After 2 years of hiatus, Formula 1 is finally back in Singapore. I am a fan of motor racing and have been following Formula 1 races for a long long time. Personally I had been to Singapore Grand Prix twice, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the race itself. Many around me cannot understand the draw of such motor sports, but it’s okay. Not everyone knows how to appreciate the level of risk they took and the kind of performance delivered by the world’s top racing drivers.
As mentioned earlier, Singapore is finally holding its Formula 1 Grand Prix event again after 2 years of disruption by the pandemic. As you may (or may not) know, Singapore Grand Prix is a street circuit, made up by public roads around Marina Bay area. As someone who lives and crosses those streets on daily basis, it’s a strange, familiar and exciting feeling to see Formula 1 machineries blasting through familiar streets at mind blowing speed. This is the biggest draw of street circuits, at least for me.
I’m not joining this year’s event, partly because of concern on crowd and potential risk of infection, but mostly due to financial commitments to other items planned this year. I’ll just follow the action online and continue to support and root for my favourite red scarlet team. Let’s hope that they can finally bounce back from their lows.
Looking back at pictures taken from previous events, I realized that I have not brought any “high end” camera to photograph the Grand Prix weekend. Previously I had shot with Fujifilm X30 (a point and shoot), iPhone and… a Leica M240 (a manual focusing rangefinder!!!). Though my photographs were no where near stunning, but still I was able to make do with what I have and took some shots of the event.
Will I want to shoot Formula 1 again with high end, high speed or high megapixel camera someday? Yes, of course. But for those who don’t have the latest and greatest gear around, don’t worry about it and just shoot with whatever you have. Enjoy the atmosphere, feel the roaring sound and speed, don’t stress too much as we are there to enjoy the weekend, not to be a sport journalist. The same is true for other types of sport as well, football, sprint, boxing and so on.
Enjoy ourselves in the event first, taking great pictures will be added bonus on top of that. Looking forward for my next Formula 1 experience… if any. Finger crossed.
funny bunny photography 