As I write this, the dust has already settled on the race track. In fact, workers are in the process of tearing the Marina race track apart to make way for regular traffic on Tuesday.

Last year, I watched the race live on TV in the US on a Sunday morning and wished that I was here. This year, I am here. Indeed, the sensation is completely different – watching images of cars racing on the circuit glowing in the dark beamed to my living room and being right in the middle of it, listening to the sounds from the engines reverberate through the built up Marina and City Hall areas.

This race weekend was also a photo outing for me. I decided to take most of my photographs during the practice and qualifying sessions and spend most of the time during the race watching the race itself.

I carried my modest 17-70 mm lenses to the track, where I saw many other photography enthusiasts show up with their humongous telephoto lenses. Even my tripod, the one that is compact enough for me to be willing to carry it with me when I travel, appeared wimpy in the presence of their more sturdy and taller ones.

Never mind, we work with the gear we have and learn to be creative with it. That can be said very easily, but for a moment, I was at a loss of what to do when faced with the low lighting conditions and the very fast cars. For a number of shots, I ended up shooting the fence, or the track, or anything, except the cars.

While on one end of the spectrum, we have the well-equipped photographers, there were many spectators with equipment that belonged to the other end of the spectrum. More than once, I peeked over their shoulders to steal a glance at the LCD screens on their PhD* cameras. Hey, these people actually managed to capture the cars in their shots. Well, if everybody else could why couldn’t I?

Think, think, think… I had to think – what could I do with my camera? What could I try? I think I eventually “got it”, and I managed to get a few decent shots. The race track was lit, I had my camera, and I was able to capture some of the action.

* Press here, dummy!