Toronto Photography Meetup Group

There will be a new motorcycle racing series starting up next season, at Toronto Motorsports Park (aka Cayuga). I was approached by one of the principals to be their official shooter because of our previous acquaintance and because I know my way around the track.

This presents an opportunity for those who want to try their hands at motorsports photography, who haven't yet had the opportunity, because this track is much closer to Toronto than Shannonville and will host motorcycle events more often than Mosport's 2 or 3 a season.

This is the location:

Cayuga map

Dates:

May 15, 16, 17
June 12, 13, 14
Endurance Round
July 10, 11, 12
in conjunction with the
Motorcycle Shootout Drag Races
August 14, 15, 16
September 11, 12, 13
Endurance Round

No word on spectator admission costs as of yet, but I'll update as information becomes available.

Cool, I have a friend who wants to shoot some motorcycles.

I can't promise anything but if funds work out then I may get back into recreational motorsports.

Anyone is invited to come shoot some pics usually at Shannonville and Mosport DDT and can come with me for in car shots.

oh i am so in for the bikes, and hope the in car action is available. will you guys post this closer to the date?? as my memory is horrible.

I would love to join-in for both. Can't wait for the spring/summer now. A reminder would be greatly appreciated.

I'll make sure to post a reminder when the time comes.

Thank you for thinking about us Rob. I do a lot of other motorsport photography and would love to do some bikes. I recently started doing quad races and love it. I can only imagine how fun and more advanced photographing bikes at that high rate of speed must be.

I've received the direct contact information for the media relations person, so we're all set from that POV.

sweet quad races, where are the tracks for this?does anyone shoot the snocross races in the winter? my buddy races in the pro class so i will be doing some this winter

Hey Joey,
The last few years I have run the Ontario Off Road Racing Association, so we had quads at all of our races, along with the trucks and buggies. I resigned this year so I can spend more time photographing other events!

For quad races, check out the CMRC at http://www.cmrcracing.com . They are mostly motocross but they do have quads as well I think. I hope to hit a few events at Gopher Dunes this summer.

Snocross...I did not event think about that! I am planning on hitting some ice racing near Minden (I think) if it gets cold enough. I hope it doesn't!

Rob, I'd love to check out some of this action next summer if the schedule permits. Shooting the bikes at Mosport this year was a really fun experience (except for the weather conditions)... I can imagine TMP should be just as good as I've driven that track a few times and know it's layout fairly well.

Please keep us informed!

I'll make sure to update as I get more information. There's been a change in the race dates since I first posted them, in order to avoid a conflict with the series at Shannonville. The new dates are:

May 8, 9, 10
June 12, 13, 14
Endurance Round
July 10, 11, 12
in conjunction with the
Motorcycle Shootout Drag Races
August 7, 8, 9
September 11, 12, 13
Endurance Round

Well after all of that, I've decided that I won't be shooting the new SOAR racing series after all. They've retained another photographer for the series, but hadn't told me about it. I found out through a friend who noticed the other shooter's name in a press release.

Anyone who wishes to put in for credentials can contact Vanessa in Toronto Motorsports Park's media relations, whose email address can be found on this page. I would recommend only people who are trying to get a start in shooting motorsports.

http://www.torontomotorsportspark.com/r ... ct_us.html

Speaking of motorsports.... and not to threadjack, <a href="http://www.rallysport.on.ca/">Rally Sport Ontario</a> has an event at Shannonville on April 4th. Might go and watch that.

Well it doesn't seem that there's much of a thread left to jack now

I'm not much of a car guy, but it might be a good warm-up for the season. I wonder what configuration they'll be running? (Almost typed 'ruining', which wouldn't be far off the mark )

Who would be interested in a small workshop to go over the basics of this stuff?

5 people max.

I'm thinkign of doing this in 2 parts. First part would be a quick blurb including "theory" and technique discussion. Second part would be actually going out to a track one afternoon and shoot, and then meet up and take a look at our photos + discuss

I figure since I've attended 3 workshops hosted by various members on TPMG, it's tiime to give back to the group

I'd be interested.

Always interesting to hear how others work.

count me in

Definitely interested!

Interested too!

Thanks for organizing!

I'm assuming most of you guys want the shoot date on a weekend

Which means this might be a bit tricky for me to organize.

What I would like is to see what sort of topics you guys would like to see covered for the blurb part of the workshop before we go and do the fun stuff

Just off the top of my head...

- necessary gear (both camera and carry)
- panning technique
- composition
- choosing your vantage point
- track safety

I think Rob covered it all - I want to know where to be, when, and with what equipment and what technique to capture that crisp and exciting motorsport image...

I am game! It is alway interesting to see things from other peoples perspective.

I'm going to do this end of May.

There won't be an official signup First 5 guys that replied here after my proposal (scroll back up please to see the 5 names) will get a PM from me later on once I figure out how to schedule this into a one day event.

What do you guys normally shoot with during these events? How close to the track are you guys typically and how dusty/muddy will it be? Is a filter recommended?

As I've got track access at Shannonville and some at Mosport for the national series, I can shoot on the pit wall or out in the corners. Generally I'll shoot along the pit wall, but stick to the fan side of the fence in the corners while using a long lens. As this is road racing (for me anyway) dust isn't that much of an issue, except on windy days.

For purposes of a track session I suspect that we'll be shooting over the fence, rather than on-track. Unless someone has enough pull for multiple shooters that is, which is more than I do.

Darn, I would love to learn how to shoot motorsports. I've always been into cars and bikes and hope one day to have a bike of my own.

But I'm not sure if I would qualify to take good enough photos or taken seriously since I currently have an XTi But I do have a 70-200 2.8 IS

Count me in (depending on schedule) if you'll take a rookie

A few years back I was shooting at the track with an Olympus E-500 and the 40-150 kit lens. Your XTi would do fine. You just need to know what techniques and angles work best for a given body.