Tag: Le Mans

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.

David M11 Comments

This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.

As someone who is primarily an outdoor photographer I had plenty of photos to pick from but I needed a theme to follow. So I decided to go with as wide a variety of subject matter as possible and to start in the 1970s and end this summer.

One of my earliest photos. The negative for the first version got lost or damaged so I reshot the scene next time there was snow. Trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England in the mid 1970s.

trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England.

Entering the start/finish straight at around midnight at the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle endurance race. Le Mans, France in April 1982.

Night racing

Light beam on a hillside at Loch Arkaig, Scotland in the autumn of 1985.

Sunset light beam.

A Red Fox in a hay field taken in Faddiley, Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.

Hunting Red Fox.

A Borage flower bud photographed in Nantwich, Cheshire, England in the mid 1990s.

Borage plant.

An American White Pelican at Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 1990s.

breeding adult American White Pelican

Waves and rocks at sunrise on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada in the early 2000s.

Rocks and waves.

Canada Day fireworks from the dock at Colpoy’s Bay. The fireworks are in the town of Wiarton a couple of miles away across the bay. Taken on Canada Day last year.

Fireworks for Canada Day.

Colpoy’s Bay and the Niagara Escarpment at sunrise this summer.

Colpoy's Bay at sunrise.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Oh, the Place You’ll Go.

David M6 Comments

ThIs is my contribution to the Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge: Oh, the Place You’ll Go.

The challenge brought back memories of a question I posed on a photography forum some years ago. I asked what people would like to go back to photograph with modern equipment?

Having been a photographer since the late 1970s there’s quite a list of locations and situations that I would like to photograph again varying from motorsports to wildlife spectacles. I would have great fun re-shooting any of the selections below.

In the early 1980s I was living in London, England and traveling around Europe in the summer photographing motorcycle endurance racing. Team Bike at the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle race, France in 1982.

Night racing

In the mid 1980s I was visiting Scotland to photograph nature and landscapes for photo libraries. A light beam on a hillside, Loch Arkaig, Scotland near sunset in the autumn.

Sunset light beam.

In the late 1980s I was documenting the nesting cycles of some European bird species. An adult Eurasian Blue Tit feeding young in a nestbox, Cheshire, England.

Almost ready to leave the nestbox.

In the early 1990s I was living in Cheshire, England. I spent some time positioning a portable hide (blind) to allow me to sit within a couple of yards of a Common Kingfisher.

Male Common Kingfisher.

In the late 1990s I was living in Saskatchewan, Canada. In the autumn parts of Saskatchewan are a major stopover for some species of birds heading south for the winter. Huge numbers of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes gather together in various locations. Snow Geese taking flight at Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan.

A gathering of Snow Geese.

Winters in Saskatchewan can be very cold but also very spectacular. A frozen section of marsh at sunset, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan at -40°.

Frozen marsh at dusk.

Night Hours.

David M5 Comments

The new Tuesday Photo Challenge is Night.

I had a few ideas for the challenge before thinking of some of my motorcycle endurance racing shots taken in the middle of the night. This set is from the 1982 Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle race in France. Most of the shots feature Team Bike, the team I was there to cover.

Team Bike entering the start/finish straight at around 1 o’clock in the morning.

Night Stint.

Team Bike entering the start/finish straight at around 11 o’clock at night.

Night racing

A Team Bike rider departing the pits after a night time pit stop at around 1 o’clock in the morning.

Night time pit stop.

A nighttime pit stop for Team Bike at around 3 o’clock in the morning.

Night pit stop.

Entering the start/finish straight at around midnight.

Motion at night.

Dawn pit stop.

David M2 Comments

Throwback Thursday travels back 37 years to the first weekend in April, 1982.

I was in France at the Le Mans race circuit for the 24 hour motorcycle endurance race. I was there to photograph Team Bike as they competed in their first Endurance World Championship race.

The bike came in for fuel around six in the morning. 15 hours down, 9 to go.

Stopping for fuel at dawn.

Motion at night.

David MLeave a comment

The new Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is Motion.

This is the third version of my response to the challenge after deciding that the first two photos I picked were a bit to obvious.

This is a shot of one of the competitors in the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle race. The rider is exiting the last turn onto the start/finish straight. Taken around midnight, so 9 hours into the race with 15 to go.

Motion at night.

The need for speed!!!

David M2 Comments

This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is ‘The need for speed!!!’

Having shot a variety of motorsports for a couple of magazines in the 1980s I had a range of options in the archives.

However, once I started going through the archives there was an obvious pick. Motorcycle endurance racing was my favourite form of racing. So the pick is a long exposure of a bike entering the start/finish straight at night. Taken in 1982 at the Le Mans 24 hour race at around midnight if I recall correctly. Which meant that the rider, motorcycle and photographer were 9 hours in with 15 hours to go.

Night racing.