How this Rolex 24 photographer survives a 15-mile, 30-hour work day

If you think driving in a 24-hour race is hard, try photographing it. You don’t have a teammate to share duties — or a team to support you. No way to get around the track but your feet. The conditions, from the light to the weather to the temperature, are always changing. This is where photographer Camden Thrasher thrives.

Following Camden Thrasher on Instagram is an easy way to add some awe to your scrolling diet. His motorsports photography pushes the boundaries of the job; his shots are filled with visceral movement and the result of days — years, really — spent scouting for angles that no one else knows about.

Of late, Thrasher has been shooting for AO Racing, which means he’ll be in Daytona this weekend for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona — his 14th time shooting the day-to-night-to-day race. Here’s how he makes it through a non-stop, grueling race as a one man image-making machine.

Pack only what actually works

Thrasher’s photography equipment isn’t special in and of itself: he carries a handful of camera bodies, a selection of lenses, batteries, memory cards, and a laptop. He’ll shoot up to 10,000 photos in a race like the Rolex 24, so the most crucial factor for his gear: it needs to survive. Before leaving home, he’ll make sure everything is clean and operational.

“A lot of my stuff is kind of broken in some way or another, so [I] make sure it’s unbroken enough that I can use it — and if not, pick something up along the way,” he says.

Walking the walk

Thrasher is fundamentally an improviser. He leans on his decades of experience as a race photographer to know what works — the angles, the lighting, the turns where the car will line up just right with the setting sun — while also realizing that much of the job is improvising. “I kind of allow myself just to react to what’s happening and if something takes my brain in one direction or another, I’ll let it go with that,” he says.

At the Rolex 24, he prefers to walk rather than use an electric scooter or golf cart to move about the race, though he concedes it can take him “forever” to get from place to place. “I see stuff along the way when I’m walking, and I can respond to that within my work, photographing stuff I think is interesting.” He’ll log 10 to 15 miles of steps through the full race.

At least Daytona, compared to other enduro tracks, is fairly compact. Thrasher’s most annoying trek is waiting for a shuttle to go from the infield to the outfield.

Shoot cars, then count sheep

Technically, for Thrasher, the job starts a week in advance, since he’ll work the Roar before the Rolex 24 — effectively, a weekend of test runs and development — by shooting team photos, driver portraits, and cars. At least, when he’s able to: the challenge with the Roar weekend for Thrasher is squeezing in his shots while the team gets its work down. While cars are on the track often during the Roar, Thrasher says he has to stop himself from shooting too much action. “There is a lot to do, but trying to pace yourself knowing you’ve got this super long race to document is kind of key.”

Then comes the real deal: race weekend. At the Rolex 24, the green flag flies at 1:40 PM, but the working day starts far earlier, with Thrasher shooting team prep, scouting the track, and getting ready for the start.

Night is when the fun really starts: Daytona after dark brings opportunities for creativity, since the track is so well lit. There’s also the colorful ferris wheel in the infield, and interesting lights on the elaborate campsites that line the back half of the track. “There’s plenty of weirdo stuff you can get into at night,” Thrasher says.

Blessedly, there are enough hours for experiments and rest: darkness lasts 13 hours at Daytona, which is a bit of a blessing for Thrasher. With such a long night, he can afford to take at least a short break, since the light conditions won’t change much. It makes Daytona easier than, say, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which only sees about eight hours of darkness. Thrasher needs enough energy to be up early and shooting through the end of the race — especially in the modern era, where 24-hour enduros often come down to the line.

It’s the hours after sunrise that can be the most challenging: exhaustion really starts to set in, and light conditions get less and less ideal for shooting something magical. It may seem counterintuitive, but once the sun is fully up, photos start to look the same.

IMSA, The Roar Before The 24

Photo by: Camden Thrasher

Multiple pit stops

Roughly every six hours or so, Thrasher is stopping into the media center (where the best — and sometimes only — wifi exists) to process photos and send the best to AO Racing. That’s one advantage of a 24-hour race: plenty of time to try shots between stints.

Of course, all that time means needing to find food. Thrasher is quick to point out that the Daytona International Speedway provides good meals to working media, but it’s not always convenient to sit down with a full plate. He brings his own snacks, too, but as he puts it: “I kinda eat a bunch of garbage to be honest. It’s not great.” In Daytona, he most looks forward to a 3:00am grilled cheese with the team on pit lane.

IMSA, The Roar Before The 24

Photo by: Camden Thrasher

Capturing the big finish

The end of the race depends entirely on how the team’s cars are doing. Thrasher says that sometimes teams don’t want a nosy photographer in the pits towards the end if things are going badly. On the flipside, there are magical moments — edge-of-their-seats pit crews, team hugs, exultant drivers — when the race goes well. A wide-angle shot from the pitlane can capture the whole triumphant pageant, and if the team’s on the podium, there’s even more to shoot for Thrasher.

At that point, with everyone soaked in champagne or, at least, shaking hands for a race well done, Thrasher’s still got more job to do. He’ll look back through everything he captured, editing photos with more consideration, finding strong shots he might’ve missed earlier, and making sure his team has his best work. Best case scenario, he’s working through until sunset that evening.

For Thrasher, this isn’t really the 24 Hours of Daytona — it’s more like the 30-something hours of Daytona. And all in a day’s work.

Camden Thrasher with AO Racing’s Rexy at the Roar