Skip to main content

Zooming into the Light

Being in media has some really high highs - and some really low lows. I guess that's really like most jobs, though. It seems like everything was thrown at me this past week - so much so that I seriously considered not coming.

However, this is one of the biggest dreams that my husband has had. He grew up really close to this track and this is where he fell in love with IndyCar racing. 

Once he picked up photography, he had one of those dreams that's so big that you can't even really dream it - it's just an underlying, very, very small nudge that it would be wonderful if it ever happened.

His dream was to shoot an IndyCar race as a credentialed photographer. The hope that he could shoot a race at Mid-Ohio was barely a flicker of a dream. Then this year, when I was once again looking at ways we might be able to do it, an unexpected way fell in my lap.

Early in my writing career, I interviewed an IndyCar chaplain. I can't remember if I asked him or if he just told me about this up-and-coming racer named Sting Ray Robb. I made a note to contact him in the off-season and hopefully set up an interview the next year.

We were able to set up that interview as hoped. One aspect of the process stuck in my memory, even as I wrote and submitted that article and started filling my head with all of the information from other interviews, shoots, and jobs I work as a freelancer. 

He calls his mom his "momager." It's exactly like it sounds - she's his mom as well as his manager. I hit it off with his mom while setting up the interview and doing the follow-up stuff I do as a writer. It was one of those times that it was like we were friends, though we had barely talked.

Then the 2023 IndyCar season loomed. Sting Ray had placed 2nd in his class for the Indy Lights level in 2022 and got a seat on an IndyCar team for 2023. We were so excited for him - and for his "momager."

When it became time to start applying for credentials for the season - and for a particular race, the one at Mid-Ohio - I asked her if she knew of any other Christian drivers that she thought I might be able to cover. She said she didn't know of anyone, but that she had media passes available for this race that we could have. Unbelievable!

Our local track, Barber Motorsports Park, held its IndyCar race before this one. We had shot there twice before at this point, so we knew what to expect. After we got settled, we left the media center to go and say hey to Sting Ray and his "momager."

She surprised us by giving us VIP passes to their tent by their hauler. It was amazing! We were able to hang out and talk - and I got to shoot a lot of photos I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

The below photo isn't of an IndyCar but it's Travis' favorite from all of the motorsports we've gotten to shoot - IndyCar, NASCAR, & SRO (all race cars) and MotoAmerica & WERA (motorcycle racing).

The image above isn't available to order, but we have many other gallery images available as custom prints, fulfilled by a professional lab, at https://NovelPhotos.Instaproofs.com.

If you have any questions, email NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you don’t have time to order today, feel free to take a business card and order later using the middle QR code. The photos will be under “Trussville Library Gallery.”

If you have any questions, email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you want any hand-signed, get in touch with us before ordering. We can direct you to a gallery that doesn't have our digital signatures on them and we can work out what works best for you to get the signature you want.

To order a signed copy of Tracy’s book: Behind the Lens of a Storyteller – My Journey as a Photographer/Writer, go to https://NovelPhotos.instaproofs.com/BehindtheLens Note that shipping is included – be sure to use the coupon code “SHIPPINGINCLUDED.”

Do you need a highly experienced, budget-friendly photographer for your family or business?

 Go to https://NovelPhotos.com to see our work. Use the “Contact Us” page or email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com to find out how we can meet your photography needs.

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Emerald Fields

 In 2017, my daughter and I were able to go on a trip to Ireland. It was special in many ways. 1 - My daughter turned 18 in the air on the flight to Ireland. Because at least then their legal drinking age was 18, I was able to buy my daughter her first legal drink... twice (I got to do it again here when she turned 21.) 2 - Due to moving back to Birmingham in the middle of my daughter's junior year in high school, we decided that home-schooling her would be better than changing schools for that amount of time. That meant she wouldn't graduate in the traditional sense - no walking across a stage, getting handed a diploma (or piece of paper as a place-holder for the diploma), and moving her tassel from one side to the other. When I was blessed with the resources to do this trip, I planned to hold a surprise graduation in Londonderry, a city in Northern Ireland where we have distant relatives. We were able to have it on a rooftop in the middle of the city and I live-streamed it (b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stage Snapshots

Concert photography is something both my husband and myself really love. The lighting is often amazing and it can be one of the easiest times to get a really great shot. We have probably shot well over a hundred professional musicians at their concerts. I will never forget my first professional concert as a professional photographer - TobyMac. Once we got to the venue, there were issues with locating my press pass (we later came to find out this happens a lot). While we were waiting to get in, I happened to find a YouTube recording of the concert on the same tour a few weeks earlier.  It was extremely helpful. When we finally got the press pass debacle straightened out and the concert started, we already had an idea of where the action would be on the various stages on the arena floor. My then-boyfriend/now-husband didn't have a press pass. (I didn't know to ask for one for each of us.) We didn't know tricks about where to stash our stuff during the concert at that point an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trussville

There isn't much to say about a sign. Instead, I'll tell you how we each got here and share an article I wrote for the "Alabama Magazine." Travis was born in Ohio but moved to Florida when he was young. His brother-in-law got a job in Trussville and he moved with them... and lived in various areas of Birmingham before landing back in Trussville after we married. I was born in Birmingham. I met a man who lived in East TN. We fell in love, got married, and I moved there.... but then we divorced. I stayed for years, but about ten years ago, I left that beautiful area to move back to Birmingham - this time to Trussville.  Here I became a professional photographer and writer. I met my wonderful husband. I began learning ASL again and became part of a Deaf community. I started playing guitar on my church's worship team after a couple of decades of not playing.  I'm thankful we're here. Now, "A Trip to Trussville", published in the Alabama Magazine, Mar...
Post a Comment
Read more