How I photograph motorsports
as a woman

Honestly it has been hard. And I say that with zero shame.

I spent 8 years doing birth photography. I was the fly on the wall in the most intimate moments of someone's life. It was quiet, it was emotional, and it was almost entirely a female world. Then I pivoted to motorsports and suddenly I am sticking my head out of a sunroof trying to nail the perfect action shot at full speed on a race track. The learning curve was real.

But the hardest part was not the technical stuff. It was walking into a space that is so heavily male dominated and feeling like I had to prove something just to be taken seriously. Not as a photographer. As a girl with a camera. There is a difference and anyone who has been in that position knows exactly what I mean.

I will not lie to you. I have felt knocked down. Once, twice... okay three or more times. But here is what I know now that I wish I knew sooner.

It is okay to feel that way. Feel it, sit with it, then get back up.

You find that one person who tells you to keep pushing. And sometimes that person is just you staring back at yourself in the mirror. That counts too. Build your village wherever you can find it and if you cannot find one then be your own village until the right people show up.