April 12, 2014, 3:06pm

Photographing MotoGP bikes at the Circuit of the Americas as a spectator and as a member of the media are two distinctly different experiences. As a credentialed media photographer, the track is your oyster. The circuit’s striking red, white, and blue paint scheme generously offer opportunities to create brilliant images, and there isn’t much of the track that you aren’t afforded a clear view of. In 2014, I didn’t know this yet. For the second year in a row, I attended the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas as a spectator and the photographic experience was nearly the complete opposite. Multiple layers of safety fences relentlessly obscured the track. For reasons that remain unknown to me, I was unable to work out an effective way of panning through the fencing, something I have had little trouble doing at the other circuits I have been to. However, there was one saving grace: the turn 3 bridge, which thanks to its elevated position, offers one of the track’s rare unobstructed vantage points as well as a spectacular view of turns 3, 4, and 5 that even the media photographers don’t have access to. Stefan Bradl, riding for LCR Honda that season, wore a racing livery that matched his surrounding colors quite well and was a top choice for this single-bike portrait.