Renowned F1 photographer Kym Illman has dug into his own story to give an insight into how to become what he is. However, one thing that he has clarified is that “it’s not easy.”
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the Australian revealed that he started his career in the pinnacle of motorsport in 2017. To get the FIA’s accreditation, he wrote to the governing body and outlined his prospects as more of a better marketer for the sport than a photographer.
Illman himself admits that the FIA thought his idea had merit and gave him accreditation for the pre-season testing in Barcelona in 2017. Going forward, he got accredited for the Australian, Chinese, and Bahrain GP, and that is where his career took a big leap.
A random disagreement paved the way for Kym Illman
Illman did not have a very traditional entry into the sport. Digging into his story, the Australian revealed how a random disagreement between a crew of photographers paved the way for him.
At the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix, Illman was standing next to a legendary photographer Mark Sutton, who had a disagreement and fell short of one photographer. Seizing the opportunity, the Australian offered his help to Sutton, agreed on a fee, and ‘out of nowhere’ he was shooting F1 for Sutton images.
Power of social media
In the video, Illman has also explained how his sons forced him into using the power of social media to boost his career. He remembered how his older son, Tyler, talked him into creating an Instagram profile. The Australian said that he hated the idea of using the social media platform but he ultimately signed up and now has over 460,000 followers.
On another occasion, Tyler convinced Illman to create a YouTube channel and while the Australian was against the idea initially, he did this as well. He now has 340,000 subscribers on his channel. The Australian photographer recalled that his first video on YouTube was terrible and his son did not let him upload it.
Even though Illman is a Formula 1 photographer, his Instagram profile does not have a lot of pictures of cars. He dived into this aspect and explained that even though he is covering motorsport, people aren’t interested in cars.
Netflix’s F1 docu-series Drive to Survive has brought the drivers to the forefront and Illman believes that people are more interested in them. He found his niche in covering these elements of the paddock and has since released multiple series on Lewis Hamilton’s outfits, cars that F1 drivers drive to the track, how much F1 drivers spend on hotels, etc.
Nevertheless, Illman revealed that last year he was reached out by the largest global photo platform, Getty Images, to be a contributor. Ever since, Illman posts his regular track images, mostly of people, on Getty, while pictures of the cars go on his own website, Pro Star Pics.
Pros and Cons of being an F1 photographer
Speaking from personal experience, Illman explained that people often fail to fathom the difficulties of the job when they aspire to become an F1 photographer. Delving deeper into the work hours of an F1 photographer, the Australian said that over the four days of a race weekend, the hours last about 14 hours.
A lot of time is spent in travel, away from the family. On top of that, Illman highlighted that this becomes even more difficult for a freelancer as they need a lot of money to support their logistics and travels to the F1 races, which now take place 24 times a year.
Illman also pointed out that the parts he doesn’t like about the job are living out of a suitcase and food. But it isn’t all bad as the Australian highlighted the pros of the job. The renowned photographer said that he loves traveling and that his skills are always improving since he is shooting a huge number of images.
