Major Events · Melbourne · Motorsport
Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix / Melbourne
Photographing Formula 1 above Albert Park since 2012 — from race-day helicopter operations and pit-lane celebrations to dusk flights over Melbourne.
The project
More than a decade above one of Melbourne’s biggest international events.
We first photographed the Australian Grand Prix from the air in 2012. The first flight was in a Bell 206 JetRanger with a pilot who was also a superbike racer and avid Formula 1 fan. It did not take much persuasion to get the idea airborne.
That first flight developed into a long running photographic relationship with the event, including commissions for Formula 1 and Tourism Australia and opportunities to experience the Grand Prix from both the air and the ground.
What continues to make the project unusual is the combination of scale, atmosphere and access. For a few days each year, Albert Park is transformed into one of Melbourne’s largest international sporting stages, creating a constantly changing subject both on the ground and from the air.
- Project
- Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix
- Location
- Albert Park · Melbourne, Victoria
- Since
- 2012
- Aircraft
- Bell 206 JetRanger · AS350 · EC120
- Commissions
- Formula 1 · Tourism Australia · event coverage
- Environment
- Major live event · high-density helicopter operations
Race-day airspace
The first challenge is getting the helicopter into the right piece of sky.
On that first 2012 flight, the air above Albert Park was already full of movement. Joy-flight helicopters were flying their regular patterns around the outside of the circuit while the broadcast helicopter worked the race itself.
Our job was to fit into that picture, working in over the lake and repositioning around the circuit as the event unfolded below. With dedicated event air traffic coordination managing separation and constant aircraft movements, the photography has to be planned around what the airspace will actually allow in each moment.
Over the years, experience has made a real difference. By understanding the traffic flow, timing and geometry of the circuit, we have developed ways of reaching viewpoints that initially seemed almost impossible, while still working within the operational structure around the event.
The moment
Pit lane, the celebrations and the last of the golden light.
There are plenty of moments worth chasing during a Grand Prix, but the favourite has always come after the racing finishes. As the celebrations build around pit lane, the late-afternoon light begins to fall across Albert Park Lake and the event briefly takes on a completely different character.
Coming in over pit lane at that point, with the circuit still full of energy below and golden hour stretching across the lake, has produced some of the most memorable frames from the project. It is a very short window, which makes positioning and timing as important as the photograph itself.
Formula 1 commissions
Seeing the event from both sides.
In other years Formula 1 commissioned us directly, providing an opportunity to experience the Grand Prix from within the circuit as well as from the helicopter above it.
At ground level the event takes on an entirely different character. The noise, intensity and speed are immediate, but so too is the history of Formula 1 racing. The teams, machinery, pit lane, crowds and enormous amount of activity required to bring the event together.
Exploring that side of the Grand Prix provided a richer appreciation of what we were photographing from the sky. From above, the circuit can appear almost graphic in its scale and geometry. Having experienced the event at ground level, there is a much greater understanding of the energy and complexity contained within that view.
Melbourne as an event destination
The Grand Prix in the context of the city.
Tourism Australia and Tourism Victoria later commissioned Lensaloft to provide aerial coverage of the Grand Prix as part of a wider story about Melbourne as an event destination.
That brief expanded the perspective beyond the circuit. We photographed race-day activity around Albert Park from an AS350, then climbed to approximately 4,000 feet over Melbourne to show the event within the larger city around it. Both video and stills fed to a live feed for all to enjoy.
From that altitude, the Grand Prix becomes more than a motorsport photo. Albert Park, Port Phillip Bay, the CBD and the surrounding suburbs can all sit within the same frame. A useful visual explanation of just how close a major international race is to the centre of Melbourne.
A different Melbourne
What would Albert Park look like as the city lights came on?
During discussion around a possible night race, we flew an EC120 high above the circuit at dusk to capture a very different relationship between the event and Melbourne.
As daylight fell away, Albert Park remained active below while the city lights began to build around it. The view made the visual argument immediately: the temporary circuit glowing in the park, with Melbourne illuminated beyond.
I still prefer the character of the day race, but from the helicopter it was difficult to ignore how spectacular the event looked against the city at dusk.
More than the photograph
A challenge to photograph. A privilege to be part of.
There are easier subjects to photograph from a helicopter, but very few with the same combination of energy, scale and atmosphere. Every year is different, and every flight presents another way of looking at an event that temporarily transforms an enormous part of Melbourne.
From that first Bell 206 flight in 2012 to commissions for Formula 1 and Tourism Australia, being given the opportunity to photograph the Australian Grand Prix from these perspectives has always felt like a privilege.
Related projects & capabilities
More major-event aerial work.
Major projects & events
Planning aerial coverage for a major event in Melbourne or around Australia?
Lensaloft can coordinate the creative, aviation, access, approvals, capture and post-production requirements for complex aerial photography and film projects.