If you’re born and bred in the Hoosier state, May always brings a sense of excitement. It’s race season, and nowhere in the world is that more exciting than in Indianapolis, the home of the largest spectator sport in the world, the Indy 500. While racing season always sets a thrill in the air in Indianapolis, for Chris Owens, racing season takes on a whole new meaning.
Owens has the lucky job of overseeing all photography related to the racing season. As the manager of photo operations for Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar Series, he manages all photography on race day, promotional events, driver photos, hospitality gatherings, you name it. If it leads up to race day, he and his camera aren’t far away.
As a young kid growing up in the small town of Bluffton, Indiana, Owens found a single-lens reflex camera amongst the toys in his toy box. He fondly remembers toting it around pretending to capture the moments around him. His love of photography further grew as he collected sports cards and then took high school photography courses, leading to collegiate study at both the University of Vincennes and the Art Institute of Indianapolis, the latter chosen to help further his skills while getting him closer to the track.
“I always knew I wanted to photograph the race,” he says. “I really pushed the envelope to try and get on the team. I had to keep after it for years. Finally, in 2010 I got the chance to meet the manager of photography and joined the team as a volunteer. As people came and went, I landed the role of manager.”
While acting as the lead photographer of the Indy 500 is exhilarating and certainly qualifies as a dream job, Owens recognizes that it is a highly demanding role. Race day itself requires a huge amount of preparation and versatile skill sets to coordinate and capture all of the memorable moments that occur annually on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
“The whole season is really adrenaline fueled,” he says. “There’s practicing for weeks and the Grand Prix before the actual race. But race day is a totally different beast. You have 350,000 people and all of their energy is wearing off onto you. There’s this buildup year-round to this event, but the race only lasts two to three hours and then it’s over. You really have to know what you want to accomplish that day.”
Outside of the creative needs placed on the photography team, Owens spends a great amount of time planning where the team will need to be, to ensure no relevant moments slip by. There are so many events that have to be captured, from the EDM festival at the start and race highlights, all the way through to the drinking of the milk at Victory Circle. Additionally, every photographer needs to be equipped with fresh, full batteries and clean memory cards. Each moment has to be documented to the fullest extent.
Despite the whirlwind that is race day, Owens always heads to Victory Circle as the race nears the end. He likes to join spectators to feel that same excitement of the roaring crowds as the finishers cross the line into Victory Circle. “It’s surreal to know you’re documenting history and you know it’s important to so many people,” he says.
He does like to remind people that, as with any job, it’s not all glitz and glamour. There is a fair amount of the mundane that must be done as well. Owens manages an archive of more than four million historical images. With the exception of about 90 days out of the year, he is traveling to take part in public relations events and promotional experiences, all a part of the fanfare that connects one race season to the next. And he frequently finds himself faced with creative requests that vary from best-of-year galleries to driver headshots.
Despite any amount of ordinary tasks that go along with his job, and sometimes because of them, Owens always remembers that he is living his dream job.
“My favorite part is being able to connect my two passions, which are Indycar racing and photography,” he says. “I’m the one with the responsibility who gets to share what I love with so many other people that love it. I get to be their eyes – get to share some of those behind-the-scenes moments. A lot of time there are things that happen in garages, or even going on PR stunt trips and getting to go to dinner with the crew and drivers. That’s what I do it for.”
For those of you gearing up for race season this year, he has a few bits of advice to share.
“You can get great photos from a lot of places at the track,” he says. “You don’t need to be trackside to get great images. I often go into the fan areas to get great images.”
Even as he looks ahead to the coming season and the logistical stresses it may bring, there is no other job he’d rather do.
