Motorsport through the eyes of a woman

Last weekend in Qatar within the frames of the final stage of Superbike World Championship "Yakhnich Motorsport" team-manager Nataliya Lyubimova presented herself in a quite unexpected way: as the author of a pretty outstanding photo project.

12 images reflecting the role of a Woman in the motorsport world will form the 2015 calendar of YMS  - it's an annual tradition of the team to put together the calendar for fans and motor family, and this year it celebrates its fifth issue.  The current calendar is indeed very special – as the team manager expressed herself as a photographer.

The basic idea of ​​the photo project this year is the emotional side of motorsport, which is concentrated in those women who surround the riders: mothers, wives, girlfriends ... "It is a man's world, but it wouldn't mean nothing without a woman" - states the title page of the calendar, gradually revealing the "women's view" on the harsh world of motorsport. 12 months reflect 12 key words that mean so much for the rider on his way to the victory: "Mother", "Сare", "Family", "Belief”, "Love", "Wisdom", "Unity" ... There's a great emotional drama taking place behind the scenes of the motorsport battles, and women are always in the center of all that: here you see the tears of the mother who's son just lost; here are the girlfriend’s eyes filled with hope at the start of the race; then you hear the happy winner's wife screaming... Nataliya Lyubimova managed to reveal a huge world of feelings and emotions experienced by women involved in the daily struggle of men fighting on the world motorcycle tracks. Each photo is incredibly sincere - the author captured the moments of true feelings in the hustle and bustle of the paddock . There are no staged shots, nothing too over-artistic, no even the color - all pictures are black and white - but the emotion transmitted so vividly and honestly, that it touches so deeply. The simplicity of these photographs guides to really incredible depth of understanding the essence of how strong those feelings of the women are. They mostly remain in the shade, but in the end of a day, there's always a woman standing behind every man's victory – in motorbike world as well. That's a very fresh new approach that Nataliya was able to show in her photo project.

Nataliya Lyubimova: "I am not a professional photographer. I'm just a girl who loves to take photos, to capture some special moments, so most of my photos are reportage. What TV shows us about motorsport? It’s adrenaline, fighting, speed, the joy of victory. And I would like to show this world from a very different point of view - filled with very personal, delicate feelings. I want to dedicate this photo project to not only the superbike girls, but also to all those women in different championships and other sports who raise future champions, love them, work for them, worry, care, support, cry their tears for their husbands, boyfriends, sons, brothers... I am a woman, and I know all these feelings very well myself. And I'm very happy to be part of this big motorbike family!"