I could get used to this, waking up in a comfortable bed at 2 o`clock in the afternoon, dragging myself to the pool for a hour or two and then a gentle stroll through Singapore`s leafy boulevards to work. Arriving at dusk just as the F1 Championship contenders battle it out at 200mph around the centre of this wonderful city. This is night racing and I like it.
Night racing suits me. I have always been slightly nocturnal, and not very good at getting up early in the mornings. This week I have been finishing my work at the circuit around 4am and then heading out to one of Singapores street markets for some food and a couple of beers. As I head to bed the rest of the city are sitting in traffic jams and squeezing onto the metro to get to work. I feel slightly guilty as I hang the do not disturb sign on my door and head off to bed.
To see F1 cars polished to within millimetres of their bare shells, glistening in the Singapore lights and the city skyline backdrop is truly stunning. Add to this a tricky, twisty and bumpy circuit that snakes it`s way around the landmarks of this iconic city passing offices, hotels, shops and restaurants and you have the ingredients for a fairly special evening. If you then consider that we arrived in Singapore with 5 drivers challenging for the 2010 championship then this looks like a classic.
Photographing at night brings with it a whole load of different options and interesting challenges. The use of light as always in photography is paramount, but with light in different colours, directions and strengths it really makes the photographers role an interesting one, and experimentation is key. Along with the technical element there is also the possibility available with all street circuits to shoot from elevated angles, buildings and ferris wheels. With glowing brake discs, flames and sparks coming from the cars you really are in a photographers dream.
Even at 10pm when the race finished I found myself wanting to carry on shooting. There are so many angles and photographs out there that I quite literally could have kept going all night.
That`s it for now though, as I have arrived back in the UK and it is way past my bedtime. I think?
