Taiwanese pianist Chen Kuan-yu performs during a concert in the middle of a rice paddy in Chishang Township, Taitung County November 7, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer

French priest Pouchard is given oxygen after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning during his mass in Angres church near Lievin, northern France, November 8, 2009. About 150 people were listening to the mass in the church when the incident occurred. REUTERS/Stringer

Parishioners at Greater Vision Community Church cry during the altar call as a pastor offers prayers for those killed in the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Killeen, Texas, November 8, 2009. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

Women wait outside a church to have their skulls blessed during the Day of Skulls at the General Cemetery in La Paz November 8, 2009. Bolivians who keep close relatives’ skulls at home as a macabre talisman flock to the cemetery chapel once a year to have the craniums blessed and to bring themselves good luck in the future. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

A man is checked by a policeman patrolling the slum district of Petare in Caracas November 8, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

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Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall (L) reacts as she waits for her husband Prince Charles to fire the gun on the HMCS Haida in Hamilton, Ontario November 5, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Thornhill

Drivers of mass transit system buses receive H1N1 vaccine injections at a hospital in Hefei, Anhui province November 6, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer

Tiger Woods reaches for the ball as he plays on the 8th hole during the 2009 HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai November 6, 2009. REUTERS/Aly Song

Native Brazilians from the Xavante nation carry out a ritual before the start of a canoeing competition at the Indigenous Nations’ Games in Pagagominas, north Brazil November 5, 2009. REUTERS/Paulo Santos

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New York Yankees players celebrate with Alex Rodriguez (13) after they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 to win the 2009 World Series in New York November 4, 2009. REUTERS/Bill Kostroun

Visitors at Durban’s Ushaka Marine World get a good view of a shark, November 1, 2009. REUTERS/Rogan Ward

Buddhist monks walk through the Shwe Indein Pagoda near Inle lake November 4, 2009. REUTERS/Soe Zeya

Nuns listen to Pope Benedict XVI as he leads his weekly audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican November 4, 2009. REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico

A policeman kicks at a boy, who is fleeing a military offensive in South Waziristan, to force him back into a queue for handouts at a distribution point for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Dera Ismail Khan, located in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province, November 4, 2009. REUTERS/Mustansar Baloch

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Bostan Khanr, who is fleeing a military offensive in South Waziristan, waits for a medical check up, at the Army Field Camp Hospital for internally displaced persons (IDPs), in Dera Ismail Khan, located in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province, November 3, 2009. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

A 32-metre (105 feet) statue of late Chairman Mao Zedong in his youth is seen under construction in Changsha, Hunan province, November 3, 2009. REUTERS/China Daily

A member of the Philadelphia 76ers “Hare Raisers” grabs the ball to dunk in between periods of the Philadelphia 76ers versus the Boston Celtics NBA game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania November 3, 2009. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer

A man wearing a mask is reflected in the mirror window as he leaves a shop in the centre of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, November 3, 2009. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

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Joshua Grant (L) and Brock Hayhoe, members of New York’s professional all-male Dance Company “Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo”, also known as the Trocks, pose for pictures in Sydney October 23, 2009. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

Shi Liliang, 33, a monk from Southern Shaolin Temple, performs a special Chinese martial art stunt, known in Chinese as Shuishangpiao or “running on water”, at a reservoir on the outskirts of Quanzhou, Fujian province, October 22, 2009. Shi ran on the surface of a row of 1-centimetre-thick (0.39 inch) plywoods for 18 metres (59 feet), breaking his own record of 15 metres (49 feet) created several days ago, local media reported. REUTERS/Stringer

A policeman beats a man, who was fleeing a military offensive in South Waziristan, for cutting in front of others at a food distribution point for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Paharpur, 40 km (about 25 miles) by road from Dera Ismail Khan, located in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province, October 22, 2009. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood

A Palestinian woman holding a photograph of her jailed relative is reflected in a photograph of another jailed Palestinian as she takes part in a protest in support of Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in front of the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City October 22, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

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Los Angeles Dodgers hitter Manny Ramirez gets ready to hit in the eighth inning of play against the Philadelphia Phillies as fans hold up signs in Game 5 of their Major League Baseball NLCS playoff series in Philadelphia, October 21, 2009. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

A novice Tibetan monk pauses during a prayer meeting at Lower Wutun Monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province October 22, 2009. REUTERS/Jason Lee

A crane lifts a damaged coach of a passenger train at the site of a train accident on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Mathura October 21, 2009. A speeding passenger train rammed into another waiting near Mathura city station early on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring several others, officials said. REUTERS/K. K. Arora

A victim of a train accident is carried by rescuers and army soldiers at the site of the accident on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Mathura October 21, 2009. REUTERS/K. K. Arora

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Students take part in a march against Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe in Bogota October 20, 2009. The students also demanded an increase in public university funding during the protest. REUTERS/John Vizcaino

The shadow of a bomb disposal team member falls on the site of a blast as he takes photographs at the International Islamic University in Islamabad October 20, 2009. Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a strategic town on Tuesday while two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in the capital killed six people and wounded at least 20, officials said. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

An Afghan man carries a sack at a market in Kabul October 21, 2009. REUTERS/ Omar Sobhani

Members of a visit, board, search and seizure team from the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68) and U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team 91104 instruct the crewmembers of a vessel to show their hands as the team approaches to conduct a boarding, in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, October 15, 2009. REUTERS/Matthew Bash/U.S. Navy/Handout

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A man stands in front of a decorated house in the small village of Sietes, northern Spanish region of Asturias October 19, 2009. The Spanish village of ‘Sietes’ (Sevens) is being decorated with corporative Windows 7 operating system colours for a presentation event that will be held on Thursday October 22 as part of the Windows 7 international launching. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

A child looks on as a policeman patrols the streets near Manguinhos slum as the violence continued two days after drug traffickers shot down one of their crime-fighting helicopters, in Rio de Janeiro October 19, 2009. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

A masked man shouts slogans in favour of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas as he waves a scarf with the yellow-red-green Kurdish colours during a pro Kurdish demonstration in downtown Istanbul October 19, 2009. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

A model displays a creation by Mint Designs at a fashion show during Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo October 19, 2009. REUTERS/Michael Caronna

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A police officer stands next to an armored police vehicle as he patrols Jacarezinho slum a day after drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter and set fire to five buses and a school, in Rio de Janeiro October 18, 2009. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

Debris of a burnt residential building is seen in the northern Indian hill town of Shimla October 18, 2009. No causalities were reported, and the cause of the fire was not known. REUTERS/Amit Kanwar

Jessica Gil Ortiz from Colombia falls during her routine in the women’s floor final at the Gymnastics World Championships at the O2 Arena in London October 18, 2009. Gil Ortiz was taken to hospital after the fall. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

Supporters of leftist ruling party Frente Amplio participate in a car parade in Montevideo October 18, 2009. Uruguay’s presidential elections will take place on October 25. REUTERS/Andres Stapff

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My nickname among the Reuters photographers in Tokyo is "Crasher".

They call me that because I always seem to get pictures right at the moment of a crash whenever I cover motorsports.

One colleague sometimes teases me saying "You’ve got to stop pouring oil on the track," and I answer: "I would never use oil -- I only use banana skins!"

In motorsports the most exciting moment you can capture in a picture is a crash.

That instant can be the difference between life and death, and it’s a picture that is most difficult to capture.

My technique is to pay attention to any unusual movements. Racers usually all try to keep to the same optimum path through a curve.

Any deviation from this can mean a crash may be imminent.

This is how I  caught the full sequence of Dani Pedorasa's crash in the 2007 MotoGP (top).

In much the same way, in the 2008 Formula One race, I caught the crash of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Felipe Massa as they fought hard for the championship.

But my crash experience at this year's Formula One Japan Grand Prix was very different.

During qualifying, I heard the voice of our chief photographer crackle over my walkie-talkie, "Toyota crash... Looks serious...".

I ran to the scene and when I arrived Toyota driver Timo Glock was lying on a stretcher with an oxygen mask.

At that instant, I feared I was looking at something that motorsports fans never want to see happen to the drivers.

But the next moment, Timo Glock's hand moved, and in a moment he was clearly waving to the crowd as he was put in an ambulance.

As I took another picture I felt my camera’s shutter clicked with a sense of relief.

Photo credits: REUTERS/Toru Hanai