Stoppelcross Rammingen
When the fields have been harvested, it’s time for the motocross riders to make their move. Local motorsports clubs [↗] set up courses in the fields and host races over a weekend for their members and anyone else who’d like to join in. Of course, there are rules for both the gear and the motorcycles, but these are more like events for everyone rather than high-performance racing. The whole thing has a bit of a village festival vibe, complete with a festival tent, sausages, and cake.
Rammingen in the Alb-Donau district near Ulm is one of those villages that hosts such a weekend every year at the end of August. As I mentioned in the kitesurfing article, I’m not really a sports photographer. But since it went pretty well there, I thought I’d take the opportunity to practice panning.
The great thing about these events is that you can get relatively close to the track. Instead of being 100 meters or more away from the action, as is the case at large professional events, I was maybe 10 meters away from the motorcycles. I did have my 100–400mm lens with me, but I mostly shot with my standard zoom. I often used focal lengths between 100 and 150mm and then cropped the images a bit during post-processing.
Of course, there’s a huge amount of rejected shots with this type of photography, but in the end, a surprising number of photos turned out well. Here’s a selection of my favorite shots.
