Motor Sport Photography Book

My first book entitled "Motor Sport Photography" (published in April 2005) came about as a direct result of the experience I have gained photographing many disciplines of motor racing since I was a teenager.

As a self taught photographer I learned my skills by reading magazines and books on the subject and as a consequence I own books about many differing types of photography. The one glaring omission on my shelf was a book on how to photograph motor sports. I researched this further and could find no such title so thought I had either spotted an opportunity or that no publisher thought that a market existed for this subject.

I put together a proposal that included a contents list, some sample text, a range of page layouts with my images and a broad outline of my idea - to produce a "how to" book aimed at keen photographers.

Having done all this I sent it off to a publisher whose advert I had seen asking for ideas for photographic books, to my great surprise I received a letter a few weeks later saying that they liked my idea and would I come and talk to them about it. After our first meeting a deal was done and contracts drawn up, I had just less than nine months to produce 200 images and 30,000 words of text, they would provide me with letters of accreditation so I could apply for any press passes I required.

Naturally I was elated at the prospect of having a book published, however, while I was confident that I could produce the images I was somewhat daunted by the prospect of writing 30,000 words to accompany them, especially when I remembered barely scraping through to gain a C at English O level!

I began by planning the events I wanted to attend over the coming months - motor sport is not just about circuit racing and I wanted to cover a broad range of racing disciplines rather than concentrating on race tracks, so while the book includes images of both cars and motorcycles at circuits it also includes information on how to photograph other disciplines such as motocross, karting, rallying and oval racing.

I wanted the book to be a genuine "how to" guide which would help photographers of all levels to improve their technique when photographing motor sports and as such was mindful that while the content should be informative it should also be aspirational so that it shows how you can achieve successful results without the need for a press pass or the very expensive gear that pro's use.

Getting this book published has given me the desire to achieve more in the area of sports photography and I am now considering how best to harness this enthusiasm. This, coupled with the possibility that I may one day be in a position where my images can be judged favourably by my peers gives me the drive to pursue my goals.

One such man who I would only dream of calling my peer is Steven Tee, Managing Director of motor sport photo agency LAT Photographic. I approached Steven when I began writing the book to see if he would write the foreword to it, much to my surprise and gratitude he did just that and I think a fitting end to this article would be his words:

"When Tony mentioned he was writing a book on the mechanics of motor sport photography, I had no hesitation in agreeing to write the foreword. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a motor sport photographer, fusing my love of motor racing, photography and travel. I now do just that - but I had a lot of help along the way. When I started to look seriously at how to realize this ambition, there were no books available for guidance - let alone a comprehensive 'how-to' textbook like this. It would have been very useful to have had this book on hand at my college interview, to counter the blank stares I was faced with when I outlined my intended photographic path. Even though I have now spent 20 years shooting Formula 1, I am still learning, and I am sure I always will be. I firmly believe that being surrounded by talented contemporaries, who bounce ideas off each other and are constantly looking for new ways of doing things, is the best way of improving your own work. So if this book makes it easier for readers to take part in this process, and ultimately helps them follow the same path, then it is an important tool, and Tony should be applauded for his part in creating the next generation of motor sport photographers."

Steven Tee, Managing Director, LAT Photographic

"Motor Sport Photography" will be published in April 2005 by Photographers Institute Press (ISBN 1 86108 399 8) and is available at all major bookshops or from http://www.gmcbooks.com