Large, heavy Glass on a monopod is hard to hold steady at the best of times, but when a gusting Wind is catching it, it becomes doubly hard.
Bruce Anstey – 500mm 1/250th sec
James Dickson – 500mm 1/200th sec
With the Wind came heavy Rain showers, lots of surface Water and race Bikes using Wet weather Tyres means lots of spray getting thrown up and this can give the auto-focus motors on Cameras/Lenses a hard time.
In this Photograph Cameron Donald on the Relentless Suzuki sits up and brakes to scrub off some speed for a chicane and you can graphically see just how wet it was!
Cameron Donald – 500mm 1/320th sec
Cameron Donald – 500mm 1/160th sec
Road racing specialist Ryan Farquhar went to Bishopscourt for some track time to help him shake off the Winter rustiness and get his 450 single and 650 Twin bikes dialled in for the season ahead. Ryan took a couple of race wins in the Super Twins class whilst also showing the potential off the ‘wee thumper’ Kawasaki KX450F single.
Ryan Farquhar, Kawasaki ER650F – 500mm 1/100th sec
But the weekend belonged to one of Ireland’s most under-rated racers, Portadown’s Marshall Neill who won all Three Irish Championship Superbike races on a Superstock Suzuki GSXR1000.
Marshall Neill – 500mm 1/200th sec
Marshall also became the 2010 winner of the long running Enkalon Trophy.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Bruce Anstey, Cameron Donald, Enkalon Trophy, Irish Championship, James Dickson, Kawasaki, KX450F, Marshall Neill, monopod, panning, Portadown, Relentless, Ryan Farquhar, Superbike, Superbike Championship, Suzuki, TAS
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 30, 2010 in
PR
Issue #93 (April 2010) of Irish Racer Magazine hit the Shop shelves this morning. Hot off the press it includes features on Neil Hodgson, Stephen Thompson, Cameron Donald and Gerard Kinghan along with news on the North West 200 and all the usual monthly columns from riders like Jonathan Rea and Eugene Laverty. Go grab a copy now while stocks last.
This has been another kind issue to me with Nine of my images published including all of the images in the Gerard Kinghan feature which includes an image used for a double Page spread.
I was aiming for a double Page spread when I shot the above image of Randalstown Motorcycle racer Gerard Kinghan, deliberately placing him in an off-centre composition so that editorial could be placed on the other side, whilst taking care that he wouldn’t be too central in the frame, otherwise the fold and Staples would be running through him.
Tags: Cameron Donald, Eugene Laverty, Gerard Kinghan, Irish Racer Magazine, Jonathan Rea, Motorcycle racer, Neil Hodgson, North West 200, Randalstown, Stephen Thompson
Posted by Cleggy on Dec 22, 2009 in
Bike Racing To finish of the year 2009 I thought it would be good to do a blog posting showing a few of my personal favourite images (published and non-published) of the year. The first in the series of ‘best of’ blog posts will be a selection of my favourite candid or non-action images. Feel free to leave a comment on my selection.
As always you can purchase from a selection of my vast Photographic Library by selecting from my online galleries.
William Dunlop’s girlfriend sits nervously on his Superstock machine whilst tuned in to the practice commentary on Manx Radio listening for updates on how William is progressing out on track on his CD racing Supersport 600 machine.
1/250th f7.1 70-200mm f2.8 VR
Guy Martin deep in thought at the 2009 Isle of Man TT races.
1/250th f9 70-200mm f2.8 VR
Mats Nilsson.
1/250th f9 70-200mm f2.8 VR
Andrew Neill, another rider lost in his own thoughts, oblivious to the camera as he psyches himself up to challenge the Isle of Man TT Mountain Circuit. Sadly Andrew Neill was fataly injured just over One Month after this image was captured.
1/250th f9 70-200mm f2.8 VR
A jubilant Guy Martin being interviewed by the press just after winning the 2009 Ulster Grand Prix Superbike race.
1/250th f5.6 17-55mm f2.8
The English brothers (Robert and Chris) pretend to Arm Wrestle for my camera on the World famous Dundrod road race circuit prior to setting off on a fund-raising walk.
1/250th f9 50mm f1.8
Cameron Donald and Conor Cummins line-up to set off for their final practice session of the 2009 Isle of Man TT practice week. Cameron sensationally lapped quicker than anyone else the previous evening, but sadly this lap would end in disaster as he crashed out and suffered injuries that would finish his 2009 racing season.
1/250th f9 70-200mm f2.8 VR
HM Plant Honda’s John McGuinness prepares to set off during qualifying for the 2009 North West 200.
1/250th f9 17-55mm f2.8
Not a very flattering angle but still a nice backlit portrait of HM Plant Honda’s Steve Plater during qualifying for the 2009 North West 200.
1/250th f13 17-55mm f2.8
Kirk Jamison asked me to take some PR photographs of him for a thank you to his sponsors, in this case RST Leathers.
1/200th f13 50mm f1.8
Kirk Jamison and Tim Martin of MAR-Train racing.
1/50th f4 50mm f1.8
Mark Lunney at Mondello Park during the evening sunset
1/250th f9 17-55mm f2.8
William Dunlop sprays the victory champagne round a promotion girl after winning the second Supersport 600 race at the 2009 Ulster Grand Prix races.
1/800th f6.3 70-200mm f2.8 VR
Tags: Andrew Neill, Cameron Donald, Candids, Conor Cummins, Guy Martin, HM Plant Honda, Isle of Man TT, John McGuinness, Kirk Jamison, MAR-Train racing, Mark Lunney, Mats Nilsson, Mondello Park, Nikon, North West 200, Steve Plater, Tim Martin, TT, Ulster Grand Prix, William Dunlop