Nick Dungan is an award-winning automotive and motorsport photographer who travels the globe capturing stunning images for motorsport events and automotive brands. For over a decade, Nick has built a career in automotive and motorsport to become a highly acclaimed, award-winning photographer. Nick has always loved cars, racecars, and motorsports.
Growing up in the UK, Nick lived close to a motorsport track and recalls visiting the track with his dad to watch UK touring car races. Nick recalls picking up his first camera from an electronics retailer he worked for and taking that with him on his trackside outings. His love of motorsports persisted, and while studying and later practising as a London-based senior product designer, Nick would use any spare time to visit the track. While Nick was a senior designer in London, the call of the racetrack and his love of motorsports motivated him to give it his all.
In 2014, Nick quit his design job and gave motorsport and automotive photography his full attention. His early jobs included shoots for friends, newspapers, and other media outlets. Nick is humble and appreciative of his opportunity to work in such a unique genre. His early clients also included car brands and leading motorsport sponsors over traditional news and media outlets. Nick recalls his first paid gig with experienced motorsport photographer, Drew Gibson. Drew Gibson is a renowned UK-based motorsport photographer who, over the years, formed a connection with Nick. Drew must have been impressed with Nick’s work, as he later asked Nick to photograph the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Nick nailed the job and has continued to work for and alongside Drew, photographing big clients, including Aston Martin and Porsche. It was a pivotal moment for his career that sprang from a chance meeting trackside. Nick spoke of the value of always doing your best and being nice to other photographers around you. You never know who you will cross paths with and what that will lead to. Nick and Drew can spend up to 30 weeks of the year following a championship. It’s a lot of time away from home base in the UK.
Of course, it wouldn’t be The Camera Life if we didn’t talk gear! Nick recently upgraded his two camera bodies to the Sony A1 Mark II. He was previously shooting with the original Sony A1 and found that in his line of work, dual bodies are the way to go. Changing lenses while trackside always risks allowing dust into your camera and coating the image sensor with spots. Given the quick turnaround time of image delivery, no one has the time to edit out countless dust spots. Having dual bodies ensures he can have two different lenses set up and ready to go without swapping out lenses. As for lernses, Nick shoots with a range of primes and zooms including the Sigma 14mm Art f/1.8, Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM, Zeiss 50mm f/1.4, a newly acquired Sigma 50mm f/1.2, Sigma 105mm Art f/1.4, Sony 70-200mm f/2.8, and the Sony 400mm f/2.8. That’s a lot of kit to lug all around the world. During the podcast, Nick revealed that in a typical weekend, he can shoot up to 25,000 frames to ensure that he captures every movement of an event.
If you’re unfamiliar with The Camera Life Podcast, be sure to take a look at our YouTube channel for the latest episodes and, of course, our back catalogue of weekly shows. Our shows are also available on popular audio podcast platforms. If you like what you see, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to The Camera Life, and click on the bell icon to receive notifications of upcoming shows. We host two shows weekly, the first being every Thursday at 9am AEDT (Australia), where we interview amazing guests. The second show, The Random Photography Show, airs every Monday at 7:30 pm AEDT. The Random Photography show is a little random, a little loose, and a lot of fun! Be sure to check them out.
Where to find Nick:
- Website: https://nickdungan.co.uk/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickdunganphoto/
