| F1 Singapore Extra |
|
|
|
When the City Went Dark When Go's creative director, Tom Brown, and photographer Fredrik Brodén went to Singapore's inaugural F1 race, they were in for screaming engines and all-night adventure. Laurence Liss caught up with them after they recovered.
GO: Were you guys big F1 fans before heading to Singapore for this assignment? Fredrik Brodén: Tom is a fanatic, and I'm a fan. Tom Brown: I've followed it since I was a kid. Back then I never missed a race. Still to this day I don't miss a race. Have you both seen races in person before? Tom: I've been to a few in Canada … but I haven't been to Europe to see anything. Fredrik: I'd never been to a race and neither of us had been to Singapore. What were your impressions? Fredrik: The city itself seems surprisingly Western and very clean. … I like the people. It seems there's a lot of culture that merged there. Tom: There is not just one set of people living there; there's a whole mish-mash. It's like New York almost, expect that it's incredibly clean. ... I was struck by how easy it was to get around in a bustling city that had the majority of its waterfront marina area completely shut down because of the race. Where did you stay? Tom: We were at the Fullerton Hotel, which is right at turn 13 actually. … You could watch from the pool if you wanted to. The hotel was perfectly situated to see the cars coming and going. We were invited by the hotel to watch from the rooftop viewing area which was incredible because ... you almost see the entire race below you from eight stories up. Fredrik: Yeah, that was really cool. That was probably the hotel to stay at, as far as racing goes. What was hardest part of the assignment? Tom: There were a number of challenges just because it was at night. The seasoned FIA [Federation Internationale de l'Automobile] sanctioned photographers who follow the cars from country to country, race to race, were struggling. Fredrik: The night factor was a big deal for everyone that was shooting it. Tom: [Fredrik] had to maneuver himself into some dangerous areas while testing practice was going on and even during the race. How dangerous? Fredrik: One spot, ... an emergency medical area, ... I could basically have reached out and touched the helmets of the drivers. It didn't feel safe at all. [In another spot] they [the drivers] came out of a curve and would hit the cement block that was in front of me that I was leaning on. Things fly off. Rubber flies off. I got a few shots there but I didn't go back to that spot. Did you know each other before this trip? Fredrik: We've been working together 12 years, if not longer. So how much fun did you have? Fredrik: [Laughs] Tom Didn't have any fun. Tom: I'm just hardcore. Work ... that's all I do. Fredrik: No, it was great. The hotel on its own was luxurious and we were extremely well taken care of. We always thought 'maybe we should just stay at the hotel today.' We were also taken care of by... Tom: Singapore Tourism assigned a guide for us. You have to remember all the racing events started at eight at night. It would go from seven till one A.M. So the city never slept, which meant that we barely slept. So during the day we had the option to actually go and see what Singapore was like, otherwise, like Fredrik said, if we were left to ourselves we would have never gotten out of the infinity pool and would have just laid on our backs waiting for the race to come along. Fredrik: The race would end at midnight or so, and you'd walk back, then at the hotel it seemed like everywhere something was going on Formula-1 related, and just from the adrenaline from shooting and watching it, I don't think we were in bed until four o'clock or something. We'd sit and have a couple beers and then it's two o'clock and you go and look at some film. And then the next day you get picked up at nine o'clock. Fredrik, how did you enjoy your first race? Tom: Fredrik's reaction in his face was almost worth the entire trip. Fredrik: I remember first the safety cars came out and they are Mercedes, regular street cars. I was shocked by how fast they were driving and then I knew that the cars were going to be twice as fast and 10 times as loud. It feels like something from another world. In the beginning, it didn't feel like reality, because you can barely compute or register what's going on. It was beyond intense. Looking back, how was it to be at an inaugural event? Tom: The biggest impression that I had at my first race was the sound that these cars are capable of making, which isn't healthy. I don't mean from an environmental standpoint. I just mean from the standpoint that something is being stressed so much it's going to break. It is this incredible mechanical scream. You think this shouldn't be happening. Knowing how loud it is, I knew that this was going to freak people out. Racing at night on top of all that, having this lighting system developed specifically for this race ... was mind-blowing. When the city went dark, it was all F1. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|