Behind the lens of a MotoGP photographer: Sepang test 2023

At the pre-season test in Sepang, Malaysia, last month, the day's on-track activities ended at 6 p.m., and I knew if the heavy clouds cleared we could get a few minutes of the coveted "golden hour" light.

Editor’s Note: Cormac Ryan-Meenan is a freelance photographer who travels the world with the MotoGP World Championship, shooting images for Honda Racing Corporation, Repsol Honda, and Oakley, among other clients. He offered to share with us how he gets some of his favorite photos. To see more of his images, or to purchase his work, go to cormacgp.pixieset.com.

Normally, for these kinds of pictures I like to try to bring out the strong shadows and highlights of the photograph. Sepang is famously known for the towering grandstand that covers fans along the back and home straightaway and casts enormous shadows. My idea was to bring out these shadows. The Sepang circuit has excellent access, so it wasn't particularly difficult or far from the paddock to reach the point I wanted. I knew I wanted to be facing into the sun so that it would backlight the scene and create high contrast.

I saw that the light was split down the middle of the home straight — one side pitch black and one side lit up — so I underexposed the picture for a strong contrast. Here you can see Miguel Oliveira exiting the final corner of the Sepang International Circuit during the final few minutes of the first day of the test.

I was shooting freehand and not using a monopod, despite the Sony 400 mm 2.8 lens. It's a large lens, but as part of the "new" mirrorless world of photography, everything is a lot lighter than in the past. The potential downside of shooting freehand is that sometimes strong wind can cause the lens to move around at the wrong moment. Fortunately, while Malaysia hits us with heat and humidity, wind isn't something we usually need to contend with.

Tests are funny, in a sense, because it's just us and the riders, no fans. The circuit always feels a lot bigger when it's empty, free of the crowds and the energy they bring. There is a certain privilege in getting to see MotoGP riders wringing the necks of MotoGP bikes in front of nobody else, and it created an opportunity to get a photo that would rarely be possible in MotoGP.