Field archery championships

pyry

My archery club had the honor of organizing the Finnish field archery championships this year. The FITA-style competition was held in the difficult wooded and rocky terrains of Oittaa in Espoo, Finland. The next day the final rounds were brought to the public - right into the city of Espoo at Tapiola centre.

The main part of the competition on Saturday consisted of 24 targets, 3 arrows each. The distances in field rounds varies from 5 to 60 meters and half of the distances are not marked, each shooter will estimate these on their own.

#1 On the practise targets at Oittaa.



#2 Bows at the practise range


That's the intro, this is what's really going on in field archery:

#3 uphills


#4 downhills


#5 really, properly steep gradients


#6 Inviting targets


#7 Rain


#8 Fun places to shoot



#9 A change of scenery later, the finals in Tapiola:
This picture is from the last target, a 60 meter flat (but windy!) range across the pond.



#10 barebow shooters


#11 Olympic recurves


#13 Guys looking cool


#14 Ladies' compound, Anne on the right here is from my club


#15 Men's compound


All told, I think we pulled off a good competition, we've already had some very positive feedback from the archers. There could have been a larger audience, and I would have welcomed a chance to test shoot a couple of the finals' targets - but you can't have everything


Tell me what you think!
Full gallery this way.

Icebear

Very interesting series. Makes me want to know more about the subject. In shot #8, from the blur of the bow on the left, I'm guessing there's an arrow in flight between the archer and target, but I can't find it! I particularly like the shots in the woods.

ian408

I like the perspective offered in the first shot.

Thanks for bringing these here for us to view!

pyry

Icebear wrote: »

Very interesting series. Makes me want to know more about the subject. In shot #8, from the blur of the bow on the left, I'm guessing there's an arrow in flight between the archer and target, but I can't find it! I particularly like the shots in the woods.

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure the arrow in #8 is very near the target if it hasn't hit already, it will be too far for wider focal lengths by the time the bow is moving down noticeably anyway. And using an exposure time long enough to allow the bow to move will blur the arrow out. Those things are difficult to photograph in flight

I would recommend contacting your local archery club(s) and trying the sport out there. It's good fun

pyry

ian408 wrote: »

I like the perspective offered in the first shot.

Thanks for bringing these here for us to view!

I'm glad you liked it Ian, thanks!

Biffbradford

Yeah, I'm digging this series. SUCH a relief from all the baseball and football that's posted. I'm always looking for the sports that are more 'fringe' in popularity, but still played at a high level. Thanks for sharing!

pyry

Biffbradford wrote: »

Yeah, I'm digging this series. SUCH a relief from all the baseball and football that's posted. I'm always looking for the sports that are more 'fringe' in popularity, but still played at a high level. Thanks for sharing!

I hear you on the fringe thing. We did get a little bit of TV time, but a large crowd at a soccer match seemed to be bigger news. Still, it was a good piece

Thanks for commenting!