McLaren MP4-12C. Guest Blog. A Day Out Shooting in Bahrain

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I find the Bahrain circuit, like many others, a challenging location to shoot. I’m not judging the track which people rave about for its nice corners, elevation changes and the long straights to put your foot down. My challenge was to identify the audience with where we were. What landmark or feature conveys this? The Abu Dhabi circuit has the Yas hotel and Monaco has its street scene and big yachts. Both therefore become instantly recognisable but most circuits miss an eye catcher.

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On Formula One race day, there is branding galore to rectify this but in Bahrain, that’s not for another month. Bahrain does, however, have their race control tower with a big Bahraini flag on top so I ended up shooting this from every angle imaginable, including flat on the floor at turn 12 with my 400mm lens.

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Looking back at this two day shoot, it’s been fantastic, helped of course by an amazingly stunning car. It was inspiring to see Chris Goodwin (McLaren’s chief test driver) and his team of pro drivers at work, especially when I was lying in the boot of the 7 series shooting car to car stuff. Imagine lying in the boot of a car, being tossed around the circuit with two McLaren’s close behind? I mean very close … you’ve gotta trust these guys! Thanks to the team at McLaren for bringing me over and the crew at Performance PR for looking after me. I’m looking forward to the big double spread in the next issue of Top Gear.

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As for my comments on Facebook about my personal police escort out of Bahrain? All true although not because of bad behaviour. Landing at Manama airport with a serious amount of photography kit, in a country that’s going through political turbulent times does set off a few alarm bells. Who, what, where, when, why? Everything had been announced and cleared pre-shoot, letters issued etc, but it still took a crazy four hours to get through customs. Frustrating times but little to do than wait. At least my request to slip out for a Costa Coffee was honoured, leaving my bags to ensure my return! Eventually, the Ministry rang with the all clear and I only needed to complete a temporary import document for my equipment. The same document needed re-stamping on my departure and just to make sure I really was leaving, a policeman escorted me all the way through to passport control which worked out a treat as we skipped all the queues and enjoyed the fastest check-in ever!