practice. get better. be ready. a small detail that stays with me from the movie F1.

snowy night queensborough bridge

I watch the movie F1 last weekend and really enjoyed it. Something really touched me in the movie and it is not a spoiler.

In the movie, Sonny Hayes (played by Brad Pitt) was a former F1 driver and was hired as a hell Mary to assist a failing F1 team. It was decades ago when he had raced in F1. At the beginning of the movie, he was living in his van and he was a racer-for-hire. Needless to say, he went on to have a big impact to the team (hence the movie). However, the director/writer added one small detail that really touched me.

Sonny Hayes was always doing something to prepare for racing. The very first scene, he got up then he started to pull ups. When he couldn't sleep at one point, he started doing pushups. When was waiting, the throw tennis balls against a wall and tried to catch them to (I assumed) improve his coordination. He jogged on the tracks to understand it better. He spent a whole day driving in race simulation to test as many configurations as possible.

He's obviously doing everything he can to be at his best for the race. But, at his age, he's also doing it because he wanted to extend his time and preserve his ability to race at that level. In a small way, his preparation reminded me of how I have prepared to photograph urban landscape in snowstorms.

Snow is magical to me. When it's snowing heavily, the intensity of it, the direction it falls, the effects it has on people, how it interacts with the urban landscapes, all of it excites me. I almost can't sit still when it's snowing. However, I live in north Jersey by Manhattan and there is only a handful of snowstorms every year. Because I have a full time job, I can't really just go to another city (e.g. Chicago) for a few weeks and photograph snow there.

Unknowingly, I have been doing things to be ready for snow over the years. Days before I heard a snowstorm would be coming, I would think about a few spots to go when the snow starts. I have water repelling winter clothes and shoes. I have gloves that are thin enough so that I can still operate my camera with them on. I only buy water proof cameras, lens, and bags.

Even with all that preparation, snowstorms can still overwhelm me. It's very taxing physically. I don't know if I can keep doing that for many more years. That being said, I am still getting better photos every year.

Is there a photography subject that you obsess over?