Honda Indy Toronto 2011 Diary - part III

Part I, in which we arrive on Friday and attempt to shoot IndyCars in front of every available sponsor billboard, is here.

Part II, in which Saturday rolls around and I end up covering the NASCAR supporting event as well as lurking around pit lane, is here.

This is Part III - the main event, the IZOD IndyCar series race - and a bunch of other things.


Even during a packed race day schedule, there's inevitably some waiting around.

The day started off as usual in the Media Centre, located upstairs in the Allstream Centre (née "Automotive Building") on the Exhibition Place grounds. The morning update and safety briefing was augmented by some words from the event's chief of security, Charles Burns, a genial gentleman who nevertheless falls squarely in the "do not make this man angry with you" category. Pre-race briefing over, we had our daily pow-wow with team lead John. Race day is what we're here for, and we needed to make sure we had all aspects covered. Two photographers with "race mode" pit lane access, a couple in the grandstands for crowd shots, careful discussion of who would shoot driver introductions, the grand marshal, the anthems, flyby and other pre-race events, and a scattering of the remaining team members at key points around the track. My assignment: turn 1, for the start, and all the re-starts after the inevitable accidents during the race. In 2011, IndyCar introduced "double wide" re-starts instead of single-file, line-astern ones - promising some fireworks as the cars gallop into turn 1 when the green flag flies.

But first - morning practice, and a couple of supporting races. I shot a bit of the Canadian Touring Car Championship from turn 5, and scuttled over to Winner's Circle for the post-race festivities. I see a lot of this series throughout the year, but seldom have the opportunity to shoot the podium.


Always good to get the eventual race winner on-track.


Touring Car class winner Tom Kwok takes a pasting.

Next up was IndyCar practice, an opportunity to shoot some pit lane action, something I've never done. I took advantage of a handy TV camera hole, still empty this early in the day.


Graham Rahal and the Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing team.

Next up was more serious business - Firestone Indy Lights, a fiercely competitive series full of up-and-coming drivers. I spent a good chunk of this race doing other things, but made sure I was at the finish line to practice again for the chequered flag shot. It worked, and I even managed the sprint back to the podium ceremony. That went fine, but the obvious photo-op would be to catch race winner Stefan Wilson with his big brother, IndyCar driver Justin. Did I get the shot? No, I did not.


A happy, but very sweaty, Stefan Wilson. Shortly after this, he came after the photo corps with his champagne bottle.

And now - off to turn 1 for the main event. It turned out to be not a bad vantage point for pre-race fireworks, although the military fly-by was completely obscured by a large tree, which I was more or less directly under.


The starting fireworks - fun, but never spectacular in broad daylight.

And then, after a couple of pace laps - the start!


Lots of cars, and a full grandstand - this is what we're here for.

I waited out most of the race in turn 1, working my way around transiently to a couple of other photo holes towards turn 2. And I have to report that despite half a dozen crashes and re-starts, the drivers behaved themselves beautifully, with not so much as a minor fender-bender. The most excitement was when rookie James Jakes ran a little wide, and passed within touching distance on the wide line around the corner.


He's going slowly, and sensibly keeping out of Danica Patrick's way.

And so it went, until, with 45 minutes or so left, I skedaddled back to the finish line - just in time for a massive crash at, you guessed it, turn 1.

Not to worry though. Joined by my comrade Patrick, I was there for that all-important chequered flag photo - one chance, and one only, to nail the race winner at full speed, on the painted line, hand triumphantly in the air, with the chequers flying from the flag stand and a grandstand of cheering fans behind. At full speed, even a fast burst of continuous shots is going to miss - this is a single photo that needs to be squeezed off at just the perfect time, just as the car flickers into your peripheral vision. And we nailed it. Both of us.


That, my friends, checks all of the boxes.

All that was left was a murderously hot and breathless sprint to Winner's Circle - for the fourth time that weekend - through throngs of fans with the same idea. Into the crush of press, elbows up and peeking through heads, arms and assorted photographic paraphernalia. My photo of race winner Dario Franchitti hopping out of his car wasn't as good as last year's effort, but the podium was well covered since our whole team was there, so it didn't matter much. And by hanging around for a bit, I wound up with a couple of fun shots, including this one of 1-2 team-mates Franchitti and Scott Dixon, clinking champagne bottles after hosing down their crew (and a few innocent bystanders).


Yes, Dario's looking right at me.

And that, as they say, was a wrap. With a day's worth of racing plus a whole lot of fan, vendor area and other "event" photos in the can, it was back to the Media Centre to sift through, pull out the A-list shots to hand in, say some goodbyes, and wearily wend my way home for the last time.

Next year? If I get the call, you'd better believe I'll be there.

(All of Sunday's photos are in this Flickr set.)

Honda Indy Toronto 2011 Diary - part II

(This may make a little more sense if you read part I first.)


NASCAR Canadian Tire Series podium, late Saturday afternoon.

Saturday
Once again, it was all about crowds, fans interacting with vendors, and generally any photos to tell the story of the event. And I took a lot of those photos, believe me - swinging through the Thunder Alley vendor area, past the team hospitality tents, and generally lurking around in the paddock and pit lane whenever I wasn't doing something else.

But first: some minor clean-up of the "cars in front of sponsor billboards" assignment, since it seems the entire team collectively failed to hand in anything in front of one key sponsor's signage. So - off to turn nine.

On the way, I snagged a through-the-fence shot of popular Canadian driver Alex Tagliani in morning practice, ripping down the back straight (known in civilian times as Lakeshore Boulevard). Here I'm shooting through the brand-new safety fencing - much stronger now, and generating some interesting horizontal stripes. The previous diagonal chain-link was much easier to "disappear".


The Dr. Pepper car would have been better here. Next year, maybe.

Unfortunately, the fence is obscuring the Future Shop logo on the car's sidepod, but what can you do?

Having hit Thunder Alley, still quiet this early in the morning, I took a quick swing through pit lane to grab some driver shots. Here's Graham Rahal, hailing some acquaintances. You can tell it's early - look how empty the grandstands are. Not a bad driver shot, but a total fail as far as capturing the excitement of the event.


He's got perfect teeth.

I also came across Helio Castroneves. This is the last of a series, from bare head through full helmet, as he suits up to go out on track.


Love that yellow/blue/white Penske livery.

And here's last year's winner Will Power. I like how he's staring back across his shoulder down pit lane, looking as though he's greatly concerned about something.


You'd never guess he's actually in line for the porta-potty, would you?

And on the way - finally, a chance for an IndyCar with a crowd in the background. This is a keeper, a nice addition to the "hand-in" shots, banked before race day comes on Sunday. Vitor Meira, racing for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.


That's what we need - car, sponsor signage, crowded grandstand.

And so, to turn nine and the Pizza Pizza billboard, sorely neglected yesterday. I spent the rest of the qualifying session getting shot after dull and boring shot of almost-in-focus cars, until I finally nailed a nice head-on one of Mike Conway. And then, right at the end of the session, what happens? J.R. Hildebrand stalls his car, right in front of the billboard I need! Are you kidding me? Easiest photo in history.


If he looks like he's parked - he is.

I'll admit to shooting some fun stuff along the way, including a nice photo of eventual race winner Dario Franchitti, and one of Justin Wilson laying down some rubber, and playing with slow shutter speeds a bit - good fun for me, but not really useful for the event.


Ryan Hunter-Reay, at 1/25th of a second.

The last race of the day was the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Streets of Toronto 100. Not at all a priority, but we needed on-track shots of a key sponsor's car (the #84 Schick Hydro Chevy of J.R. Fitzpatrick), and last year's winner, popular Canadian driver Andrew Ranger. I threw in pole-winner Jason Bowles as well for good measure. So, off to the "false grid" where the cars line up before the race.


This is Dexter Stacey, not any of the "key" drivers - but I like the shot.

Next I went trackside, and ultimately to the podium ceremony. On that little jaunt I didn't just nail all three drivers before the race, but each of their cars rolling out, and each on track to boot. And since Ranger won, after tagging him crossing the finish line I high-tailed it to the podium ceremony for good measure, picking up a text message from team leader John asking me if I could get to it. "Already there!" - it felt good to send that reply.


Winner Andrew Ranger with Kim Green of Green/Savoree - one of the big bosses of the weekend.

And that was pretty much a wrap. I collected podium shots of all the NASCAR finishers, although my photos of them spraying champagne weren't good. And the ones of Ranger's car taking the chequered flag, from the grandstand, were useless, but a helpful education for Sunday's IndyCar race. You'll see the finish line photo from the marquee event in the next post.

And so, back to the media centre for the usual hour or two of editing and handing shots in, and off home to bed. Saturday's photos are in this set.

Next: Sunday - Race Day. IndyCars, Canadian Touring Cars, and a bunch of podium ceremonies.

The Part I post, including Thursday and Friday, is here.

Honda Indy Toronto 2011 Diary - part I

Sebastian Saavedra - the most colourful car of the weekend.

I'm a bit late, the race having taken place in mid-July, but here's the beginning of my synopsis of this year's Honda Indy Toronto weekend. You can read about last year's event, if you like, in four, count 'em four, separate posts:

• Pre-Race Events
• Friday - Warming Up
• Saturday - Getting Busier
• Sunday - Race Day!

This year, once again, I was lucky enough to be credentialed by the event (Honda Indy Toronto / Green Savoree), back on a team with seven others (six repeat offenders from last year, and one new recruit). With eight of us instead of twelve, the ship had to run a little bit tighter. Minor modifications to the shot list, more consistent trackside access, and a single team instead of two all contributed to what turned out to be a pretty tight and effective team. I was sporting a Nikon D5000 and a few nifty lenses this time, a big improvement from last year's Sony DSC-R1. And again, the group was great - lots of laughs, hard slogging around the track for three days, good-natured one-upmanship and showing off our shots. And sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen.

Thursday
The week's fun started off with an autograph session with Alex Tagliani at the downtown Toronto Future Shop - an event I sleuthed out online, and got access to by the gambit of simply asking the store manager, who then pitched the request to the chain's PR person, who said "sure - as long as the store manager says it's ok", or words to that effect. Ask, and ye shall... you know.

Tags was a champ, charming fans old and young, and when he heard who I was shooting for, hauled me off to the brand-new Bowers and Wilkins display - his sponsors. This cheesy-grin-product-shot was entirely his idea, proof positive that the man knows the value of keeping his sponsors happy.


Go on, buy a B&W iPod dock, you know you want to.

Friday
First day on-site, and a chance to check out what would be my race-day assignment, the photo holes in turn 1. After some general faffling around trying to discover the access point, I made my way there and explored the scissor lift to raise us above the catch fencing, and a couple of other likely spots through the fence. A chance to practice a bit, and bank a few Ferrari Challenge and IndyCar shots.


One great-looking Ferrari - Ryan Ockey / Ferrari of Ontario


Sebastien Bourdais, from the turn 1 photo hole.

Friday afternoon brought more time for IndyCars in front of sponsor billboards, and a chance to explore the track a bit. Here's my favourite - Marco Andretti, shot using the D5000's kit lens, an 18-55mm zoom, through a friendly corner worker's flagging hole. I reached this area, just inside turn 8, after a protracted hike around the inside of the track from, oh, turn five or thereabouts.


This would have been better in front of the Dr. Pepper billboard.

Of course, the day also required shooting as many fan and crowd photos as possible, since once again the event opened its doors, providing free admission (courtesy of the Honda Dealers of Ontario... go and buy one now!). Catching drivers in the paddock and on their way to and from practice sessions wasn't too hard. Here's Newman Haas Racing's Oriol Servia, grimly taking on the burden of being a professional race car driver.


Yes, it's overexposed. He still looks great.

The day wound up with NASCAR Canadian Tire Series qualifying - not really a priority for shooting, but fun and plenty loud. This time, I stuck myself in the photo hole on the inside of turn 1, picking off the big stock cars as they rumbled around in front of the Princes' Gate.


Dave Connelly, making some noise.

Not a bad day at all. Of course, most of the "shots to hand in" were of fans, crowds, that kind of thing, but in among all that I was pretty confident I'd gotten turn 1 scouted out for Sunday's race.

The next installment will be Saturday... more billboard photos, Helio putting his helmet on, and a whole bunch of NASCAR.

More photos, as usual, are in my Autosport collection, if you want to skip ahead:

• Thursday - Autograph sesson with Alex Tagliani
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday

It's almost here...

The 2011 Honda Indy Toronto.



And like last year, I will be there all three days, media credentialed and shooting like mad.

Honda Indy Toronto Diary - Sunday. Finally.

Yes, I know that the Honda Indy Toronto race was a month ago. It now seems longer, with all that's gone on since - not the least of which was sifting through 1,400 or so photos. Nevertheless, here's the final installment of my not-quite-realtime updates. Let's just call it "asynchronous communication", and move on, shall we?

If I may quote from the above link:

A sender can wait arbitrarily long between transmissions and the receiver must be ready to receive data when it arrives.

Sounds a bit like this blog, doesn't it?

Anyway - on to race day, Sunday, the Main Event.

Another early-morning photography meeting, but a different mood - this was Race Day. Today we had the head of Security give us a few words on access and staying safe. Today, we learned about the all-important "Race Mode" - during the marquee IndyCar and supporting Indy Lights races, there would no longer be pit lane access for any save a very limited number of photographers (among whose number I was naturally not counted - not that I'd been expecting it, being new to this, and not working for a major newswire, network, print publication, or the series). Today, there was a more serious feeling hanging in the air. For the professionals in the room, this day is bread and butter - good shots mean photo credits and payments today, tomorrow, and just maybe a little beyond.

And today, I was back in the all-important photo bib again - at least, one shared between three of us. We quickly sketched out a schedule so that I could shoot some of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car race from trackside, while the others could work different aspects of the day's events. The rule is clear - no bib, no access to the track.



But first - the day's assignment. Documenting, for the race organizers, every single booth in "Thunder Alley" the infield vendor, fan activity and hospitality area. I won't torment you with these 150 or so photographs, but I will say that as an assignment, it was dead simple. Immobile booths in bright sunshine. Snappity-snap, done. Although I actually made several swings through it at different times during the day, to ensure that I got everything.

And then - on to the Touring Cars. I had a ton of fun shooting the race and the ensuing victory celebrations, including overall winner Sasha Anis getting a firesuit full of champagne, courtesy of his second- and third-place colleagues.



Hanging around for the Indy Lights pre-race activities turned out to be worthwhile, with a combined US-Canadian military honour guard, the presentation of an oversized charity cheque to the last race's pole winner, and new Saga lead singer Rob Moratti belting out the anthems.



Honestly, I had no idea they'd changed singers. He did a fine job.

And then - on to the IndyCar race. Despite some early frustrations, I did manage to get trackside for the later stages, waiting until the victory lap and then scampering over to Winner's Circle for the confetti, the fist pumping, the hugs and handshakes and champagne spray.



For the record, the aptly-named Will Power won, and after giving his car a big smooch, leaped up on top of it for the sponsor-logo-laden photo op of the day - that fist pump, with the first inklings of a confetti-cannon shower starting behind him, the ESPN TV crew nearby to document it all for broadcast. Magic moments indeed.



And then, back to the Media Centre again - but this time, stopping off trackside for some shots just for me. I'd been waiting all weekend for the Trans-Am race, and, lurking inside a tight little photo hole on the inside of turn 1, I managed to catch the shot of the weekend - Blaise Csida's Corvette, blowing flames as it ripped around the corner. By then, most of the crowd had left, just a few of us quietly cheering on the die-hards in their big V8 muscle cars.



And so back to the Media Centre, for the final quick edits, photo submission, handshakes all around, and home, the weekend lingering in a heap of 1,408 photographs, a pair of aching feet, a slight ringing in the right ear (thanks, Trans-Am drivers!), and some very, very good memories.

Weekend stats:
- 1,408 photographs, 191 "keepers" (13.5%, or about one in 7.5)
- maximum focal length 71.5 mm, minimum 14.3 mm
- minimum shutter speed 1/2,000th sec.
- one IndyCar driver posing because I asked
- two drunken fans posing even though I didn't ask
- five racing series (IndyCar, Indy Lights, World Challenge, Trans-Am, Canadian Touring Car)
- photos of three podium ceremonies, one pre-race ceremony, countless catch fences
- photos taken from at least five grandstands, five photo holes, two public hospitality areas, several paddocks, and one pre-race false grid
- two sore feet
- one ringing ear

Honda Indy Toronto Diary - Saturday

Saturday.

A much earlier mandatory photography meeting than the previous day, and a quick brief for today's assignment - shots in the paddocks, the areas where the race cars live and are worked on, when they're not on-track. As my previous paddock shots from various events at Mosport International Raceway were apparently part of the reason I was offered this gig in the first place, this seemed like a fair enough request. And I like looking at race cars up close.

But first... this morning, for the first time, the coveted numbered bibs were distributed - my ticket to trackside shooting, beyond the crowd control fence, and through the "holes" cut in the safety fencing, which, last year and from the public areas, looked like this:



Now, all good things don't last, and in fact my bib had to be returned fairly quickly so that someone else could use it - frustrating, since I had been looking forward to getting trackside for the World Challenge sportscar race later in the day. Sadly, it was not to be... but at least I did squeeze off a few shots of the Firestone Indy Lights practice session in the morning, including this one of British driver Pippa Mann, who would ultimately finish eighth in the race despite suffering a broken hand earlier in the weekend.



And from there, off to the paddocks, keeping in touch sporadically with team leader John via text message, for an enjoyable day of digging around for shots of fans enjoying themselves, and mechanics working on cars. On the way, I came across Indy Lights driver J.K. Vernay, who would go on to win Sunday's race.



The rest of the day involved diverse activities such as convincing Armed Forces personnel to pose with IndyCar driver Milka Duno - not so difficult, as it turned out,



chasing various Canadian Tire NASCAR teams around,



being distracted by the entertainment in the Bud Zone (and completely missing the NASCAR pre-race activities as a result - in my defence, I just blanked on the fact that there were two stages on that side of the track, one of which was for the podium ceremonies, the other being occupied by a rock band and copious numbers of Budweiser employees),



and finally shooting the NASCAR post-race ceremonies, as practice for the headliner, Sunday's IndyCar race. Quebec native Andrew Ranger won, in a Dodge, and managed a nice podium appearance despite somebody having put the chequered flag on the stick upside-down.



And then, back to the Media Centre for a frenzy of editing and submitting photos, and to realize that in my other assignments, namely shooting the NASCAR pre-race (which I missed), and getting the all-important "attractive waitress wearing a sponsor's uniform, pouring delicious sponsor products for happy fans as a race car covered in sponsor logos passes a sponsor billboard in the background" shot, I had, essentially, failed miserably.

So - a day of ups and downs, and building excitement for the coming main event. More, as usual, in the Saturday set.

Honda Indy Toronto Diary - pre-race events

So, here I am, a week later on and I'm finally organized enough to write something about the amazing weekend I spent at the Honda Indy Toronto, the annual dust-up on a temporary street circuit in and around Toronto's waterfront Exhibition Place. Last year, I bought a general admission ticket for the Friday practice day and acquainted myself with a track I'd only been to once before, in 1990. That time, I had a grandstand seat, it poured with rain and was miserably cold, and Al Unser Jr. won. Last year, it was hot, dry, and I had a happy day exploring photo opportunities around the track while making sure I didn't inadvertently trip into any restricted areas.

This year, the game changed entirely.

This year, I was recruited onto the volunteer photo corps for the event, by a contact who had seen my 2009 photos on Flickr, and was impressed enough to offer me the gig. This year, I spent all three days on site, plus some shooting of pre-race promotional events. Twelve hour days, plus staying up into the early hours editing photos "for fun", endless slogging around the track, buckets of sunscreen, access to the media centre, shooting assignments, a shot list to be filled - a very, very different experience from my usual "buy a ticket, show up and shoot whatever I like" approach that I've applied time and time again at Mosport.

I have in mind to write a few posts - not a diary, exactly, since it's taken me over a week to get to this, but more a chronicle for me (and you, if you care) of what turned out to be a fairly gruelling, but absolutely enjoyable, gig.

Let's start off with a few "keeper" shots from the pre-race activities at Yonge-Dundas Square, on Tuesday and Wednesday before the race weekend. An easy lunchtime skip over from work, and a location I shot at last year as well. On Tuesday, Canadian favourite driver Paul Tracy was on hand to mingle with the crowd, sign a few autographs, and oversee the Honda Pit Stop Challenge, which pitted members of the media against each other in a tire-changing competition:



The team from local radio station Fan 590 won, in case you were wondering:



Wednesday's big news was the unveiling of the brand-new Hot Wheels livery for the Fazzt Race Team entry of another Canadian favourite, Alex Tagliani. Characteristically photogenic, wearing his new race suit, shades and a blinding smile, Tags wowed the fans, posed with the kids, and even engaged in a protracted radio-controlled car duel with one young fan.



Thursday's call was to sneak down to a business-district watering hole, the Duke of Devon, for an all-Scottish photo-op between super-charismatic driver Dario Franchitti and some members of Celtic FC, who happened to be in town for an exhibition game. Quite a scrum, involving lots of photos of pieces of TV cameras, microphones, photographers' heads, and the occasional lunchtime patron, but at least I got a couple of interview shots, and a not-too-bad one of the jersey handoff.





That's team manager Neil Lennon in the middle, along with captain Scott Brown.

But - the big event was yet to come. That will be another post, or perhaps two. In the meantime, if you like this kind of thing, there are more photos in my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Flickr sets.

Photow00t, part II

I'm excited.

Next week begins the run-up to the 2010 edition of the Honda Indy Toronto, a weekend racing event on the grounds of Exhibition Place. I went last year, for the first time since 1990, and had a blast wandering around on a general admission ticket, taking lots of photos as you might expect. This year, I would have been tempted to do the same, especially since Friday admission is now free.

But - I won't have to. Because this year I am an official member of the Volunteer Photo Corps, meaning full access all three days, as a photographer credentialed by the event's promoter. Fantastic! Paddock access, trackside, media centre - you name it.

Now, all of this comes with expectations, of course - I will not be free to roam. There are location assignments. There is a shot list that needs to be filled.

It'll be very different from my usual "shoot five hundred photos that I like and sort out the good ones later" approach. There will be latitude to be creative, to be sure, but this will be more like photo-journalism - get the required shots, get them fast, compose them in the camera as close as possible to how they're going to finally look, because there won't be time for editing, and get photos that tell the story. A whole new kind of challenge, and it will be fun.

Now, all I have to do before next Friday is make sure I have the shot list, a spotter's guide, a fully charged camera battery and a pocket full of empty memory cards and earplugs, and I'm all set. A new camera wouldn't hurt either, but that just ain't gonna happen unfortunately.

Watch the race on TV - you might even see me. 12:30 PM Eastern, Sunday the 18th, on ABC.