#5 #3

Sebby spending time with Ferrari

Hi. I’m Noora and I’m what one may call a “professional photographer” by which I mean I have a fancy degree that says I take photos good and idiots with phone cameras refuse to hire me. This post isn’t about me but I felt like I should throw that base down before I get into this.

Other people have already made posts about how he is definitely very creepy in his practices of shooting not only women on paddock but also drivers, drivers families and “popular staff”. Calling this man an F1 sponsored glorified paparazzi is actually closer to the truth than any of us would like to admit.

Kym is an unprofessional photographer who subscribes to the strategy of quantity over quality. Of course even a bad photographer will strike gold every now and then if they take thousands upon thousands of photos. And that is exactly what he is doing. His “signature look” on paddock has gained him the status of a recognizable photographer which (combined with being an older white man) has gained him more photography opportunities than his skill level ever could have. Now of course if he was just a skilled photographer taking a lot of photos and being good at networking that wouldn’t be a problem would it?

Kym Illman regularly recreates photos by less known photographers without referencing any inspiration despite being quite vocal on social media and watermarking all of his content and tends to often also do a worse job technically. Kym also will post imperfect photos that anyone can see no professional photographer would post, because they reflect badly on that photographer’s actual talents. This includes out of focus photos of drivers, halfway done color corrections and unintentional motion blur.

The fact that this man is the most popular, most followed, most famous F1 photographer currently is really an insult to every other talented person with a camera working their ass off out there and on a broader scale an insult to every single talented photographer struggling to make a living with their craft while this Australian man is making bank with what is mediocre photos at best. Now not to just tell you he’s shit I will also provide alternatives. Each one of who deserve more recognition.

https://www.instagram.com/vladimirrys/ https://www.instagram.com/vvorsicphoto/ https://www.instagram.com/jameypricephoto/ https://www.instagram.com/heathpov/ https://www.instagram.com/f1photographer/ https://www.instagram.com/jirikrenek74/ https://www.instagram.com/dautremont_michael/ https://www.instagram.com/calloalbanese/

https://www.instagram.com/loujohnsonphoto/

Mark Sutton has been working with F1 photography since 1986 and his throwbacks (including to the Senna/Prost, Schumacher/Häkkinen, etc. eras) are awesome. He has a lot of beautiful shots in his highlights.

Clive Mason is another amazing F1 photographer. He’s worked with other sports, too, if you want to check that out.

Joshua Paul at Lollipop Magazine has some great, introspective shots.

Laurent Charniaux works with backgrounds better than anyone I’ve ever seen.

Glenn Dunbar is currently with Racing Point in Austria and he’s also got plenty of cool throwbacks.

Florent Gooden took THAT picture of Charles looking mad at Max after Austria. That should be enough to earn your follow.