Welp, I'm off to TX in a few hours to marshal at COTA! Should be interesting...

[RatHawk]

First time volunteering to flag marshal with Dorna. Looking forward to the experience! MotoGP! Circuit of the Americas! How taboo is having your own camera equipment with you trackside? Used with discretion and set down during the actual racing OK or not? Thanks in advance for some guidance here.

[Mark Mitchell]

You'll be asked to leave if you're spotted using a camera whilst track is live.
By all means take a camera, put it away in your bag whilst the track is live. Use it when you are in downtime.
In other words, if you get a shot of a bike on the track, you're risking your pass!

[RatHawk]

I'm going to quit asking questions I didn't want the answer to! ...thanks...

[Mark Mitchell]

Btw- it's a crackin' circuit and Austin is cool

[TrueBlueFlyer]

to me, taking a few pictures from the event (the venue, maybe paddock, pit lane, etc.) is the best memory/keepsake I can take from volunteering.

most of my colleagues in the US don't seem to agree with me


that said I've already seen pictures posted on facebook from the MotoGP at COTA this weekend, so I'm sure you won't be the only one with a camera


Have fun!

[leftandright]

well, the powers that be motogp confiscated a GoPro before the race from a marshal at Turn1 that had mounted it on a barrier well away from the marshal stand (they saw it from the race control cameras). Wiped the memory and kept the camera-was not returned to the marshal. Someone said on the SCCA marshal site that it went back to Angora w the race director...

[Greem]

TV contracts do rather dictate what recordings can be taken and in what position at most major (and some minor!) events, which may explain that course of action.

More widely though: if I've volunteered (this is a hypothetical me) for a meeting, then I've volunteered to fulfil a specific role. To take advantage of that role by filming or taking photographs (when the track is live, specifically) when I've not signed on or been accredited as media means I'm not doing what I'm there for.

The immediacy of various forms of social media do mean that we get the opportunity to post "right at the heart of the action" photos or videos; but by doing so, we're not actually *in* the heart of the action, we're bystanders. I don't volunteer to be a bystander - I can go the other side of the fence to do that with everyone else. And the organisers expect a level of commitment from me once I've signed on, not for me to have my concentration (or presence) wander in and out of focus while the track is live.

I guess what I'm saying, in a roundabout way, is: don't take the mickey.

[Woolley]

Exactly right. We're not spectators and shouldn't act as such. Apart from anything else, operating a camera or similar from trackside can be a dangerous activity. I would assume various insurances would be invalidated by doing so.

If you wish to take photos there may be certain times under exceptional circumstances when it's possible to do so, but never during live sessions and always with the express permission of the post chief. Otherwise I believe marshals' standing instructions are 'no cameras or phones on post'.

[TrueBlueFlyer]

Originally Posted by leftandright

well, the powers that be motogp confiscated a GoPro before the race from a marshal at Turn1 that had mounted it on a barrier well away from the marshal stand (they saw it from the race control cameras). Wiped the memory and kept the camera-was not returned to the marshal. Someone said on the SCCA marshal site that it went back to Angora w the race director...

that's quite interesting!

[Slipstick]

Originally Posted by leftandright

well, the powers that be motogp confiscated a GoPro before the race from a marshal at Turn1 that had mounted it on a barrier well away from the marshal stand (they saw it from the race control cameras). Wiped the memory and kept the camera-was not returned to the marshal. Someone said on the SCCA marshal site that it went back to Angora w the race director...

Sounds like theft of a camera to me...unless of course the marshal didn't want to admit who owned it so they didn't know who to return it to .

Steve