Photography plays a key role in motorsports, since it is through photos that we can admire the cars’ beauty or appreciate different scenes of what happens on and off track. In this opportunity, I bring you this interview with Rajan Jangda, a talented photographer who tells us about his job as a motorsports photographer.
From showing LMP’s beauty and singularity, to capture the action of a nail-biting season final in Formula E, Rajan has shot all of this. His works are unique, recognizable, and have that personal touch that he also tells us about. Going from his beginnings as a photographer, giving his points of views in different matters, and talking about the inspiration he has to produce his works; in this interview, we know a bit more about this genius behind the lens whose photos are a delight for motor racing fans.
What motivates you to do your job as a photographer?
What motivates me to do it is – although I operate it as a business -, is not money, money is secondary to me, it’s a perk/bonus. I’m not saying that anybody should work for free because let’s be honest, they shouldn’t and nor should they work for cheap, but my primary concern is doing something good for the sport and I believe that I can do this by shooting the style that I shoot; I see it as a means to market the sport better, it’s a difference that could serve a greater good; not only to those who already watch the sport, but for the people who’ve never come across it
I want to create shots that get people curious and excited about motorsport, it’s like when we were all kids, we’d go to the poster section at the local store, look at the supercars posters and we’d spend a few seconds just staring at them, maybe a few minutes, and as stupid as it sounds, that’s the effect I want my shots to have on people. Obviously I’m not saying I’m all the way to that point yet, but that’s the end goal in terms of the «wow» factor I want to have with my shots for now. When I reach that point then it’s a case of finding what’s the next level up and keep raising the bar further.
Could you tell us about your beginnings as a photographer?
My beginnings were quite strange in comparison to the usual route taken by motorsport photographers. Usually, the case is that you have to do a few track days, club events, and private testings, because everything is so ring-fenced (and rightly so). I had a bit of a stroke of fortune, my spectator shots online got me noticed by someone that I already knew (called Aleks Kruz) but didn’t know was already involved in the sport, this guy threw me straight the deep end because he was so confident in me.
Before this I’d done stuff on the car scene; car meets, the Gumball 3000 and a few others, I’d shot races from spectator access, I didn’t have any ring of contacts, background in some other photography or a greatly exaggerated sob story – nor did I need one – I was pretty much out there producing professional level stuff and not being taken seriously by anyone other than a few people on the car scene; mainly John Marcar who was at Gumball 3000 at the time and Daniel Ralph who’d go on to start The Gentleman’s Jolly.
Now, the first event I did professionally was 2014 Silverstone Classic, it was three days of historic racing, from nine-to-eight everyday with a total of 30+ races, and I was nervous as hell going into that, but I just took to it naturally somehow. Then, the next one after that was for a publication from India that wanted me to follow Indian drivers in the local Formula 4 Championship, then the same guy who got me to do Silverstone Classic sent me to do British GT, and it just took off from there. My sixth full-on professional job, believe it or not, was the World Endurance Championship, I don’t know how this happened, but it did and I guess there was probably a bit of luck involved. I do sometimes think that I may have denied myself of some sort of development in taking such a massive step so quickly, but at the same time, I know I wouldn’t be the same shooter if I didn’t get elevated so quickly.
How would you define the kind of photography you do?
In terms of the kind of photography I take, I wouldn’t really put a ‘tag’ on it in terms of what style it is, because the moment you start doing that, you start becoming very picky and closed minded to things, so I avoid doing that, but what I will say is that initially it started off as being inspired by and taking influence from previous and current photographers such as Paul-Henri Cahier and Rainer Schlegelmilch.
Then I realised that I don’t want to be a cookie-cutter or copy of all these guys, I want to be completely unique and different to everybody. So I started bringing in influences from stuff that wasn’t related to motorsport photography, I started to look at layouts and compositions in different forms of art, graphic design and things like that. Weirdly enough, I think a lot of what goes through my mind while I’m shooting is more based around layout, cannons and ratios etc., that I see in the work of people like Salvador Dali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Rachel Whiteread, Russ Mills, TheDesignersRepublic and so on.
So far, what’s been the best motorsports event you’ve had the chance to cover?
The best event I’ve covered is easily, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There’s nothing like it, scrutineering is bang in the middle of a town centre, then you have a drivers’ parade that would go and do a full tour of the town centre; and you’ll never see that many motorsports fans gathering in one a place in Europe, probably in the world, everywhere you look there’s spectators. There’s just this heavy essence and aura that you can’t quite describe.
As someone who spends time on the paddock amongst drivers and teams, are friendships possible to be developed within that competitive and unique atmosphere?
It’s definitely possible, but don’t ever go in with the sole intention of socialising with people, always treat it as work, don’t distract people in the media centre unless it’s urgent, and never distract teams and drivers while they are working because that will never go down well.
One thing I’ve noticed is that some people to tend to get carried away and do silly things like go hunting for autographs, selfies and generally behaving like a fan, you’re more likely to be taken seriously if you ditch the idea of being a fan and use good media centre etiquette.
You’ve had one of your stunning photos in the cover of Autosport and a double spread into the magazine. What came to your mind when you found out about this?
Well, believe it or not, it’s not one of my favourite shots, simply because it’s a crash, but I knew it was going to happen because I could just read the situation… there’s a lot of stuff that I’ve shot which is way better, but what came to my mind when I saw this, was «Okay, I’ve done it once, now I’m gonna see how many times I can do this again”… but I don’t exclusively aim for one publication, the moment you do that you start cutting yourself off from potentially bigger things elsewhere and I’m not the kind of person who believes in glass ceilings and pinnacles, there’s always going to be something bigger.
What’s your favourite moment from the ones you’ve gone through as a photographer?
I don’t really think of favourite moments and things like that, I try to avoid this as I feel that it may create a bias in terms of how I cover an event, I don’t take the side of a single manufacturer, and I don’t take the side of a single driver, for the same reasons, but I’d say that probably my favourite moment is realising that I got accreditations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015.
And last but not least, could you tell us what’s your favourite photo you’ve taken?
Again, this is similar to the favourite moments. I don’t pick favourite shots, other than the ones I think should go into the galleries on my website. I think that should be down to the fans if anything, or my editors and clients. Again, I try to stay clear of things which may bias my coverage in terms of variety of angles and if I personally start picking favourite shots than I feel that I’m being complacent instead of looking for the areas to improve, so it’s up to you guys! (Laughs) What’s my favourite shot?
You can visit Rajan’s site and see his work by clicking here
Andy at the wheel 