Photographing the Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic

Newark Showground

7 January 2023

It’s cold and wet outside, so if you are a motorcycle enthusiast you are probably sitting in a shed somewhere tinkering with your ride and dreaming of the warm rays of sunshine that are still a few months away.

If you are a motorsports photographer you are probably also tinkering with your camera kit dreaming of the warm rays of sunshine that are still a few months away. There are a few motorsports events being held that you can photograph this time of the year. Rallying and motocross spring to mind but these are few and far between to exercise your hobby, and you have to go out in the cold winter months with the corresponding limited light.

So if you don’t fancy that the best option is the winter motorsports show season. Held inside with posh, and sometimes not so posh, coffee outlets it is an appealing option to exercise your passion for photography in a comfortable environment.

The pinnacle is the Autosports show at the National Exhibition Centre Birmingham, which the PistonClick team will be attending this weekend. To warm up our cameras for the 2023 season we headed out to the "Classic Bike Guide" Winter Classic show at the Newark Showground.

So what are the motorsports photographic opportunities at an indoor show? The Newark show is aimed squarely at the post war classic motorcycle and scooter owner who likes to wield a spanner or two in the depths of winter. The show is not a glorified auto jumble, it's more than that, but you can pick up a few parts for your project if that is why you are visiting. 

For the photographer it's a full on show, with trade stands and bike clubs exhibiting machines finished to show standards. So there are plenty of opportunities to snap automotive related images to add to your portfolio. There are other attractions too. l got slightly distracted by a stall selling porky products lovingly wrapped in Lincolnshire's finest pastry, but after a tasty but quick pit stop I was back on track snapping away.

As a photographer who has an interest in motorsports, visiting these events is beneficial as it gives me the opportunity to practice capturing static machines in challenging lighting conditions. The cramped show stands and low light is not to dissimilar to the garages on many UK pit lanes, and there are usually a few head shots to be had if you like a bit of paparazzi action.

The Newark show has had well known guest speakers in the past. This year there were two of England's best all round competitive riders - Carl Fogarty and James Whitham. They were introduced by compere for the day, and another former racing star, Steve Plater.

The highlight of the interview was the virtual battle by the former Isle of Man TT riders on the Sega Manx TT Superbike arcade game to see who would be crowned virtual King of the Mountain! James crossed the line a whisker ahead of Foggy. Steve then took up the challenge and beat James. The opportunity to snap famous riders doesn't happen every day and should not be passed up, but does need some practice to get right. I’m still practicing!

I decided to go slightly abstract for this report, and as that was my objective for this assignment, I feel I have fulfilled the brief. Capturing a static machine is quite easy, but seeing the light, angles and interesting subjects is harder. Also, quite a bit of post processing has been applied to the images.

The main one was white balance. In the halls there was a mixture of strip lights, led and sodium which confused the white balance setting, giving the images a warm look. The slightly yellow tint was not unpleasing when I checked after the first few shots but as it is a winter show and I wanted the white a little cleaner I added a little more blue to give a cooler look.

To sum up, the Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic show at the Newark Showground is a great little show with more than enough content to keep you snapping away, and if you appreciate modern and classic motorcycles you will have spent your £15 entry money well. And  if you have a desire to be commissioned in the competitive area of motorsports photography, being able to present a portfolio with a variety of related automotive images could get you over the line. 

Show photographs might not be everyone’s cup of tea but they do challenge you. Composition, lighting and exposure are the bedrock of photography and as with any learned skill, practice makes perfect. Also, indoor shows are a great environment to capture pleasing images to practice your post production skills to while away those cold dark winter months.

The kit I used for these images was my very well used Nikon D7200 (the last shot at Newark I was on 227418 shutter clicks!) a AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED and a AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR for the head shots.

You can share this report with your friends on Social Media using these links.