Well, I was away yesterday down the Gold Coast, and I was being a member of the safety crew at a Jet Sprints meeting, which involves quite small boats (10-12 feet long) with rather large V8 motors in them (350 cubic inches up to 500) moving very very fast. I have been doing this for about 4 years or so, and enjoy it immensely. The last few meetings, I have been taking my camera with me, and mixing two pasttimes I enjoy.
Of course, being a member of the safety crew, I was charged with running out onto the course and rescuing boats that flip upside down, and so on and so forth. As such, often taking photographs came secondary to safety, so to speak. Out of about 500 photos I took - some were in 5 shot blocks - I ended up with about 300 usable pictures. I thought I would show some of the ones I took off.
Tech: I use a Fuji s5500 digital camera, which has a 10x optical zoom on it, which is alright. I want to get a zoom and fisheye attachment for it, which will extend it beyond that, but I don't have the cash at the moment.
Low-tech: Because of the drop-and-run need sometimes, I ended up using cable-ties (zippy ties) to attach the camera to a post in front of me.
I couldn't justify taking my tripod down, considering we packed 5 people into a small car along with gear. I learned the value of carrying extra batteries, as I had 4 semi-charged rechargeables in my camera, 1 spare rechargeable, and 4 brand new alkalines in a packet. I replaced the rechargeables about halfway through the day, and then the alkalines lasted all of about an hour - not using it full time. *sigh* So I could have taken many more.
To the photos...
Photo 1: A little boat called How Bizarre, with a 400 cubic inch chevy engine in the back. I like this picture in particular, because of the relative calm of the water in front of the boat, compared to the violence behind. I also like the reflection on the water. It also shows off what a shallow draft these boats have.
Photo 2: A relatively new team/boat called Racing Addiction. My reasons are similar to the previous photo. And I love the expressions on the driver's face.
Photo 3: This is a boat called True Blue going through a chicane arrangement, showing off how much water these guys throw up. The jet pumps they use pump out approximately 20,000 litres per minute. (~5000gallons)
Photo 4: A 350 chev powered boat called Swamp Rat. This is an extremely good boat, and competes in speed with the 400s. Again, I love the facial expressions on these guys faces.
I think I am getting better at this, compared with the results of the last time I took my camera. I was able to get a lot clearer shots - particularly of the drivers/navigators - and I had a higher strike rate with decent shots. The main problem is that because these boats are extremely fast - reaching around 85 mph (135kmh) on the track - it takes a bit of practice to get them at all. I picked my spots, and worked out when I had to point the camera there. Often I would use my camera's five-shot function, so I would catch the boat in motion, and use my left eye to sight the boat (around the camera) coming into shot, and start shooting, to avoid the time delay.
I know that the Jet Sprint association doesn't have an official (or even an unofficial for that matter) photographer, and I thought that I would offer my services to them. They are a non-profit organisation, and any money they raise at the events gets distributed out to all the volunteer organisations/people. (Our group who does the safety crew gets anywhere between $600-1000 australian on a regular basis). It's worth a shot (no pun intended) anyway, and with a bit of extra cash, I could upgrade my equipment. (it would also mean I could use my tripod/monopod)
The photos above have been reduced down from their original resolution 2816x2120, where as the ones I took previously, and which I had printed previously were in a slightly lower resolution. The originals look a lot better than these ones, but are too sizey to use on the web.
Uh yeah, I think I've rambled enough.
Enjoy!
Of course, being a member of the safety crew, I was charged with running out onto the course and rescuing boats that flip upside down, and so on and so forth. As such, often taking photographs came secondary to safety, so to speak. Out of about 500 photos I took - some were in 5 shot blocks - I ended up with about 300 usable pictures. I thought I would show some of the ones I took off.
Tech: I use a Fuji s5500 digital camera, which has a 10x optical zoom on it, which is alright. I want to get a zoom and fisheye attachment for it, which will extend it beyond that, but I don't have the cash at the moment.
Low-tech: Because of the drop-and-run need sometimes, I ended up using cable-ties (zippy ties) to attach the camera to a post in front of me.
I couldn't justify taking my tripod down, considering we packed 5 people into a small car along with gear. I learned the value of carrying extra batteries, as I had 4 semi-charged rechargeables in my camera, 1 spare rechargeable, and 4 brand new alkalines in a packet. I replaced the rechargeables about halfway through the day, and then the alkalines lasted all of about an hour - not using it full time. *sigh* So I could have taken many more.To the photos...
Photo 1: A little boat called How Bizarre, with a 400 cubic inch chevy engine in the back. I like this picture in particular, because of the relative calm of the water in front of the boat, compared to the violence behind. I also like the reflection on the water. It also shows off what a shallow draft these boats have.
Photo 2: A relatively new team/boat called Racing Addiction. My reasons are similar to the previous photo. And I love the expressions on the driver's face.
Photo 3: This is a boat called True Blue going through a chicane arrangement, showing off how much water these guys throw up. The jet pumps they use pump out approximately 20,000 litres per minute. (~5000gallons)
Photo 4: A 350 chev powered boat called Swamp Rat. This is an extremely good boat, and competes in speed with the 400s. Again, I love the facial expressions on these guys faces.
I think I am getting better at this, compared with the results of the last time I took my camera. I was able to get a lot clearer shots - particularly of the drivers/navigators - and I had a higher strike rate with decent shots. The main problem is that because these boats are extremely fast - reaching around 85 mph (135kmh) on the track - it takes a bit of practice to get them at all. I picked my spots, and worked out when I had to point the camera there. Often I would use my camera's five-shot function, so I would catch the boat in motion, and use my left eye to sight the boat (around the camera) coming into shot, and start shooting, to avoid the time delay.
I know that the Jet Sprint association doesn't have an official (or even an unofficial for that matter) photographer, and I thought that I would offer my services to them. They are a non-profit organisation, and any money they raise at the events gets distributed out to all the volunteer organisations/people. (Our group who does the safety crew gets anywhere between $600-1000 australian on a regular basis). It's worth a shot (no pun intended) anyway, and with a bit of extra cash, I could upgrade my equipment. (it would also mean I could use my tripod/monopod)
The photos above have been reduced down from their original resolution 2816x2120, where as the ones I took previously, and which I had printed previously were in a slightly lower resolution. The originals look a lot better than these ones, but are too sizey to use on the web.
Uh yeah, I think I've rambled enough.
Enjoy!
