MotoGP Phillip Island Exclusive! AutoMotoPhoto seminar and dinner!

AutoMotoPhoto Seminar Poster

Many people have asked me if I would run a seminar. I have gotten together with a good friend who lives on the Island and we're going to be putting on the inaugural AutoMotoPhoto Photography Seminar and Dinner in San Remo. Wednesday (10/12) before the race weekend is when it's going to happen.

Also!!! After a long day of instruction, critique and big thinking, Paul and I will be cooking dinner for those who will be attending.

This seminar is designed for amateurs who have a solid understanding of the principles of photography but want to develop their skills in this one day intensive class.  We'll cover subjects such as your goals, peer reviews and critiques..how to make do with the equipment you already have and how to think outside the box...we'll also go into how to sell or market your images using current methods including social media tools...and how to approach the mystical world of getting published...I can't teach you how to have a "style", but I will hopefully impart enough information to fuel that desire to enable you to think differently and to feel confident about your work.

Seating is limited due to the nature of this class.

For pricing and further information simply send an email to me, Andrew Wheeler here and by return I will send you the schedule and a link for you to sign up and pay for your seat! To download the poster click here

I look forward to hearing from you and we'll see you there....

WSBK without Ben Spies? Oh no! Now what?

I never tire of seeing koala bears. There is a reserve that is run by the state not far from where we stay for the week during the races that has a Koala reserve. Since last year the entrance, and visitors centre has been modernised. The walks around the park have been more clearly designated and overall it looks like it has been spruced up considerably. One of the benefits of arriving early for a race weekend and especially during the early part of the week is the lack of other visitors. I have the entire park to myself. Just me, wallabies and sleeping koala's.This time, I'm house sharing with GB and Eric Malherbe at the All Seasons Eco Resort on Phillip Island. From the main road that heads into Cowes on Phillip Island, it looks like someone has simply decided to place a collection of old red roofed galvanised steel sheds into a field. But these self catered 2 or 3 bedroom chalets are modern, comfortable and have everything you need to make your stay comfortable. They do have internet access, but it's pricey. So beware on over using it. In fact it's ridiculously expensive, my only gripe. That said, it's a lovely place to stay. If you wake early anywhere on this Island, make sure to go for a walk as the sun rises. You'll see Ibis (the bird in the above image) and fields of wallaby and rabbits, all moving, running around getting an early start.This is now the second year in a row where I start my racing year "on the Island". This week it is to cover World Superbike and to interview Roger Hayden and Jason DiSalvo, for a feature in the American Racing Magazine, Road RacerX. With Ben Spies moving onto to MotoGP, World Superbike now has two riders flying the flag for the USA. Roger is back on a Kawasaki Superbike in the Superbike class, and Jason is aboard a Triumph 675 triple in the World Supersport class. The interview, along with images will be in the next edition of Road RacerX which should be out in a few weeks. I wish them both the best of luck. I know Roger is under no illusions that he has a tough job ahead of him, but the interview with him was illuminating and entertaining. Jason, has the benefit of being on factory ride, and has Chaz Davies on the same team. Finishing 8th in his first race during the weekend certainly set the tone for the year, and Roger did equally as well by finishing 18th, making up places and getting faster as the weekend continued.Visiting the Yamaha garage was good as always, Maio and the other crew folks were pleased to see me, and likewise I was too. I love this crowd and yet again, Maio (Massimo) Meregalli went out of his way to make sure I had a scooter for the weekend. Even though the first one died and i had to push it back from Siberia! Only to be given a new scooter that did work! But it did feel a little different insofar as there wasn't Ben, Tom, Mary and Woody in the crew. But like everything changes. There were a lot less photographers at this years event vs last year, but the crowds were bigger than last, possibly because there wasn't the horrible fires that were happening at the same time last year. Leon Haslam would win race one, and Carlos Checa would win race two. Eugene Laverty would win the Supersport race.The next time I will be at Phillip Island will be during the MotoGP race that will be during the latter part of the year. This time we will have Ben, Tom, Woody, Mary. But then we'll not have Maio! Oh well. I do love coming to Phillip Island, let's just hope it's a little cheaper and the US Dollar has a little more oomph vs the Australian Dollar...and oh yes, I must organise some sort of internet access as well.Check back soon! Thanks for reading...and don't forget to become a "Fan" of Andrew Wheeler - AutoMotoPhoto on Facebook!

Five days at home! Off to Australia..Spies? Haga? Rossi? Stoner? WHO!!?

Even though this has become a common view this year, it's always nice to come home. Back home to Emily my wife, Thor the dog, Bean and Widget our little cats and my own bed. There is nothing nicer....Two weeks away from home in a single trip it starts to push the envelope of tolerance. Knowing that Emily is home having to take care of the pets, and everything else, whilst I'm away. I feel somewhat guilty, but then again, this is my job and I try my best to promise Emily that she'll get pictures each day. Fortunately this was only my second back to back race this year and the last. The next time I'll be away from home for more than a week will be the trip to Portugal and Spain for World Superbike and MotoGP and Emily will be with me (or was with me...!)In the meantime it is home for five days then off to Australia for the second time this year. The first was for World Superbike at the beginning of the year. This is for MotoGP. A different beast! As is the case the five days at home whizzes by. Washing is all done, suitcases repacked with all clean clothes (you really do not empty your suitcases at all...) and before you know it we're back in the car, heading up Highway 280 to SFO. Upon checkin, the Customer Service Manager (I've mislaid his business card so I can't add his name here) at the Qantas desk recognizes me (from past flights) and upgrades my seat to Premium Economy. SCORE! I get to sleep properly on the way day. I am so thrilled. Emily and I spend an hour or two having a bite to eat before she has to head back down home. It never get's any easier, and I do really not enjoy saying cheerio to her. I wish she could come with me all the time.The plane leaves on time and we settle in for the trip down....a few beers, champagnes and whiskies later sleep happens. We're woken and we're not too far from touchdown at Melbourne. I'm always amazed how long the flight looks numerically, but in reality seems to fly by. I really wanted to enjoy my comfy seating! Oh well. I have a few hours to kill in Sydney before my connecting flight to Melbourne and I meet Maurice Murray. Good friend and the man in charge with Yamaha US Parts and Accessories Division. Hilarious who you meet in places you'd least expect it. Time to go catch the flight down to Melbourne.The weather isn't looking very good, it's cold (and yes it is Spring down here but it has been warmer...). I load my stuff into the rental, fire up "Gladys" (my trusty TomTom 300) and head on down to Phillip Island. Stopping, as I have always done, at the McDonald's in Cranbourne for some funky curry flavoured snack wrap and a coffee...a couple of hours later I'm at the house on Phillip Island. Making sure I do not speed. Speeding tickets seem to be a hazard with this job. But as I write this many weeks later it does appear that I have been well behaved and so far, nothing from the State of Victoria has landed in our mailbox...yet). One super treat is that John Hanson, good friend from back home (the US) will be joining me (along with GP regular Martin Heath) at the house along with his Australian girlfriend. John is a super nice fellow and extremely talented photographer with who I had had the pleasure of working with since we met at Road America in 2005. He also does work with RoadRacerX and also has a unique style of photography that I like. So that was something to look forward to as well. Sadly there wasn't any trips to the penguins, nor the koala reserve, the weather was far too stormy and I think I was just tired from travelling and pretty much ended up waiting for the race weekend to roll around...But then again, when the sun comes out, it is super blue skies although it looks comfortable, it does get chilly pretty damn quick...One thing that I notices covering races all over the place. Is the spectators clothing. It's rather entertaining in some ways, becuase, for example, in somewhere warm, like Spain or Italy, people wear bright colours, even in the rain the colours are bright and the nice thing about this is that as a photographer you can use this to your advantage, especially in slow motion shots. By lowering the shutter speed you can create a high bright and colourful background. However, at Phillip Island most folks where dark sombre colours and so a motion blur shot is usually only speckled with an odd flash of yellow or red.The race weekend was pretty predictable, baring some sort of stupid mistake from either Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo or Dani Pedrosa, and it's been known to happen mind you, the race would be won by one of these four. As it turned out one does have to feel a little sorry for poor old Nicky Hayden after yet again, having his race ruined before even a single lap under his belt by a little over exuberance by Jorge. That said it would be Casey Stoners weekend, and a a home win is well, which must feel good.Monday am it would be up bright and early, a steady drive to Melbourne (no speeding) then a commuter flight to Sydney then home. But I wouldn't be home for long. After getting home Monday afternoon, within 48 hours I would be on a plane heading to Lisbon in Portugal. This time would be different as Emily would be with me..FOR THREE WEEKS! Next installment coming up. It is about the racing right?

Racing On Two Hemispheres - Phillip Island to Daytona

I did wonder how I would fare. I was fine until 11.15 pm Friday night after the Daytona finally finished. My body decided that it was still somewhere over the Pacific and wasn't going to take no for an answer. I had to leave the media centre at the Daytona Speedway and get back to the house so I'd at least stand a chance of waking in the morning and catching my flight to come home...I did manage to wake up!

Within 6 days I travelled to Phillip Island to witness Ben Spies first victory in World Superbike and then hopped on a plane, had a surprise upgrade to Business (THANKS QANTAS) and was home for less than 10 hours before jetting off to Orlando for a quick drive to Daytona for the"new" incarnation of the AMA. I'd be lying if I didn't mention that witnessing Ben win wasn't a thrill for me on a personal level. In his first weekend in a new series, on an untested bike, the new Yamaha "Big Bang" R1, on new tyres (Pirelli's instead of Dunlops) and with a new team, but with his old AMA crew cheif Tom Houseworth by his side Ben did really well in race two. Race 1 didn't go to plan, but then again I think everyone was raring to go. And so it was all hands on deck and something had to give. Sadly it was Ben that got pushed out into the kitty litter, but he kept it up and kept on pushing to get back to front. Race two, however, was simply magical. I had gone to Phillip Island to write a "fly on the wall" story for RoadracerX about Spies' first foray into the world of World Superbikes. How he thought, how he felt and so on. I was amazed to see such a transformation in Ben. Relaxed, confident and unhurried, we chatted on the Wednesday before the race and I asked him questions that were more about him, his thoughts on how he would do and things a little more personal. I found, contrary to my initial an entirely different person than the Ben I had known in the AMA for the last how many years. I have to admit I had a really nice time chatting with with Ben, and you'll get to see the article, entitled "Spies Around The World" in the upcoming edition of RoadracerX. I hope you like it and I'd appreciate any feedback.So then onto Daytona. Sublime to the ridiculous? Daytona isn't my most favourite place in the world. In fact, none of the teams like Daytona. The saying goes, that the best thing about Daytona is watching it disappear in the distance as the planes wheels leave the runway. Arriving Tuesday I drove to my house in New Smyrna Beach. Daytona is more about folks having a good time on Main Street. The racing is really secondary to everyone who is there and the crowds in the stands and at the track reflected that. Even British rider Neil Hodgson commented that there were more riders on track in the Superbike race than fans in the stands. Still, it was good to see bikes racing back in the USA and also good to see Mladin win, and Hodgson coming in third. That said, it does look like the Suzuki's are dominating again. So no change there. That was Thursday. Next up the Daytona 200, under the lights (see first image above for the race start).For the life of me I just can't see the point of this. I'll agree that from a working point of view it's actually rather comfortable, no need for sunscreen, it's cool and comfortable but it's a novelty that on a personal level doesn't add anything and I'll admit to not being too keen on the "Pacety Car" and the rolling starts. I suppose things change, but bike racing, any form of racing, the start, knowing how to feather the clutch and let it go is a skill and one of those things that makes a racer, a racer, having the skill to anticipate the lights going from red to green (or out) and then letting it go.Well, that's all from me for now. I'll add my Fontana update Tuesday along with images to my site when I'm in Valencia prior to covering the World Superbike races from the Circuito Ricardo Tormo. My website has been updated and there are images in the archive. Bye for now!

AutoMotoPhoto Review 2008 - Valentino Rossi On The Cover!

It's here. My self published 2008 AutoMotoPhoto Review which covers pictorially every race I covered through 2008, including some excellent images of the series changing and skillful pass that Valentino Rossi made on Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca during the Red Bull MotoGP at Laguna Seca.

The cover shot was taken on the Saturday morning at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo and is of Valentino Rossi adjusting his visor prior to heading out on track.

I'll be attending the opening round of World Superbikes at Phillip Island in Australia. If you need images from this opening round please do contact me. Onward and upward!

Pies! The Australian GP and Wheeler in the Bush!

MMM, steak and kidney...Well, it's taken me a few days more than usual to overcome jet lag. Typically it's just a day back home, some sleep re-adjustment and life is back to normal. I think it's more to do with having a few days to acclimate "down under" then all is normal. However, on this trip, I didn't get my couple of days R&R "on the Island". I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Kawasaki US/AUS and was offered the chance to do a shoot in the Australian Bush.

There would be 8 riders, including Attack Kawasaki rider Steve Rapp, the ever wonderful Greg White, Matthew Miles from Cycyleworld, Dirt Action magazine editor Shannon Warner and journalist Sam Maclachlan, oh and stuntman Tom "I only know how to ride on the back wheel" McComas. From Kawasaki off road racing team Australia, there would be race team manager Brett Whale and off road race team crew chief and my chase car driver Charlie Costanzo, all of us being expertly guided by Matthew Phillpott and bringing up the rear and making sure no one got lost or left behind, the sweep rider Mark Ryan. Needless to say, the almost two days we spent following their exploits through dusty roads in the bush were filled with fun, some danger (Matthew vs tree) and some minor technical issues (Bretts' KLX450R losing oil) it was a good adventure with some good sights to be seen along the way.

Dirt Action riders Shannon Warner and Sam Maclachlan doing their synchronised wheelie-ing..Thursday night, I was fortunate enough to miss the bad weather, catch an earlier flight to Melbourne where I was met by good friend Ken Lyons. A nice steady 2 hour drive to our house on Phillip Island and it was off to bed. Where, in a few hours I'd be working the track covering Casey Stoner's homecoming in the GMC Australian Grand Prix.Three wet, windy, wet windy, wet windy, sunny days later, Casey Stoner won the race. Then on Monday it was a little rest, a lightning tour of the Island, some dinner and then off to bed to be ready for the trip home the following morning. 20+ hours later we roll into our parking space in Capitola and I'm home.

Phew. I'll add a little more on the adventure as time allows and will let you all know when my site is updated. I'm off to Spain next weekend for the last round of the MotoGP World Championship so stay tuned!

Return to Laguna Seca - The Final Round!

I know, this was all done and dusted a couple of weeks ago, but I have finally found a little time to sit down and write about the weekend. Just before I head off to Australia to cover the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.It was a good weekend. Only two days of racing vs your typical three because one of the AMA Superbike races was run during the USGP back in July. There were two Championship titles on the line, AMA Superbike (between Mat Mladin and Ben Spies) and AMA Supersport (which was down to three possible winners, Josh Hayes, Roger Hayden and Jamie Hacking).

Sadly for Josh Hayes, he had a bit of a rough weekend. Broke both of his feet and then to put the capper on his chances at the Supersport title, had another nasty off which left him concussed and out of the race. Fortunately he is okay and is recovering well back home in Gulfport, MI. Roger would eventually finish the Supersport race and would pick up the Supersport title. AMA Superbike was a little more gripping, insofar as it looked like Mat Mladin was going to run away with it. It wasn't to be. Ben Spies was either sandbagging or was simply biding his time, but he made a cool pass in the corkscrew and simply took the race to the finish and to his second AMA Championship. Once again, that's the AMA racing season done until Daytona in March 2008. That said, MotoGP still has two races to go, Phillip Island and Valencia. Both of which I will be covering. Stay tuned for updates!

One more thing. The 2007 AutoMotoPhoto Review is just about done. Want one? Send me an email.

Get well Morgan.

TTFN for now.