2017 was a good year for me, as I shot from Le Mans to Texas working for clients such as Sportscode and Adrenal, had fun with friends at Spa and the Nürburgring, and as always paid many visits to the race track in my home country of Portugal. These 25 are my favourite pictures of the year.
Featured photo:
FIA World Touring Car Championship at Vila Real
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 400mm f/2.8 | 1/640 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | 400mm
European Le Mans Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/5 | ISO 100 | 200mm
European Le Mans Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/13 sec. | f/14 | ISO 100 | 70mm
24 Hours of the Nürburgring
Canon EOS 7D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/200 sec. | f/10 | ISO 100 | 70mm
The reason why 24-hour races are my favourite… Plenty of time to shoot and all the light conditions!
Even with plenty of time to shoot, we have sometimes have just a few minutes to get the shot. Like in this case: just 4 minutes with such nice light in Schwalbenschwanz. After this moment the sun would disappear and the night begin.
It’s a lovely shot with a nice backdrop as you can see the track and the forest around while the sun sets behind the trees.
24 Hours of the Nürburgring
Canon EOS 7D Mk. II + 400mm f/2.8 | 1/640 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 200 | 400mm
24 Hours of Spa
Canon EOS 7D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/25 sec. | f/8 | ISO 100 | 200mm
GP3 Series Pre-season Test at Estoril
Canon EOS 7D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/8 sec. | f/18 | ISO 100 | 200mm
24 Hours of Spa
Canon EOS 7D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/80 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 800 | 150mm
A picture that tells why I love my job! Shooting at Spa is amazing, and shooting at Eau Rouge during the night is something really special! The speed of the cars and the incline of the track make for one of the best spots around the world.
I was lucky enough to catch one of the AMGs in this photo during qualifying for the 24 Hours of Spa, as they come down the hill at over 200 kilometres an hour and in the dark this is a pretty hard shot to get right.
24 Hours of the Nürburgring
Nikon D7100 + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/80 sec. | f/10 | ISO 100 | 168mm
GP3 Series Pre-season Test at Estoril
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/200 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 640 | 200mm
24 Hours of Spa
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 24-70mm f/4 | 1/10 sec. | f/6.3 | ISO 50 | 24mm
24 Hours of the Nürburgring
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 30 sec. | f/10 | ISO 320 | 200mm
2:00am… It’s the 24 Hours at the Nordschleife. After dinner, Julian and I went on track to do some long exposures. We choose one of the famous corners around the world: Karussell. The party was over, drunken people were asleep. This was such an emotional shot! We were in the middle of the forest as I took this at 200mm, faraway from the track. Everything was so quiet. For a car enthusiast, listening those GT3s through the Eifel forest was something I will never forget! I even can remember the sound right now….
European Le Mans Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/400 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | 200mm
VdeV at Estoril
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 400mm f/2.8 | 1/400 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 200 | 400mm
24 Hours of Spa
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 24-70mm f/4 | 30 sec. | f/11 | ISO 50 | 24mm
Waiting for the fireworks…
I’ve spent so much time in this spot at the 24 Hours of Spa this year. It provides such na amazing overlook of the track.
I did sunset there and then waited for the fireworks at 23 hours. I guess, this shot was taken between that time with the last seconds of light before everything went dark. It’s a pretty amazing view with the paddock in the distance!
Formula 1 Pre-season Test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/20 sec. | f/20 | ISO 100 | 70mm
European Le Mans Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/2500 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | 200mm
FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 400mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 160 | 400mm
24H Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 24-70mm f/4 | 1/13 sec. | f/25 | ISO 50 | 24mm
VdeV at Estoril
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/500 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 1250 | 125mm
Normally when a rainstorm comes in, people put their equipment in their bag for protection… Not me! Rain is always awesome to shot, even when at the end of it you will be very wet.
The light from the top illuminated the raindrops and combined with the hard greens of the car gives some magic to the shot.
I was lucky enough to be in the pits because it was the heaviest storm I’ve ever photographed in! And to be honest, I was a little exited about doing some rainy shots as the weather during much of the year was always sunny.
GT Open at Estoril
Canon EOS 5D Mk. II + 50mm f/1.8 | 1/3200 sec. | f/1.8 | ISO 100 | 50mm
VdeV at Estoril
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 640 | 200mm
European Le Mans Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 400mm f/2.8 | 1/640 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | 400mm
VdeV at Estoril
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 24-70mm f/4 | 1/15 sec. | f/4 | ISO 100 | 24mm
24H Series at Portimão
Canon EOS 7D Mk. II + 400mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 160 | 400mm
This was taken maybe one hour after sunrise during the 24 Hours of Portimão. As the clouds were still low over the horizon and with such elevations along the track, I just waited with my big lens to have a clean picture with the blue sky on top, clouds in the middle and the light coming one side.
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