Today’s post is a little different from usual, this is my entry for the Let There Be Light Competition, a blogger competition in partnership with Urban Cottage Industries. When I was contacted regarding this competition, I jumped at the opportunity as photography is definitely one of my favourite things! I love that Urban Cottage Industries is running this competition, as it’s a great idea for bloggers to get creative.
The entries will be judged by three different bloggers, Sian Lewis, Julia Hartbeck and Stacey Sheppard. This is the perfect opportunity to get creative and showcase your photography skills, of course, competitions mean prizes! There’s one winner for the Let There Be Light, you have the opportunity to win £500 worth of vouchers for photography equipment from Amazon. Don’t worry if you don’t get that top spot though, as five runner-ups will receive a personalised Moleskine notepad.
One day, I hope to be an motorsports journalist, I understand though that the industry is very tough and now a days you need a lot of experience under your belt. For my dissertation for University, I decided to do Long-Form Journalist. Which is basically where you cover photography, writing and broadcast media.
Most of you will probably know that I have a massive love for motorsports so I thought why not attend an Grand Prix weekend. This would be a perfect opportunity to gain experience and use that work for my dissertation. I got in contact with Chris Valentine who is the Media Representative for Britcar Dunlop Endurance.
Last weekend, my dream became a reliability when I became a photographer at Silverstone for Britcar Endurance! This was the perfect opportunity and I looked very professional in my purple media bib. I was super excited but very nervous at the same time. I was quite lucky as I met up with Eric Barnes from Barneshaw Images.
I’m glad I did met up with Eric as there was someone to show me the ropes. Seeing as I haven’t done motorsport photography professionally before. I am massively glad he was there as I made just a few rookie photographer moves that I have now learnt from. First of all, when a camera tells you it’s charged don’t believe it!
After not even an hour of taking photographs my camera decided to give up and start flashing red. Which was a big disappointment as I didn’t even have the charger unit to charge it. Next time, I know what I shall be bringing, a spare battery and the charger! It shows you need to be prepared as I was able to borrow a camera from Eric.
Century Motorsport – Ginetta G5 – #43
The whole day was a massive learning curve for me as every moment I seemed to be learning something. Throughout the day, my confidence seemed to be growing, I was trying to be more adventurous in the photos I was taking. Even watching the teams perform their amazing pitstops.
It was amazing to have the freedom of pretty much anywhere on the track, I was able to get to places I have been dreaming on for months. Walking around a live pit, the paddock, just walking through different teams garages. The places where some people dream of being. Even trackside behind tyre barriers!
I am very happy with the images that I managed to take, they might not be the best from the weekend but I am proud of them. As I can say they are mine, that I took them trackside as media. If you would like to see them head over HERE to view them in my gallery. I hope you like them as much as I do.
I would like to just say a massive thank-you to Eric as without him I wouldn’t of been able to take any of these photographs. I was able to learn a lot from him and the experience that I will take with me into further motorsports weekends. If you fancy taking a look at his photographs, ahead over to his site HERE.
I hope you have liked this post! Let me know in the comments any advice you would give regarding photography, everyone can learn from one another! Hopefully you’ll be seeing more posts like this as I really enjoyed this experience at Silverstone.
An Ocean Glimmer 