VS
On one hand I have the BTCC; a championship
which is renowned for its ‘bumper to bumper’
racing making those ‘news worthy’ shots more
possible. But with this comes the high saturation of photographers, of which a lot of them
offer their services for free, which makes it difficult to find your ‘break’ into the sport. Due to
the saturation within the championship there
is also a lot of politics, which when you’re just
trying to do your job, is very off-putting. I would
put this down to the scale of television coverage it gets.
Then on the other hand I have the British GT;
a championship made up of cars the average
person would only dream of being able to drive
and people that can afford to drive them. The
people are nicer, there is no politics and there is
a sense of respect to everyone there. I attended my first round of the British GTs at the end
of 2013 and instantly saw a gap in the market.
When I came to making the decision to move
from BTCC, after spending two years trying to
get my ‘break’, I didn’t hesitate. After networking with a few teams at the media day in April,
I was able to secure myself my first paid motorsport photography job with Twisted Team
Parker, a team making their own debut this
season. I joined up with a resident photographer, Andrew Lofthouse, who shoots for Ferrari
AF Corse and we came up with a business plan.
The plan was simple, we have a team each but
we photograph both teams. We both have simiThe British GT is a championship is made up
lar styles which work well together making it
of cars that are at the higher end of the car
easy to do so. By photographing both teams
market, whereas the British Touring Car Chamwe are able to cover more of the tracks and
pionship, BTCC for short, is made up of more
gain more shots for both teams. Along with
‘affordable’ motors.
covering these teams we will both be working
on gaining more for the coming seasons.
The British GT grid is said to be made up of £9
million worth of cars compared the BTCC’s £1/2 By joining this championship more and more
million. That said, the BTCC has a higher viewer- doors are opening for me and I am able to do
ship but this may be due to the relation of the what I’ve always intended to do, get paid to
cars to the class of the viewers.
work in an industry that fascinates me. After
In my own personal opinion, from working in
both BTCC for two years and the British GT for
seven months, there is a huge difference in the
atmospheres and in the standard of racing between the two championships. I had to make a
decision which would be more beneficial to my
career.
university the championship will be taking me
to some of the most prestigious race tracks in
the world, like Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium,
along with some big names in the sport like the
recently converted cyclist Chris Hoy, and Status
Quo’s singer and rhythm guitarist Rick Parfitts
son, Rick Parfitt Junior.
17