Shooting the Monaco Grand Prix on film Posted On 13th February 2024 To Magazine & Stories

The Love Affair

I didn’t even really like racing when we planned our trip to the Monaco Grand Prix. Not racing, not Formula 1, not any of it. But I did have a very long ongoing love affair with the south of France and any opportunity to spend time along the Mediterranean was a go for me.

Something Was Unlocked

As my husband Mark and I were planning this trip to celebrate a milestone birthday, something happened to me in the lead-up; something was unlocked. It’s Mark who has the life-long love of racing, specifically Formula 1, and Monaco was his ultimate, top-of-the-list, must-see racing event. I knew I’d enjoy this trip either way, but I also realized that unless I had a better sense of what I was watching for three days, we were going to have very different experiences. I wanted to be a part of what Mark was going to be a part of.

Obsessed

So, I enrolled in the school of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ and watched all five seasons in the few months leading up to our trip. After every episode (even ones from three, four, five years ago) I’d need to debrief with my travel mate: can you believe how that race ended? That team changed sponsors!? OMG that driver switched teams? I was doing to Formula 1 what I’ve previously done with sashiko mending and sourdough bread making: I was getting OBSESSED.

Sun-Soaked Grandstands

Cue the Monaco Grand Prix. This is THE race on the schedule. Race fans will tell you it’s not the best race nor the fastest nor anywhere close to the most exciting, but it’s the icon; the bucket list trophy for those 20 drivers on the grid. Monaco has a long, storied history in racing and, combined with its almost-unbelievable setting along the coast nestled tightly between France and Italy, the little principality becomes a magical bubble of sun-soaked grandstands, serious race fans and shiny cars for one incredible weekend every May. (If you’re wondering when the photography part comes in, bear with me, I’m getting there.)

Where To Sit

We made two deliberate decisions when we chose the Monaco GP, the first being what tickets to buy. In Monaco,the best ‘race’ of the weekend is almost always the qualifying session that takes place on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s race and so we bought tickets for that day instead of race day (we were validated with what many said was the ‘best qualifying session of the season’ so far). Our other key decision to make was where to sit. There really aren’t any bad seats in Monaco, but we wanted an iconic viewing experience for the most iconic race so we chose to sit in the grandstands that faced the Monte-Carlo Casino and the Hotel de Paris, with the Mediterranean and an endless parade of yachts in the background. It was perfect.

What I Love About Film

Shooting film in Monaco on race weekend was always my goal from the minute we bought our tickets. The history and vintage appeal of the race is exactly what I love about film: the ability to channel a feeling through images and scenes that evokes another time in the same place.

The Irony

In a sea of smartphone and long-lens digital shooters, shooting film was definitely not the norm that weekend. The irony of shooting black and white film at one of the glitziest, most colourful, and fastest sporting events is not lost on me. A lot of photographers at races capture the details of the cars, the speed on the track, the action taking place between the barriers. Those images are amazing but I knew they wouldn’t make sense for me, and without trackside access, I’d be limited in my ability to capture much of that detail without a long zoom lens (not bringing that on vacay!)

The Legacy

This trip was about capturing a feeling; the juxtaposition of the modern cars and people dropped into the history and legacy of Monaco. Most of the racing events take place between 11am and 5pm. In a place that enjoys about 300 days of sun each year, I knew that even with speeding cars, I would be able to shoot a low ISO film (ILFORD Pan F 50) on a slow camera (my FujiGA645 with a max aperture of f/4) and get results I’d love. I hoped some of the cars would blur (they did) and I crossed my fingers that the film would handle the changing shadow conditions throughout the day (it did).

The Right Amount Of Grain

The FujiGA645 never lets me down and yet its moniker as the only “medium format point and shoot” doesn’t give this amazing camera enough credit. It reads nearly every scene perfectly, even the tricky hard shadows of afternoon sun in the Mediterranean, and the camera’s default Portrait-orientation was ideal for framing the S-shape bend of the track in front of us. High contrast Pan films are always my go-to when I shoot black and white and ILFORD Pan F might just be my perfect film, balancing dark blacks, white whites, and the right amount of grain. Even in the narrow, winding streets away from the track, steeped in harsh lighting, this film + camera combo knew exactly what to do.

The Time-Travel Appeal

I shot plenty of colour from these same grandstand seats that Saturday, but nothing matches the time-travel appeal of my black and white images from this magical day in Monaco. And now, as a full-convert to F1 racing, it’s only a matter of time before I’m back at another track; that rare film shooter searching for an analog experience in a very non-analog world.

This series was shot in May 2023 using a FujiGA645 camera, ILFORD Pan F 50 film and ILFORD ID-11 developer.

©Jess Kosmack