Meet the PTalk Photographers

Iain Shankland

Iain Shankland is PaddockTalk's Photo Editor. Iain started with the popular news site in January of 2005. Since then, he's assembled a team of very talented individuals to keep the PaddockTalk readership up-to-date with the latest in trackside imagery.

Iain began dabbling in Motorsport Photography in the year 2000, at which time he became an accredited photographer covering the Molson Indy Toronto events.

2003 brought about a turning point for Iain when his wife Gail attended the Molson Indy Toronto on the Saturday. Since that time, Gail has re-focused his motorsport photography.

Seeing her passion for motor-racing suddenly evolve, he saw a way to attend more races by following her 'female viewpoint' - "get more women interested in the sport and more guys will get to more races"!

Gail also encouraged him to expand his vision and further pursue the publication of his work. Since that time, Iain has been a contributing photographer to websites such as Flagworld.com, ChampCar-Racing.com, FastMachines.com and of course PaddockTalk.com.

Iain is very proud to have a selection of his photos published on individual driver's websites including Carpentier.ca and SebastienBourdais.com.

Iain's objective as Paddock Talk's Photo Editor is to gather an elite group of photographers to provide PaddockTalk and it's viewers with exclusive Motorsport images.

Iain also provides PaddockTalk's readers with feature articles on topics about which he feels strongly.

Email: paddocktalkphotos@gmail.com

Website: http://weeyinsindy.dotphoto.com

Paul Hurley

Paul Hurley first shot the world-famous Indianapolis 500 for the now defunct Indianapolis News in 1989. Since then, Paul has shot the Indianapolis 500 action for UPI and Reuters. Plus, over the last 11 years, he has shot the Indianapolis 500 for the Indianapolis Star.

Hurley's talents have also led to opporntunies to shoot the additional races for the Indianapolis Star. He now shoots NASCAR's Brickyard 400 and
Formula One's United States Grand Prix for the publication.

But Hurley's eye for the great shot isn't limited to racing. In the 1990's, he was a general 'stringer' for UPI and Reuters. In that position, he shot news,the NFL, the NBA and NCAA football and basketball in central Indiana.

During the 1992 Mike Tyson rape trial, Hurley's work received much attention through UPI and Sigma

Paul Hurley can be reached via email at:
Email: hurleypaul@sbcglobal.net

Gail Shankland

Gail Shankland is just one of PaddockTalk's dedicated photographers, and is one of the driving forces behind our Photo Editor, Iain Shankland.

Gail got her first taste of Motorsport photography in 2003 when she attended the Saturday events of the Molson Indy Toronto. From that time forward, it has been Gail's personal goal to deliver what she calls "what women want".

Being Gail's first live racing experience, she was shocked to see the staggering difference between driver photos as portrayed on TV and the real men behind the wheel. Gail feels strongly that the racing series and their teams are not promoting or portraying their real "assets" very well, and is convinced there would be many more women seriously interested in motorsports if only the photographers out there could capture the real "spirit", not to mention the charm and good looks, of the men beneath the helmets!

After her eye-opening experience in Toronto, Gail decided it was time to bring real focus to hers and Iain's photography and to pursue better opportunities to have their "unique" photos published.

Since that time Gail is proud to have contributed as a photographer to
Flagworld.com, PaddockTalk.com, ChampCar-Racing.com, Fast Machines.com and Carpentier.ca. While Gail's main love is the thrill of motorsport photography, she is always keenly interested in her husband's efforts as PaddockTalk's Photo Editor and Feature Writer and is devoted to provide encouragement ... so long as he continues to listen to her opinions.

Website: http://weeyinsindy.dotphoto.com

Mike Veglia
Santa Cruz, California USA

Mike Veglia's interest in motorsports and photography began in his youth growing up in Monterey, California. He first attended a major (1967 Can Am) race at Laguna Seca at the age of 9 years old. From that day forward, Mike was hooked on racing.

In the early 1970s, he began to study photography. His early photographic interest was nature work. His major inspiration was drawn from local Monterey Peninsula photographers such as Ansel Adams and Ed Weston whose work he still admires.

By the early 1980s, His passions - photography and motorsports - began to merge. By the late 80s, he was winning awards in the Professional Photojournalism division of his local county fair with his motorsports photography.

By 1999, He had turned professional and founded an internet based photography business, Motor Sport Visions.

Mike continues to learn from every shoot, keeps refining technical aspects, and striving to put thought and vision into his work. He only recently made the switch from shooting film (with manual focus Olympus OM system gear) to digital.

He's still a one frame at a time shooter and trying to make each shot count.

Website: http://www.motorsportvisions.com

Mike Veglia can be reached via email at:
Email: msvphoto@pacbell.net

Allan Shankland

Allan has been a photographer for 25 years starting in Glasgow, Scotland mainly doing the usual landscapes and portraits before moving 'down under' to Australia a few years ago.

In 2006 he was asked to join the Paddock Talk crew just in time to cover the new A1 Grand Prix race at Eastern Creek in Sydney, Australia. This was a new and exciting venture that was a bit unexpected, but extremely welcome for him as the pressure was on to live up to 'Paddock Talks' Expectations.

October came around quickly and he went to the race meeting with his wife Anne, who also got accreditation for the event and spent the weekend dodging the cars and other media folk.

The buzz was unbelievable, especially knowing that they were allowed where the public just couldn't get access. The result was that over the weekend they had over a thousand pictures to sift through and upload across the Pacific to 'PaddockTalk.com'.

This year will hopefully bring in more motorsport events for them to cover as well as the more mundane portrait, family photograph and hairdressing that keeps the wolves from the door.

Allan Shankland can be reached via email at:
Email: hairescape@hotmail.com