Red Bull Air Race is the fastest race on the planet and thus for every photographer carries many challenges. Terrific sport combined with most beautiful locations in the world brings with each stop totally unbelievable moments before and during the race. For the second race in the season the most beautiful Croatian town of Rovinj was selected. Rovinj is popular tourist destination also known as the Blue Pearl of the Adriatic Sea. Through this text I will only briefly try to approach some of the most important details related to photographing such events.
Since it was officially launched, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship has become globally renowned as the fastest and most exhilarating motorsport on the planet.Devised by the Red Bull sports think-tank, the initial goal was to create the most advanced aerial challenge the world had ever seen; what has evolved into the Red Bull Air Race we know today has far exceeded any original expectations. It is a visual spectacle unlike any other. A combination of high speed, low altitude and extreme manoeuvrability make it only accessible to the world’s most exceptional pilots.
Photographing the Red Bull Air Race is different every time, because a multitude of details which are abundant in every race easily contribute to completely unbelievable stories shown through photos that most photographers can create. All pilots are very professional and unique, and what is most important each carries its own particular life story. Their behavior, concentration, movement, preparation before each flight are colorful enough that even out of the race photos can be more than interesting. The second part of the story are mechanics and the teams behind each pilot, people who take care of the smallest details so that every pilot in the air can express what is best, and therefore the safest. And of course as the third and most interesting part is the race itself, which provides so many incredible moments that photography becomes a real action movie for every photographer. And when you have a helicopter as our official photography team did then that action becomes even more incredible!
Since plenty of amateur photographers are visiting events like this, and as I could notice they are very limited with equipment hence unprepared for shooting such action and sometimes are completely surprised by the speed, location, distance! In that case, I would definitely wrote a couple of details that are related to the selection of equipment and convenient locations for photographing.
For this type of photographing the type of camera must be a DSLR as with any ordinary camera without exchangeable lenses it is not possible to take pictures that photographer would consider satisfying. The choice of lenses depends on the budget and the ability of each photographer. Some usability minimum would be 70-200 mm lens, and then any lens from 200 mm up to 800 mm for which there isn’t a lot of users who will be able to use it. Be sure to choose a great place on the site that will display the entire path and place of the race (those are usually really attractive locations). In this case, the focus should be on wide angle photograph on which the plane was present but less negligible, and the breathtaking location would dominate the picture. Another option would be a little narrower frame or a sequence that would show where the plane passes and his position as it turns around the pylons. And as a third option remains a close up shot that easily displays the beauty of the aircraft and the pilot in the cockpit at close range. As I have already mentioned this entirely depends on the long lens that every photographer should be able to posses. The most interesting details during the race are turns between the pylons, smoke that every plane leaves behind, and perhaps one of the biggest challenges remains breaking the pylons or any contact with them during the race. All this combined together leaves plenty of opportunities for photographing. Also around the location you should seek most striking details such as windows, narrow streets, local residents and all what we could combine with already attractive Red Bull Air Race.
Through this short text I referred to generally the most important segments of photography without much indulging in small details. This should only be starting point for some basic planning about photo shooting the Red Bull Air Race, and in one of the following articles after some future races I will try to introduce more technical details and many detailed advices that would help you bring home happy feelings and good photographs.
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Arch blasts Bonhomme in Rovinj
Austria’s Hannes Arch came from behind to beat defending champion Paul Bonhomme in a riveting final in the second stop of the eight-leg Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Rovinj, Croatia. Arch was trailing Bonhomme at the midway point of the final round by 0.23 seconds but opened the throttle with a blistering second lap on the obstacle course set up on the Adriatic Sea to get his eighth career victory. Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya got the first podium of his career, taking third place on a challenging course in the bay off Rovinj that was made even more difficult when the winds coming from the south shifted to from the west.
Cheered on by thousands of fans from nearby Austria, Arch also became the sentimental favorite of the local Croatian fans, who were savoring the country’s first Red Bull Air Race. The Austrian had a flawless run in the final, stopping the clock in 59.012 seconds — ahead of Bonhomme’s 59.097. They have 21 points each in the World Championship standings.
“It’s really special,” said Arch, who felt lifted by a surge of support this weekend from the big crowd in Rovinj, a stunning town on a peninsula known as the blue pearl of the Adriatic. “When I heard I was first I had tears in my eyes because of all the emotions and the release of the pressure. It was so difficult here.”
There was a record six pylon hits on the challenging course set up in the water just off the shoreline of Rovinj – including one in the Super 8 round that ended the day of Matt Hall of Australia, who finished a disappointing seventh. Canada’s Pete McLeod was fourth after a costly penalty in the finals. Britain`s Nigel Lamb got knocked out when his running propeller touched the ground and got damaged at the Race Airport.
Rovinj is the second of eight races on three continents in 2014 and the first of three European stops.
With a rich natural and cultural heritage, Rovinj sits on a peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea and is full of artists and fishermen. The race in Croatia will also pay tribute to rich tradition of aviation in the entire region, which includes nearby Slovenia, Austria and Italy.