David Griffin Photography

I’m starting to get the hang of shooting motorcycle racing — it’s a lot like sandhill cranes, only they’re moving a tiny bit faster.  Having sifted through a few thousand images of these skilled and only slightly insane competitors there is one thing that, for me, makes for a more compelling image: a clear helmet visor.

I’m sure there are lots of good reasons for tinted/mirrored visors but when I photograph a rider and I can see their eyes it utterly transforms the image from one of a technical portrait of a human/machine to a image that conveys the intensity and nerve it takes to do what they do – along with the connection between the driver and their bike.   I find a very similar situation when I photograph equestrian events and when the riders are competing over a certain level their facial expressions change from one of fear/tension/elation to concentration/planning/intensity and the resulting images are pretty powerful.

I’ll likely spend some additional time at the next race exploring this a bit more — trying to more powerfully convey what’s going on in that moment through the eyes of the driver.  Since they are whizzing by at 100mph, that should be a fairly decent challenge…

The photos above were taken at the Loudon Road Racing Series (LRRS) “Classic” event on June 12th and 13th at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH.

Visit [url]http://events.dmg-photography.com[/url] for more photographs from my two days there.