ActionshotsNH: Loudon Motorcycle Races

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Loudon Motorcycle Races - NHMS

I have taken pictures during Loudon Classic motorcycle week. There are other motorcycle race events during the summer so I decided to take pictures at another event.

I arrived before the races started to take pictures in the garage area. When walking around I saw a few motorcycles I had taken pictures of in the past.

It was overcast all day with thunderstorms in the area. Cloudy skies can make colors pop so I was hoping for some good color. I felt rain drops mid-afternoon but nothing came of it.

There were 13 motorcycle races scheduled. When the first race started I was in position and ready to take pictures. As the different races progressed I took pictures around the track and infield then decided to head for the grand

stands which I haven’t done before. Several weeks from now there would be a couple hundred thousand people in the stands for the NASCAR race. For now there were just a people in the stands.

I found a couple locations by the track fence I liked and started snapping away. It gives a different perspective. I progressed from the first corner down the straight to the far corner stopping when I thought I had a good spot. I also headed up

to the top row in the stands to zoom in on other parts of the track.

I took many shots from different angles. I also slowed my shutter speed down and practiced some panning. I should do that more as I didn’t feel fluid in my movement following the riders. It’s called being rusty. Sometimes when you experiment it can be unpredictable but can create some unusual pictures.

I headed back to the infield, over the pit wall, to the track wall. I thought I would practice more panning. I slowed my shutter speed down and played a bit more with panning. It was more difficult than I thought as the motorcycles were pretty close, going well over 100mph when they were passing me, and they were accelerating as I was in the middle of the straight. I tried to keep my camera movement level and was successful on some but not on others which created more unusual pictures. It was fun to experiment and practice and I need do that more often.

Just when I was having fun experimenting and thought things are going well my low battery indicator gave the red light and shut my camera down. Really … my battery died

… no spare battery … I was done after race 7. Nuts!!

I know zooming in and out wears a battery more quickly. It happened to me at the AMA Hillcimb for the same reason. Guess I should buy a backup battery.