A fish out of water? Who? Me, all at sea as I tried some motorcycle racing photography.
There I was in late 2019. The virus hadn’t emerged. Travel and carefree times were on the agenda. Things were good. We found ourselves in Melbourne for a long weekend trip to visit our son who was living there. Generous child that he is, he had bought Australian MotoGP tickets for his mother and father. He does have three classic motorcycles, so there was a touch of self-interest involved as well.
It had been three decades since I had last visited an Australian motorcycle grand prix, so I had some idea of what we would experience. And what better amateur camera for the day than the Leica V Lux 114? That Leica zoom lens, which extends to a remarkable 400 mm equivalence, should be good fun for the day, and in bright sunlight the little one-inch sensor should perform ok. Well, that’s what I thought.
In fact, it was much more difficult than I expected. The crowd was huge, the embankment was packed, even though it’s known as ‘Siberia” at the far side of the Philip Island track. If we had wanted a trackside location we would have had to arrive before dawn and wait for the admission gates to open. So there I was, crammed in with people all around me, heads and movement everywhere. It wasn’t the open-space GP that I remembered in Sydney from decades earlier.
Mid track, the pro photographers got prime locations. V Lux 114 zoomed max 
Follow the leader 
A lonely rider, similar to the loneliness of the ocean back ground – next stop Antarctica 
Lean left, then upright for a moment, then lean right
I did try to get some shots of the bikes but invariably heads moved in front of me, and it was impossible to get down to the fence trackside (the early morning colonists down there were three deep and strictly guarded their territory). Sitting there, I did ponder the wonderful press photography positions that would have been available in past days to our Macfilos contributor Don Morley, and indeed even our editor Mike Evans. I did catch some images of bikes at speed, the best that the V Lux 114 could provide in the circumstances. At least it recorded that we were there.
The people
After a while, I decided that there might instead be some fun shots to find in the people around us. I began to relax and take in the ambience of being there among serious motorcycle fans, amid the noise and speed. It became street photography with a special screaming MotoGP “street” just 50 metres or so away.
In Siberia 
Here’s lookin’ at you, kid 
Smartphone, wishful thinking 
Optimistic, binoculars in front of smartphone 
It was a very cold day 
High fashion hand warmers
Another fish out of water: The camera this time
We spent the day prior to the race visiting art galleries and generally playing tourists in Melbourne. Easy walking from place to place was the plan. I had intended to have a camera-free day, but as we left our hotel room I thought, “Ah, what the heck, put the V Lux in the backpack”. So I did, and I’m pleased that I did. I thought that the camera would be a fish out of water, little brick and sometimes long lens that it is.
The first stop was Exhibition Square, a Melbourne landmark. We found Disney characters, interesting architecture, and a photography exhibition at one of the galleries. The V lux enjoyed that location and it began to feel comfortable for the day.
The architect insisted 
Girl power—strength in bronze 
Know your Disney characters…
After lunch, we headed off to the National Gallery of Victoria, one of Australia’s iconic art venues. We had a great afternoon there, cruising from room to room. Large rooms, sometimes very dark with large artworks, the V Lux caught some of the magic, handheld and even though the light was very low.
Working very hard, the sensor catches more light than the human eye
It was in two adjacent rooms that my preconceived ideas were turned on their heads. There were children enjoying an art lesson, avidly taking in the guide’s every word. They weren’t on tablets or screens. It was in the room next door that two much older visitors were surrounded by art – but what were they doing? Yes, they were both on their electronic media. My biases were challenged.
Attentive children appreciating art 
……while mature adults were on social media
As we were about to leave the gallery, I saw something that I just had to photograph. There is a huge water wall near the entrance, a feature of the building and very avant-garde when it was built more than 50 years ago. Many people take a tourist photo of the water-wall entry from the pavement outside. My fun was had by taking two shots from the subdued light inside, of the pedestrians in the sunshine outside. The light was good, and the small sensor provided a depth of focus that was positive for the images.
A fish out of water?
That weekend a couple of years ago was instructive to me. I came to realise that a good bridge camera is really a Swiss Army knife for photography. I know that there are some serious street photographers who love and swear by the V Lux 114 or its Panasonic FZ1000 equivalent, including t’Editor Mike’s friend Ivor Cooper at Red Dot Cameras in London. After a few days in Melbourne in 2019, I came to understand why.
More from Wayne Gerlach
A cup of coffee works wonders in supporting Macfilos
Did you know that Macfilos is run by a dedicated team of volunteers? We rely on donations to help pay our running costs. And even the cost of a cup of coffee will do wonders for our energy levels.
Very interesting to see what you could do with this iteration of the V-Lux line. I bought the V-Lux 1 as my second camera when I discovered there was a limit to how much I could crop into my D-Lux 4 images! It can also do 12x zoom from 35mm-420mm (equivalent), and what I have always liked about that zoom is that it is entirely non-protruding and therefore not a prey to dust. It has a 1/1.8″ sensor which yields very good images. No yen to upgrade.
Spot on, John.
The glass in front of the sensor is more important than the sensor itself, especially in adequate light.
A year or so ago I had an interesting conversation with a very good professional photographer, trying to rank the important criteria for a good image. Subject matter and light came in at numbers one and two. I think sensor size was about number seven on the list. And he was using a lovely Olympus Pen F on that day ( I promptly forgot the conversation and went home with GAS …..but ultimately didn’t drink that Kool Aid ).
A great article Wayne and great shots. I really love the last image. Composition, framing and color are perfect. I’m impressed by what you and the camera can do. it is quite impressive for a relatively smal sensor and you certainly made your V lux shine
Jean
Thank you Jean.
Yes, that last image is my favourite too. Again, the centuries old artist’s trick comes to the fore – “Always try to have a flask of red in an image”.
In fact, that image is also a favourite of another Australian Macfilos contributor – we both know who he is – and he’s a hard taskmaster!
Hello again Jean.
Aaarrrgghhh, predictive text, and lack of proof reading by me.
That reply should have been “…..flash of red….” Not “….flask of red….”.
But perhaps the predictive text isn’t so far off the mark, a glass of red isn’t a bad idea 🍷.
So nice to see a fresh article from the pen of Herr Gerlach, and it has been worth the wait. Wayne, you have worked wonders with this camera, and clearly the adage of it being about the person behind the camera and not the tech is evident here.
I do have one obscure question about Disney characters down under, is that when did Snow White and the evil Queen switch dresses – I am hoping it is just the angle, but boy that is not a good Snow White look. More so as the others look so much more like their characters. Lets hope it was an off recruitment day.
I also hope that there is post covid era stuff in the pipeline now that your lockdown situation has eased a little.
Cheers Dave. I hope that Snow White doesn’t give you nightmares!
The emergence from lockdown here in Oz is careful, staged and slow. Maybe too careful, but our authorities are watching and assessing what is happening with secondary covid surges elsewhere in the world. Hence, extended travel is still not in our plans until the new year.
I did get an excursion to the end of our street last Sunday! Haven’t yet reviewed the images, but if they’re ok I’ll put something together for our Editor to consider. All might be revealed.
I will look forward to the next article.
And yes, sadly, that Snow White has featured in a few of my disturbed nights of recent.
Perhaps you could suggest a two staged unlock on Oz, one for the vaccinated, and one for the unvaccinated – that seems to be the way of current restrictions circulating the latest outbreaks across Europe. Thankfully not yet affecting the UK, and we cross our fingers and hope it comes to pass peacefully.
Nice images Wayne, I’m having gear envy. I have the older Lumix FZ200 but have been impressed by the performance of the one inch sensor on the newer models.
Thanks Kevin. In good light your FZ200 provides you quality images I’m sure. My foray into bridge camera territory started with the Leica V Lux 4, the clone of the Lumix FZ200. In good light it created excellent images, thanks to the excellent Leica glass in front of the sensor (somewhere in the Macfilos archives are images that I took with the V Lux 4 on a New Year’s Day is Sydney).
But it was some lower light images where I directly compared a Lumix FZ1000 with the V Lux 4 that made me decide to move to the V Lux 114. Quite a marked difference when there are fewer photons bouncing around.
A very interesting coverage of your weekend in Melbourne, Wayne. The V-Lux certainly is versatile. The winning images for me are the water impressionistic scenes. You could make something of them, I feel.
Hi David. It was instructive that I caught those images at the end of the day. I guess the lesson for me was that the day isn’t over until the day is over, there’s always something else to find. And if we catch just one or two good images in a day then it’s been a good day (apologies for paraphrasing the Ansel Adams quote to a digital world).
Wonderful photos, Wayne. Great to see Vale still there at what I presume was Philip Island. He is about to retire soon. What will his fans do when No 46 is no longer there? I have photos of him from the Qatar Moto GP many years earlier when he was in his pomp and winning all around him. The trick is to get an official photographer’s vest and get out onto one of the corners like Don Morley in the old days. When I was in Doha there were a couple of Chinese guys around who seemed to be dab hands at getting such vests through ‘channels’. One of them was from Doha and the other one flew in from Kuwait. They sometimes used to share a vest and one would come off the track and hand it to the other guy. I got to know them quite well at various events including motor cycle and motor boat racing, athletics and even show jumping.
Motor bike racing requires great practice with focus even if you have autofocus. You are talking about small machines that can be racing at well over 200mph.
You and your V Lux performed very well at the GP. The other photos are great too.
William
Hello William. Yes, it’s ironic that our editor Michael ran this article so soon after Rossi retired from racing at Valencia last weekend. Many riders have labelled him the Greatest of All Time in motorcycle racing. His devoted fans will miss him.
I like your anecdote about the the guys in Doha sharing their procured official photographer’s vest. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
And I agree completely about the difficulty of panning racing bikes at 300kph to catch sharp focus. I tried it a couple if time…..and the absence of such an image in the text is indicative of the outcome!
Wayne, that’s terrific story and camera choice. I got a kick out of Siberia corner, or the clothing really, I figured all Australia warm ! The peeps were set for a snow storm in my neck of the woods. At first I thought your photo subtitled architect insisted said arrested, which in my eyes would be more appropriate. Serious really enjoyed the ride, thanks!
Cheers John. Glad you enjoyed it.
The Phillip Island race track about two hours from Melbourne in the South East corner of Australia is well known for the cold winds that blow in from the Southern Ocean. Always pack warm gear when going there.
Our son has ridden the track on a fast motorcycle on a day when BMW tried to convince him that he needed another motorcycle in his garage! He says that it’s quite “interesting” approaching a turn with what you think is the right line only to be slapped by a strong wind gust off the ocean. A very fast mental recalculation is essential.