Love Hate Relationship

Things I love about the British GP:

The fact that I live 5 miles away. The atmosphere. The fact that everyone speaks English. The fact that I can sleep in my own bed. The Red Arrows. The beer. The staff in the media centre. The celebrity turnout. And very strangely this year, the weather.

Things I dislike about the British GP:

The circuit

Now this may seem like a flippant comment but it really is that bad. Don`t get me wrong, if you are a driver I`m sure it`s fantastic with its high speed corners and sweeping bends. As a fan it is pretty good too, with new facilities, good vantage points and a good atmosphere. But I am a photographer, and believe me this is the most difficult circuit that we visit to get a good selection of photos over the weekend.

The old shaped Silverstone was bad, but the new circuit layout has certainly shot to the top of the leader board of my least-favourite circuits to photograph.

It`s a shame as just about everything else about the place is spot on. I have had a lovely weekend. The weather has helped by being very un-English, the British fans are some of the best in the world and create a unique atmosphere especially as we have 2 World Champions at McLaren this year.

It has been wonderful having a houseful of friends and colleagues who have stayed during the week. We have partied, bbq`ed, eat well and generally had a very enjoyable weekend
Not even the World Cup Final managed to interrupt my Sunday.

Silverstone has done wonderfully well to host this years GP. Bearing in mind that we should really have been at Donington, and they were always a bit on the back foot getting ready for this years event. The circuit revisions have all been finished to a high standard and on time and the new pits and paddock building are looking good in time for next years GP.
But I just wish that this would also relate to the imagery that we aim to produce at each GP.

At every Grand Prix my aim is to produce imagery that not only shows the cars and drivers in the best possible way but also to portray a sense of the location of the race. In Melbourne we have the city skyline, In Bahrain the desert and palm trees, In Malaysia the stunning grandstand and the gravel traps painted in the colours of the Malaysian flag. In Montreal again a city backdrop and the St Lawrence River. Hungary, Belgium and Italy all have beautiful local colour and landscapes. Singapore and Abu Dhabi are quite literally stunning. Oh and Monaco you can just about fall over and take a beautiful photo.

So why, oh why at Silverstone do we have a featureless backdrop? Ok it`s a war time airfield and it doesn`t have the government funding enjoyed by other countries. But changes are happening at Silverstone. There are developments planned, let`s just hope that they think about the `Britishness` of the British GP and give us some photographic features in the future. Everything else is great, I just want to be able to take some nice pictures.