Club Arnage

A few pictures I took today ...

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(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090608LM_TS12.jpg)

More info on my blog ... http://fotografke.blogspot.com.

Wow, fabulous .. thanks for sharing :O)

Thanks for sharing brill pics ;)

NOW I KNOW I'm going to Le Mans

great photography Dottore

thanks

 :D

Fantastic pics.

:cheers:

Great pics,  and diffuser pics!

Hmm....packing a brolly.  Sorry to turn this into a weather thread ;D

Great shots... Where has the sun gone.... It best return for the weekend.... Nothing worse than watered down beer....

Great pics !

Do you have any of the back of the Vettes.
There are supposed to be Turn 10 stickers on them.

Thanks
Randy

Thanks for your comments guys !  Pics from today will follow later tonight (weather was even worse than yesterday).


On the yellow vette there's a turn 10 sticker, I'll post one later tonight (if you want I'll send you a high res image next week).

Le Mans 2009 ... Day 2 ...  When you thought Monday was wet, think again ... Yes, it could have been worse, yes today was even worse ...

Pics of the day :

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20080609LMTS_01.jpg)

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609LMTS_02.jpg)

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(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609LMTS_08.jpg)

Part 2

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609LMTS_09.jpg)

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609LMTS_10.jpg)

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(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609LMTS_16.jpg)


More on http://fotografke.blogspot.com/  8)

And the Turn 10 sticker on the back of the yellow Corvette ...

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/Turn10.jpg)

YEAH!!!!!   :D  -Lee

Lee, fair enough but they're just trying to copy the Commer...

(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v207/87/73/517396884/n517396884_1479127_1657.jpg)

Hmm, what happened to the ZAR5E license plate? ;D


Well done, Turn 10! (http://forum.drinkingforholland.com/images/smiles/icon_thumbsup.gif)

I took a few pics but pretty awful this year due to a combination of a wheelchair/awful weather and a failing camera which kept refusing to focus properly. ::)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97986095@N00/sets/72157619456002687/

Thanks !

Your shots are AMAZING !


Randy

Great Pics thanks really good to see for all us stay at homes

 ;)

Thanks Dottore and Termie, your pics are keeping me going...

great stuff here, better than I'm finding at the "official" anarack (sp?) sites.

-Lee

It's not legal under the strict definition of the word. The cops would not be pleased if I used it in the UK and would want to discuss matters on a no tea and biscuits basis. The plate itself is in the VW ready for LM  :)

Day three ... ad guess what ?  It was wet  ;D

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610LMTS_01.jpg)


(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610LMTS_02.jpg)


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(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610LMTS_07.jpg)

Part two ...

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610LMTS_08.jpg)


(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610LMTS_09.jpg)


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(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610LMTS_15.jpg)

More on http://fotografke.blogspot.com/ ...

Nice shots!!

Brill shots thanks wish I was there  :'(

Wow....   just wow....   :laugh:

-Lee

I feel like I am there. ;D

That shot of Nishy! WOW !

Please keep it coming.
Any camp / party pics? That will sure put me in the mood.

Randy

these photos are superb thanks a lot. cant wait to see more.

no more shots or im on my way  :-[

Start packing  ;D.

Pics from Thursday's qualifying sessions


(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090611LMTS01.jpg)

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(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090611LMTS15.jpg)

Dottore i now dislike you but ii love your photos  :-*

First pictures of the race ...  Quick stop at the motorhome after 8 hours to download more than 8 gig of pictures and reload a few batteries ...

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090613LMTS1.jpg)

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I'm heading "into the night" right now ... A few more hours to wander round the track and try to shoot some nice pictures.  Tomorrow we're heading onto Mulsanne ...

Dotorre,

Martin Spetz also now hates you  >:( but he also loves your pics  ;D

wanted me to post that he had camera equipment for sale...

  :'(

Well, if you all start to hate me ... let's do it properly then ...
2 teasers from last night  ;D

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090614LMTS1.jpg)

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090614LMTS2.jpg)

Going to bed now, wake up in a few hours to drive to Mulsanne ... more pictures to come (unless I'm banned by then  >:D)

Feel the love!   :angel:

great pics, the best I've seen online from the event.

thank you thank you thank you!

-Lee
(and the whole Turn 10 Gang who watched from Florida)

Just like to add my thanks for the photos - much appreciated

No Bullshit !
  Great Stuff !
Love to meet you at Sebring someday.
You are always welcome in Turn 10.
And yes PLEASE bring cameras.

Amazing Randy

excellent pics, always there where the action is it seems :)

One from me - lots more but need sorting.

Sh1t. Forgot to make it a sensible size!!!! >:(

not before I snatched a copy of it  ;D >:D ;D

-Lee

nice... and BIG

Sunday pictures ...

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090614LMTS3.jpg)

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090614LMTS4.jpg)

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Didn't have inspiration on Sunday, was totally fed up after a whole week of shooting.
Goal for 2010 is to try to get a hand on credentials for the race week, which should improve the quality of the pictures.
@ Randy : I went to the 12h in Sebring 2 years ago and have been there for the ALMS testing in the past 3 years.  Planning to go the the 12h again next year, but not sure yet.

Now the really hard work is coming up ... make a selection out of thousands of pictures and put some gallery's online.  Check this thread regualary this week, I'll try to make a daily update, as soon as I get my website bach up and running again.

pictures are a total credit to you Dottore wish i had half the skill and kit you have!

Wow, some fantastic shots..... just off to drop my camera in the bin!

Dottore what kit are you using? I have recently purchased 50D with 18-200 zoom. I need a better lens. Love your pics.
S

Great pics, keep up the good work!

I'm using a Canon 1D MKIIN, 70-200 f2,8 (non IS), 300 f2,8 (non IS), 300 f4 IS, 24-70 f2, convertors 1,4x and 2x and flash EX550 & EX580 II.  All this means a backpack that weighs up to 20 kgs to take with you on track ... and then you see people with lousy camera stuff (even point & shoot camera's) walking around in front of the fence with credentials ... unbelievable ...
First pics at the scrutineering on Monday were made with a Canon G9 compact camera.

Probably using same type of kit as me. Dig deep in your wallet for another £10,000 and you'll get photos like that. Start with a Canon 1Ds, add a 300, 400 and 500 lens, and Bob's your uncle. Simple ain't it! Oh, I think I just spent nearly double the original budget there :'(

Steve - either the 70-200 2.8 with a converter or a 100-400L is the entry level...

I can recommend https://www.onestop-digital.com/catalog/index.php as I have used them before. I could have lent you my 100-400L for some of the race as I was too busy watching (and you had Grandstand seats which give you a better view!).

Dottore, amazing pic's you have a happy knack of being at the right place at the right time and then the skill to then make the most of it!

Glad I didnt bother to take a camera this year.

Dottore's pics are unquestionably the mutt's nuts, and his kit is top-notch, but you don't need to spend quite that much. Your EOS 50D has one advantage over his 1DS - it multiplies the focal length by 1.6x, meaning the same lens will get you rather closer to the action. So if you flashed the cash to get a 70-200 f2.8zoom, you would actually be buying a 112 - 320 f2.8! Lenses like this do come up on ebay, so check the prices on there and you might be surprised. A friend who has accreditation and has taken pics for dailysportscar.com for years uses a much older EOS body (D30, I think) with a 100-400 f4 zoom. I think Canon may also do a cheaper 70-200, possibly f4, which would do quite well and weigh and cost less. As Dottore implies, do look for Image Stabilisation (IS) although you will pay more. I happen to be a Nikon user (since 1970 - bought my Nikon F new on LM race day that year!) and the 80-200 f2.8 zoom I bought on ebay for about £600 a few years back is still working fine, as are several other expensive lenses bought cheaper secondhand. I'd love a 300 f2.8, but they weigh twice as much and cost three times as much as my 300 f4 and that's that. I did have a Nikon 80-400 f4/5.6, but while it had VR (Nikon's answer to IS) it didn't have a motor, so was too slow for Le Mans. Steve Pyro and termietermite each have the Nikon 70-300 VR and get good results at a price less than £400. It can be done!

Mr Termite is spot on with what he stated above.  You don't need to invest that much money into your equipment.  When you buy a Canon 50D with a 100-400L lens you've got all you need to take some cracking shots, and you have IS, something I only have on my 300 f4 at this moment.  If you want to buy a 70-200, take a look at the f4-version, much cheaper than the 2,8, it also has IS an the weight is more than half of the other one.  f2,8 is something you'll probably only use in conditions without much light or portrait-photography.

The reason I have all this stuff is because I used to work as a club-photographer for a football team in Belgian premiership, and had credentials on Belgian tracks a few years ago.  Now, photography is just a hobby anymore, no more obligations, no more stress to have all those images, and when I don't feel like taking pictures, I just leave the camera behind.  I bought my 300 f2,8 secondhand about 6 years ago, now this lens should be replaced 'cause it doesn't deliver any more sharp images when I use it at f2,8 (and Canon won't give any service 'cause it's an old lens).  Why do I still use it together with the 300 f4 ?  It's much better with the teleconvertors on it, F2,8 plus a 2x convertor is still a F5,6, where with an f4, that goes up to f8 a point where most camera's aren't able anymore to work with their autofocus.  My 300 f4 was bought in the States this year, it's a great lens, very sharp and clean colours and most of all the weight is nothing compared to the f2,8. 

Another great Canon lens which is underated is the 85mm 1.8; just long enough on a crop body to be a good tele prime and at f1.8 can blur backgrounds and do some excellent night shots.

I was up on the Welcome Bar (end of pits) on saturday night and wished I had brought it with me :( In the end I just used flash to get some good shots leaving....I'll post up in a couple of days but I have to get through some exams first....

The other point about Dottore's pics is the eternal issue of who gets good pictures - good kit really helps, but being there, being able to identify a good location and being alert to the moment e.g. the Ginetta fire, are all qualities of experienced and pro snappers that most of the rest of us seldom manage to combine on the same day! The Dottores of this world tend to get a passable shot even if they're using yer Granny's Instamatic! Must try harder.......

..and there was me thinking that you knew the circuit like the back of your hand and would know where the best spots were Ian!

Getting the kind of pictures like the burning Ginetta is pure luck ... you just have to be lucky to be on that spot, just at that time, and then have your camera in your hands with the right lens on it.   I think I have about 35 or more images of the burning Ginetta, half of them will be usefull, the rest is focussed on the wires in front of the grandstand.  When the Ginetta got on fire, my camera was lying next to me, I just threw my drinks away (got lucky no one was sitting in front of me), picked up the camera and started shooting.

During the race I also had one of the Peugeots going through the gravel in front of T23, got it on photo but not the complete car (300mm), same with the Audi that went off at Virage Porsche, 300 mm + 1,4 convertor, half the car on photo, the guy next to me with his 300 without convertor had the whole crash (so I got a little pissed then  ;D).  At the Dunlop-chicane I saw a Ferrari and an LMP1 going off, no good pictures 'cause of the fence and too far away.  The crash on wednesday at the Dunlop chicane isn't sharp enough, settings on 1/125 'cause I was taking panning shots ... This year I just seemed to be lucky with the incidents I had in front of my lens, there have been other years with none spectacular images at all. 

Yes you have to be alert, and experienced and a good kit helps, but most of it is luck ... no more, no less ... 

Nightshot

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090610_VER1956.jpg)

Great car - great shot!

I agree - just missing one thing -the sound !

but hell, nobodys perfect  ;D

Now THAT IS the photograph of 2009 for me

Magnificent pictures all, Dottore

bloody magnificent

bill

Thanks for advice. Need to think lenses as Chrissy present. Quite pleased with some of mine as a first attempt with adigital SLR. Will post when I have sorted them out. Here is the one above in a sensible size.

That shot looks pretty pleasing to me! The car is sharp and the background and foreground are suitably blurred to indicate the car was hurrying! Just chasing up points from earlier, the main thing about f2.8 or f4 lenses is not just that they can take pictures in subdued light, but that they use that faster max aperture for focussing every shot, which really matters in sport. The more light received by the focussing module - the more quickly and accurately it can respond, so a higher percentage of your shots will be in focus. Your 18-200 zoom is a great lens for general out-and-about photography, really the only lens necessary on a long holiday, for example. The Canon one is quite new, and tests by the prestigious French magazine Chasseur d'Images suggest it outperforms the older Nikon equivalent, which we use. But at 200mm they are both f5.6, so an f4 lens is letting twice as much light onto that focussing module - and an f2.8 lens is letting 4 times as much! When a car is approaching you at 150mph, getting the focus right does help a little.....

Whenever I've got 5 minutes time, I'm working on the pictures to get some gallery's up and running.

3 more detail shots from the Scutineering on Tuesday ...

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609_VER0312.jpg)

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609_VER0657.jpg)

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090609_VER0783.jpg)

Probably by the end of next week evertything should be finished and online ... got a busy weekend comin' up (Festival tomorrow and off to the Nurburgring on Sunday  ;D).

Still working on the pictures ... slowly but we're getting there.
We just had to pull the plug from the website, so I'll have to put some temporary gallery's online.  Hope to get everything sorted within a few days now (I'll have to, 'cause I just had an offer to go to the WTCC @ Brands Hatch in two weeks).

Aston @ Mulsanne on Sunday.

(http://xposed.be/FTP/kristof/LEMANS2009/20090614_VER6538.jpg)

Fantastic pictures.  Mine not a patch on them, but sharing is good, so here are some of my modest efforts during qualifying and the race; trust they are resized about right...........

Down the straight...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM1.jpg)

Arnage exit...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM2.jpg)

The rarest car on track...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM3.jpg)

Lizards going well...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM3a.jpg)

Life is never complete without the bad boy rumble...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM4.jpg)

Exiting the pity garage...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM5.jpg)

Mulsanne chicane, late dusk...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM5a.jpg)

The best Le Mans quote I have seen in a long time on a D type fin...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM6.jpg)
 
Peugeot out of the Esses...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM7.jpg)

And Aston out of the Esses...

(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr76/markwilliamsmga/LM8.jpg)

And gentlemen in England, now abed,
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here;
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day

Henry V's speach on the eve of Agincourt, one of Wills better plays, and prehaps very approiate for the British at Le Mans ;D

Henry II was born in Le Mans curiously enough  :angel:

I didn't know that.

Proves that CA is a font of knowlege, and should be included in the National Curriculum.