Head of the Charles Regatta

rutt

Apparently "quads" are a new kind of boat for the HOTC Regatta. Four rowers, 8 oars, no coax. These are supposed to be the fastest boats of all (but that was just what somebody watching from the bridge told me.)







This is one sport which photography seems to capture much better than watching in person. Seen in person, it looks effortless. Going back and looking at my telephoto shots, a totally different story emerges.





The start of the race is staged
, like a time trial in cycling, so being passed means there is a big difference in speed between two crew. I know how this feels in cycling, and the faces tell the same story here. The far boat is doing the passing.

Steve Cavigliano

Nice work Rutt


I really like the 3rd shot. It's centered but so nicely balanced and I love tight shots.

So what do you look for when shooting these regattas? Ian and I may do some regatta shooting in a few weeks. Since I've never shot rowers, I'd appreciate any tips or pointers you'd care to share. Like what seems to be the best perspective, go for multiple boats or just concentrate on one, etc..... ?


Steve

ginger_55

Hi, I really like the fourth shot. I don't know where I saw those earlier, but there are new ones, like the fourth shot.

ginger (They are all nice! Very!)

pathfinder

No Cox!! SO, who steers?

Four people rowing very hard, and fast, and facing backwards!! And hoping that someone is watching where they are headed.

That should create some interesting experiences on the water, shouldn't it? Cold water too, this time of year!!

Coxed boats occaisionally have collisions. Hmmmm.... Do these boats have a rudder? Who steers?? Interesting.

Nice shots shots, John.

ian408

The HOTC has some nasty twists too. Collisions are not unusual.

Nice shots. Do you have any from shore side?

rutt

pathfinder wrote:

No Cox!! SO, who steers?

Four people rowing very hard, and fast, and facing backwards!! And hoping that someone is watching where they are headed.

That should create some interesting experiences on the water, shouldn't it? Cold water too, this time of year!!

Coxed boats occaisionally have collisions. Hmmmm.... Do these boats have a rudder? Who steers?? Interesting.

Nice shots shots, John.

Great questions, Jim. Maybe someone actually know the answers. No me. Ask my about bicycles or skis. Anything you like.

rutt

ian408 wrote:

The HOTC has some nasty twists too. Collisions are not unusual.

Nice shots. Do you have any from shore side?

Thanks, Ian. The shot of the one boat passing the other was shot from the shore and I do have some others. You can see all shots from this outing on my proofsheet: http://rutt.smugmug.com/gallery/907804 The ones I've processed are at the end and have filenames ending with _rt (for retouched.)

rutt

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

So what do you look for when shooting these regattas? Ian and I may do some regatta shooting in a few weeks. Since I've never shot rowers, I'd appreciate any tips or pointers you'd care to share. Like what seems to be the best perspective, go for multiple boats or just concentrate on one, etc..... ?

Thanks, Steve!

I had two cameras around my neck, 1DmkII with 100-400 push/pull and 5D with 16-35. the 100-400 was more like it. Even 100 on the 1DmkII was pretty wide for a lot of these. I took a lot from bridges over the Charles so I could shoot boats coming (backs to me) and going (faces to me, better usually.)

We had great light, overcast, New England fall light. It was 3pm, which is really sweat light here these days. Shooting east, shooting west. Both great because the light was so defuse. You won't get that in California most likely, but you can hope.

My son was with me and cold and bored so I couldn't just shoot as long as I wanted. There's a lesson there, too.

The bridges are great, but I'l like to be on the water with a kayak or canoe.

ian408

Thanks for the linky John.

Ian

rutt

Oh, and one more thing, Steve and Ian. I think zoom is the nuts for this sport at least on the Charles River. It gives so many more shooting opportunities than a prime would. The boats are visible for a long time both coming and going. A tele prime wouldn't have gotten some of the really close shots with the most direct overhead views. The boats where just passing under the bridge and I was actually pretty close.

So maybe bring Ian's big 300, but I'd rather have the bigma for this one, especially when it's bright. How is the bigma bokah?

ian408

This event has a couple of bridge crossings but they aren't really good spots
to shoot from. I'm going to scope the place out in the next couple of days.

Ian