Formula 1 shooters vs "Gestapo"

I came across this and found it interesting:

 

"The police confronted a gathering of [FIA-credentialed]

photographers at the first corner just minutes before the start of

the race."

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=31008

<P>Sorry, should have made that a link: <A HREF="http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=31008">http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=31008</A></P>

Looking at the pictures in the article it appears that maybe the chief of police is a Nikon owner. ;-)

 

Dick

The F1 Gestapo has always been around. I shot F1 with Road & Track for a

number of years, and at the Austrian GP in 1983 the local Gestapo came

after us with attack-dogs to get us to move <a

href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/aust.jpg"> Dog-track </a>. The solution

is clipping the fence the night before the race for some alternate

shooting locations.

After seeing the disasterous first corner demolition derby at Spa, I think that the police did the photographers (and public) a favor. There is no excuse for cancelling a F1GP because some idiot photographer is killed because he's in an area where he shouldn't be. We may be about to get a GP in Switzerland again, and that's all they'd need to bury it for another 50 years.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't see any debris go anywhere near the FIA-sanctioned area where the FIA-credentialed photographers would normally be. No doubt there were some corner marshals around there as well and I haven't heard about any of them being killed. Or maybe the police tossed them out as well. I'll also point out that two of the "idiots" included the Sutton brothers, who I think have been to a few more Grands Prix than the local cops and had considerably more right to be there than they did.

The cops always think they know best <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/lv2v3.jpg"> The Journalist Won </a> but this time

the Las Vegas cops were kicked-out of the 1981 LVGP for their poor

judgement. In Europe you sign waivers too, but there they mean something

in court, unlike here in the USA where they don't seem to mean didly.

Shooting F1 is dangerous but one accepts the danger just as the drivers

do, and like the drivers, the photogs know what's best for their safety.

Accidents will happen and there's nothing that is totally safe.

I don't think the local police should be able to marshall a closed circuit but there are circuits such as Spa which use public streets and that gives the police the jurisdiction to take control. It sucks, but that's the law. Accidents do happen at sporting events there is no doubt about it but to complain about the police pushing you off to another area when you know what the rules are is pretty stupid if you ask me. Closed circuits is another story entirely.

 

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/2510255

 

 

-NP