The Photographer

(2) Her big break

April 2022....
This was a pinch me moment for Iris, a real fucking pinch me moment. It was a dream come true, an ultimate goal achieved. She was actually here in Melbourne, Australia. She was going to be a part of the Australian Grand Prix weekend and at every upcoming Grand Prix event around the world from now on.

She was now officially part of the Aston Martin Formula One team as a photographer and social media officer, part of the team who kept the social media accounts up to date with fresh new content for the fans. It wouldn't only be the races she came to, it would include events outside of racing that either driver would attend and she'd already been told of a couple of events coming up that she would be attending with Sebastian Vettel. Excitement wasn't even the word for it!

She felt a little spike of nerves as she thought about the four times world champion German driver. Now in his second season with the team, he'd missed the first two races of the year due to illness so today was his first day back since winter testing in Bahrain. It would also be the first time that she'd seen him since the launch of the 2021 car. She still remembered meeting him, still remembered the way he'd looked as though he was staring at her through the lens of her camera, the way he'd made no secret of checking her out when she'd interviewed him, how easy going, warm, cheeky and friendly he'd been and the way he'd suddenly changed and stiffly bid her goodbye at the end. She'd never forgotten the day that she first met him and the strange connection that she'd felt with him when they'd shaken hands before she left. She'd never experienced anything in her life before quite like that and it had stuck with her because she couldn't figure out what this connection was.

Locking her loaned, blue Kia Rio, Iris popped her ear buds in. It was quite a walk from the car park to the paddock and the music would pass the time. She selected her favourite track, Filthy/gorgeous by the Scissor Sisters, and slipped her phone into her pocket, falling in to a stride that matched the beat. It soon made her forget her first day nerves and by the time she made it to the paddock where she had to scan her pass to get through the turnstiles she had a stupidly big grin on her face. She hadn't even noticed a certain German driver cycle past her a few minutes ago on his new rainbow bicycle.

Her eyes were out on stalks as she entered the paddock. Although it was lacking the luxurious motorhomes that the teams would use all around Europe, it was still impressive and seeing famous faces such as Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton made her feel almost dizzy with excitement and wish that she could start taking photos right now. But she wasn't here to capture images of everyone and everything, she wasn't here as a fan or just a tourist in the city, she was here working for Aston Martin and it was a dream come true.

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There were so many names and faces it was going to be impossible for Iris to remember them all, she was pretty sure it would take a few races at least to memorise even half of them. The only people who's names she was certain of remembering were those of Mike, the team principle and the two drivers, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel as well as the German's press officer, Britta and personal trainer, Antti who wasn't here. It had turned out that Antti was staying in Switzerland for around half of the races of this season due to his wife having their first child, he'd be working with Seb at home while Mark, his replacement at the race tracks, would be travelling with the driver himself.

With her mind full of names she knew she'd forget in the next hour or so, she was handed her first assignment, accompanying the two drivers out on their track walks - once she'd met them of course.

Lance was polite, smiled briefly, shook her hand and then wandered off. There wasn't really much she thought she could add if anyone was to ask her what it was like to meet him. He was friendly, he wasn't rude but at the same time, he was brief and spoke very little. She gave a little shrug of her left shoulder as she was led from his garage and in to the neighbouring one, maybe Lance was shy.