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Master Photographers Tell You How

Interview with Professional Racing Photographer Paul Webb by Erica Wright Recently our own Erica Wright caught up with professional racing photographer Paul Webb to find out how he got started, what it's like to be Danica Patrick's official photographer, and what advice he has for aspiring photographers. Article rating: 9.06

TakeGreatPictures.com (TGP): How did your interest in photography begin?

Paul Webb (PW): Basically, I started out being interested in racing. Photography was a means to pursue that.

TGP: Did you think of photography as a hobby or were you interested in shooting the races and racers professionally?

PW: I didn't think about it in those terms; I just always pursued racing, starting in high school.  If I knew then how hard it would be to make a living at it, I might have done something else.

TGP: Is that when your interest in racing began?

PW: Yes, my older brother raced motorcycles. I would go to local races as a high school kid and take pictures. When I left high school, I went to the Rochester Institute of Technology for two years and got out as soon as I could. They had no respect at RIT for sports photography or photojournalism. After that, I bought a van and started going to motorcycle races, taking pictures, primarily for motorcycle magazines that covered racing.

TGP: When did you start following other sorts of racing?

PW: I only did motorcycles for two or three years, and then I started going to car races because there were more interesting people there. There's more to it in general, more types of racing and many more business opportunities in terms of sponsor/manufacturer involvement.

TGP: Tell me about your book on Danica Patrick.

PW: That came about because, by happenstance, I had worked for her team (Rahal/Letterman Racing) for a long time, so I already had all these images of her when she became more of a household name after the 2005 Indy 500, where she was the first woman to ever lead the race.  She's a very interesting person and fun to photograph. 

TGP: What does this year look like for you?

PW: Well now I work for an agency called LAT (USA), which is a news service that primarily covers auto racing, and for Danica Racing. I do a lot of traveling. I'm gone between 25 and 30 weekends per year.

TGP: Are you still as enthusiastic about racing as you were in high school?

PW: I would say no just because of the politics of it.  Unfortunately, ironically, because of its increased popularity, NASCAR-style stock car racing has come to be what the public defines as racing.  I’ve always covered open wheel racing in America, which has undergone a destructive 10-year power struggle for control of the sport at the same time as stock car racing has vaulted in popularity.  So, it's not the same as it used to be, but I still enjoy it.

TGP: Would you ever consider moving into a different arena of photography?

PW: All photographers have a niche. I suspect it would be hard to switch to soccer or baseball.  Everywhere you go there's going to be a group of specialists, like my buddies in racing.  I wouldn’t mind doing other things that were action/sport related, but it would be hard to break into something from a business perspective, I would think.

TGP: What advice would you give to aspiring photographers?

PW: First, learn to use your camera on “Manual” mode.  Photography is really simple. You are just allowing a certain amount of light for a certain period of time onto the image plane. When you understand how these two controls (f stop and shutter speed) make the proper exposure, then try to utilize simple, basic, established design principals, remembering that you are always reducing a three-dimensional world to an image that is a 1 by 1.5 rectangle and two-dimensional.

TGP: What equipment are you currently using?

PW: I have now and have always used a Nikon. I started out with two F2s in 1974. And now I have two D2Xs. I have never owned more than four lenses at a time. I never carry more than three.  One on each body and one in my pocket.  That's another piece of advice I would give, especially beginners: don't worry about having all kinds of lenses. 95% of the images I've taken this year I've taken with two lenses. A 10.5 and an 80-400. There's no need for tons of equipment or to be changing lenses all the time. That will only cause you to miss images. I started out with the general philosophy of bringing minimal equipment and forcing myself to use whatever it is I am carrying at the time.

TGP: I'm sure it's helpful for you to be streamlined.

PW: Instead of worrying about equipment, you just use what you have. That's photojournalism. I don't get to set things up. I just have to react to what's there. I would add that people need to realize that all the truly unique and great photos are a product of luck, at least in photojournalism. I believe any honest photographer will tell you so. Research the story of the photograph of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima, the most reproduced photo in history, and you'll see what I mean. I have a picture of two jets from an air show that was open to the public. I took it from the grandstands. The jets have a combined speed of 800 mph. They are completely past each other in approximately 8/1000 of a second. You can certainly prepare yourself to be lucky, but all the good photographs contain an element outside your control.

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