Through Their Lens

Taking a photograph is a very personal activity and most of us can or have taken thousands in our time. However, it must be said that there is a knack to taking a photograph when the point of interest is operating at an exceptionally high speed. I’ve tried myself and maybe if I was lucky, I captured the back wheel, a leg or an exhaust. Thats not me tooting the horns of the accredited photographers who travel around the globe. It's an observation of a skill that is developed over time predominately through dedication, evolution and the willingness to make a hefty investment in an industry that is so commonly watered down. Many become good but few have the chance to crack the market. HRC Repsol Honda Team photographer Cormac Ryan-Meenan (CormacGP) and Rob Gray (Polarity Photo) are among those who conquer these challenges with little protest and have come out swinging with top teams.

It all starts the same, a camera, lens and a receipt that weighs down your pocket. We are always told that fortune favours the brave and a career in the MotoGP paddock is among the hardest of industries to break into. Walking around the paddock there are so many men and women with cameras draped over their shoulders and photographers like Cormac and Rob have multiple just to do their job. From camera bodies, to lenses, to flashes, monopods, travel bags, converters, extenders and rain covers, the list goes on and the cost would blow you away. However, those who are serious about their path take a gamble on themselves and have the work and contacts to prove it.

Cormac:

“No one sees the cost behind it. People think you have a camera, take photos and make money straight away. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. They are so expensive and when I had all my gear stolen last year I had to fund my entire kit, all over again. The window to make money has gotten narrower. I think if you are in that window, the potential is higher than it's ever been. But it’s difficult. It’s super difficult to get into and even harder to stay inside. I think if people knew what you had to do from the time you woke up to the time you get to bed, 80% of people would not want to do it. Its expensive, time consuming, difficult and tiring, but I do love it”

Rob:

“The first time I ever really looked at the prices of entry level or half decent equipment, I was really shocked and those prices haven’t come down. If anything, in some cases they have gone up. You get a lot of people who have managed to afford one or two pieces of the equipment which is expensive but they have resigned to the fact that they are probably not going to make proper money out of it long term. What that does is it waters down and makes it harder for people who are in it to make it work. It makes you learn that you have to charge what you are worth and not to undervalue yourself”

The demand for both artistic and detail driven photographs is constantly increasing. Naturally, this puts even more pressure on photographers to perform and cater to the expectations (sometimes unrealistic) of teams/sponsors/magazines. They are one of the pivotal connections between the sport and the fans. It is easy to be flippant and forget that every photo we see across a race weekend is either a spur of luck, a strain of inspiration or a work demand. They are trying to keep up with the ever growing constructs of the modern world just as we are and with the influx of social media being so instantaneous, that expectation not only in this industry but so many others is unhinged. However, no matter who you look at scrambling away on their computer, they never stop moving and trying to be better than each other. Competitiveness is a whole other story for another time.

Cormac:

Each time you improve, then people perceive that as your new base level. They always expect that you can do that so therefore next time we expect him to get that magic thing on top of what you have already done. Which ok, sometimes you can do it and sometimes you get lucky. But, then other times I can’t do that. Either it doesn’t exist in the day or no opportunity presents itself.

Rob:

Everybody can see everything, it is so accessible. Any team or PR person or outlet can look out there and see what every other team is posting. If there was that one shot of a crash or the sea in the background or whatever just because that team got it, they instantly think well, have you got it? Can you get it as well? Why haven’t you gotten it? Back in the day that content wasn’t accessible. But now, they see it and then they think well thats what we want. The expectation constantly goes up.

Within this world of immediacy, lies the struggle of finding your authenticity and battling against perfectionism. For teams, the ‘perfect photo’ is one that is either action packed or simply reflects the brand. That however, is not how a photographers mind works. Every inch of the photograph is analysed as they zoom in to examine their work. There is an internal expectation, never a spoken word and not a written check list but a gut feeling. It is a hit the jackpot or missed the train kind of moment and most of the time they are their worst critics. Amplifying this element with the addition of posting on social media where every man and his dog can have their say only makes them second guess themselves. It removes the romance of releasing photos that makes you feel something and replaces it with anxiety. These men and women are just brave enough not to listen to all the noise but that doesn’t mean they’ve pressed the delete button more than once.

Cormac:

“Yes, all the time I only see whats wrong with them and not what’s right. I have a folder called instagram on my Mac’s desktop and about 2% of those pictures actually make it to my instagram account. When I am going through it I’m like yeah thats cool, I like that. But then people never get to see them. It’s entirely created by myself. I try not to care about what other people do. I don’t think I’m a perfectionist, I’m learning to embrace whats technically ‘wrong’ because I see photography as art, a painter has his brush, and me my camera. Art is subjective and I want to ‘break down’ the walls of what’s perceived as ‘right or wrong’, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong. But even if it is ‘technically’ perfect, whatever perfect is, you still find something that you don’t like. You just have to keep going”

Rob:

“I’m basically a perfectionist. I spend way too much time overthinking and overanalysing the ins and outs of each photo. Wether I should do this to it or that to it or if I should post it or which one I should post. Sometimes it even stops me from posting at all. Cormac is hard on himself too. There is an unavoidable balance because he is like me and hard on yourself but if you don’t do that then I don’t think you’d change. You don’t grow. Your vision of a perfect picture never changes because you’ll always just get that sharp photo with a nice background until you find something wrong with it”

Photographers help bridge the gap between the paddock and the rest of the world. They battle against social constructs, team/media/sponsor requests and the yearning to improve and be the best. Anyone can take a photo but few can take the photo. They snap, download, sort, edit, code word, upload, email, upload and do it for every session, every class for 3 days straight. All while trying to constantly evolve their own artistic ideas and planting those seeds in the world. In the sphere of MotoGP photography these elements spread like wildfire and Cormac, Rob and every other accredited photographer are part of the backbone that give us that chance to witness a bit of magic from a world little of us get the chance to be apart of.