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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Frits van Eldik: Master Of Motor Sports

Frits van Eldik begins with a vision and from there creates some of the most evocative and intense racing photographs in the world

This Article Features Photo Zoom

“I tried to find out what he did and how,” van Eldik says. “In his pictures, wheels were rolling, foreground and background were moving. It was a big revelation when I found out that a slower shutter speed made the car ‘go’ faster. These pictures were an inspiration and a help. I never studied photography formally, but I studied pictures and tried to learn from my own mistakes.”

These days, the greatest hurdles facing van Eldik are those imposed by the tracks themselves. The circuit used to be confined to Europe, but now photographers must travel the world—a huge expense that makes it nearly impossible to carry the ideal gear.

“The biggest challenge is the working environment,” he says. “In the past, you saw nice light in a pit box and you just started to do your thing. Or when there was rain on Friday and the forecast was sunny for Saturday and Sunday, you just worked in garages of teams. Nowadays, you need to submit all requests for access in advance and the situation doesn’t matter. The same for racetracks. All the new tracks designed by Hermann Tilke look the same. The only thing race organizers care about is how the track looks when you walk around. They have no knowledge about this visual aspect in pictures. They think photographers are magicians.”


Some of van Eldik’s images do look like he’s working magic. The glimpse of a tack-sharp F1 racer speeding through a tiny opening in blurring trees, for instance, seems quite literally an impossible shot, as do the countless images of intensely focused eyes and perfect harmony between man, machine and composition.

“It starts with ideas,” van Eldik says. “You combine these with inspiration as soon as you’re at the venue, mix these together with the requests you have from your clients, and sometimes you create something nice. Sometimes you leave the track on Sunday night with mixed feelings; you tried all you could, but things just didn’t come together.”

You can see more of Frits van Eldik’s work at www.fritsvaneldik.nl.