Return of the Bas: We catch up on track with the Pro Photographer
Motorsport took a back seat whilst the world battled through the Covid-19 pandemic, when you think about who is affected it’s easy to suggest the drivers, the pit crew and the manufacturers. It may not always be obvious to think about the pro photographers who make their living capturing motorsport every weekend and how they might be affected. As motorsport returned, we met up with Bas Fransen at the Nürburgring as cars began to take to the track.
At the age of 35, Bas hails from Holland and is often found at trackside of many GT motorsport events across Europe. Since 2017 Bas has worked for some of the leading car manufacturers and his work is often seen across the Instagram platform and many, many car magazines. One could certainly be jealous of the images and videos Bas posts to his own Instagram channel. His work allows him to travel to some of the best circuits around the world, with probably the best view of the racing!
“Cars have always been my passion and I started photographing this passion 20 years ago. I started growing on Instagram several years later, due to a lot of social media content photography I did for Mercedes-Benz. A few years later, it was Curbstone Track Events who contacted me in 2016 asking me if I wanted to become their new house photographer. This was a big step for me, because until that opportunity came, automotive photography was not my full time income."
“After meetings with Curbstone Track Events I decided to become a full time photographer in 2017, combining all the events of Curbstone together with 8 or 9, second hand exclusive dealers for which I am responsible for the photography. Now 4 years later, I'm almost fully booked, every week, with work. So this step was the best step ever!!”
Photo Credit: Curbstone Track Events / Bas Fransen Photography
With motorsport returning it’s highly likely we will see measures in place to stop the spread of Covid-19 for some time. With limited pit crews, no spectators and restrictions of press & media it’s interesting to see how this will affect the overall scene. “Indeed I was really happy to be back at the track, because that is what I love the most. I had enough adrenaline indeed. Things that are a little bit different, the fact that a mouth mask is required is still a little uncomfortable.”
Social Media has always been a fantastic way for motorsport fans to get their automobile fix and you could easily suggest it has played an even bigger part during the worldwide lockdown. “Social Media has become so important for photographers. It definitely gave me extra work. I realised the big growth with Mercedes-Benz. Each time they gave me a new (AMG) Mercedes-Benz to photograph, they of course shared a lot of the photos afterwards. This resulted in significant growth of followers from each post. Interactions with followers is something that I definitely like. Regularly I ask my followers to give reactions to specific things.”
