What’s with the ‘Black Hat’ thing? Well, it seems to have become a tradition for me to shoot races with a black hat on my head. Usually a cowboy hat (don’t ask me why - but I’ve been told that I look good in it, so I wear it) So these are shots taken from under the hat.. As a matter of fact, I kind of have to thank all the racers that would send messages for me through the track officials by asking to see or contact ‘The Black Hat’ Your requests kind of named this site and my ‘nom de photo’. Well... For those of you that have known me and my work for years, you’re probably wondering what went wrong last year. I sadly wasn’t able to make a single event last year and I’m hoping to make up for it this year. But I’m sure everyone can understand some of what went wrong... The 2010 started pretty much like any other and was looking like a another great year to be out and shooting the races. Boy, was I wrong! Early in the season, I went down. Turns out I’d broken ribs or some silly thing and couldn’t even hold my camera for several weeks let alone maintain the kind of physical strain that’s required to shoot a full weekends events. Then, there came money problems (yep, it always seems to boil down to money huh?), first repairs to my bike ate most of my early season cash (yep, no insurance claim to save on premiums for the family), then my day job had a major change and for a while there I was kind of that razors edge of not having employment. This meant that until I knew for sure, I’d need to keep my reserves handy and not risk spending money that I might need to survive on. So, naturally that meant all my travel to the tracks was not happening. Then certain events kind of overtook me and I was unable to attend the more local events... Phew.. what a year. Good news is, hopefully I’ve got this all in hand and will be able to make events this season and everything will once again be good to go! I really missed my racing family and can’t wait to get back out there and hopefully, I’ll be back with better images and perhaps a surprise or two for you. So, shall we start the 2011 season now? I hope you like what you find here. Now I think you’ll find I’m a little different from a lot of the other photographers out there in that I try to move and change my angles and views that I present. In doing so, you may see that I don’t shoot what I call grindhouse, I don’t try to duplicate the exact same shot for every rider in every race, so in some galleries you may find pictures that you think are great or that suck or that you wish were of another bike. I’m sorry if I don’t have the exact shot you have in mind, however I think that if you look, there’s usually something for everyone. Lastly, I’m not trying to make a living off of this. I have a ‘day job’ and that is used to pay the bills. You may find my pricing to be a little different from others out there. There are reasons for that; when I print I don’t use an inkjet, I chemical print on archival quality paper. This costs a little more then slapping an ink cartridge into a machine and letting it eat, but I think it ‘s worth it to have images that will last for decades without loosing their sharp crisp nature and therefore are with you for as long as you want to keep them. On papers. I use two types currently. One is a standard paper (mat or glossy) that is great for color images. The other is a new ‘metallic’ paper, this paper gives a great pop to the colors and has an almost metal flake sheen to it, allowing subtle light effects to play across the image as you look at it. If you’re curious, I usually have my ‘portfolio’ with me and you can find me prior to the races in the pit area and ask to see the images. I’ll be happy to show you the difference. So, please click on a link above and check out the individual race dates and various photo sections. Thanks for being understanding and I hope to hear from you soon! Oh and one last thought.. The images I’m shooting now are extremely high resolution, so understand a couple of things, if I posted it, it’s because I see something in it that makes it either interesting or usable in a way that you may not see. A few creative edits and you’d be surprised what comes to life from what seemed like a pretty dull picture. If you see one that you think you like but aren’t sure it’s good for your intended purpose, by all means drop me a note and ask.. I’ll tell you if it’s a good choice and try to make some suggestions if need be. Peter, aka - The Black Hat!
Under The Black Hat