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 Professional
motocross spread to America from Europe in the late 1960s and evolved into a
booming new motor sport during the 1970s. As a 20-something then, I first tried
my hand at competition with only moderate success. Then, realizing that I was
never meant to become America's first motocross world champion, I settled into
my role of photographer and accepted the joyful task of recording the images
of the professional athletes who were far more qualified.
As the sport was new, so was the art of photographing it. There were no books
or magazine articles on the subject, but my hands-on racing experience provided
the insight necessary to find and capture images that would grace the pages
of the weekly newspaper Cycle News from 1974–1981 before I moved on to
become the founding editor of Dirt Rider magazine in 1982. Now I'd like to share
some of that knowledge with you.
Tip 1: The More, The Hairier
Funnel 40 testosterone powered riders from a broad elbow-to-elbow starting line
into a hairpin first turn where only three or four can pass side-by-side, and
you have a formula for intense action …and a better than average possibility
for a crash to occur.
This image of a rainy first turn at an Orlando, Florida Winter-AMA event provides
a good example. Although I rely on autofocus for my more sedate assignments,
I turn it off for motor sports and instead pre-focus on the spot where I expect
the action to occur. For the first turn shots, it's easy since the framing is
wide enough to allow good coverage and depth of field. Keep your hand on the
focusing ring, however, so you'll be ready to follow the action when it takes
a turn toward the unexpected.
Shoot at 1/500 for these images. Slower (1/250) won't stop the action, and 1/1000
will completely freeze the wheel spokes and tire knobs, removing all traces
of the speed you'd expect from a racing image.
Tip 2: Dynamic Duels
Motocross is more of a contact sport than other forms of motor racing. The combination
of tight turns on rough terrain keeps the speeds relatively low while forcing
competitors close together, so contact is inevitable. This image of New York's
Jim "The Jammer" Weinert slamming into Pennsylvania's "Tony D"
Distefano originally appeared on the cover of Cycle News in 1974.
It also won the Federation Internationale Motocycliste photo contest that year,
and then in February 2004, it appeared on the cover of Racer X Illustrated when
the image was selected as their sole Hall of Fame inductee for the year.
I had picked a spot outside the turn, pre-focused, and was shooting each rider
as he passed through when Weinert made his move. I shot Tri-X in those days,
Kodak's 400-speed black and white film, and on a typical day 1/500 at f/11 stopped
the action while providing substantial depth of field.
Tip 3: Panning To Intensify The Motion
While stop-action shutter speeds are appropriate for many types of racing photography,
there's nothing like a well-executed pan shot to show off the sheer speed of
motor racing. I experimented with every shutter speed on the dial during those
years, and I wound up with this set of favorites for motocross:
• 1/125: Provides lots of background blur but is more difficult to produce
sharp areas on the bike/rider.
• 1/250: Much easier to create a sharp image of bike/rider but background
blur is greatly reduced.
• 1/15: List this one under Special Effects with Unusual Technique. I
start my pan well ahead of the point where I plan to press the shutter button.
As soon as I press the button, I swing the camera ahead of the subject creating
blur lines that stream out behind the subject.
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