A marathon photo session
Apr. 14th, 2008 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerWith the London Marathon going literally past the end of my road it I felt I could hardly pass up the chance to see if I could remember some of the tips on sport photography I picked up on my photo course last year. With the race route winding through Canary Wharf I set myself up at Cabot Square, where it takes a sharp bend after a long straight, so giving plenty of time to line up pictures.
As I arrived, the first of the wheelchair competitors were coming through:
The sharp bend made for some good action shots; there was a fine edge between having too long an exposure and blurring too much, and too short a one and getting pictures that made it look as if the wheelchair was standing still!
Then the front runners from the elite women's group came through; Irina Mikitenko, the eventual women's winner, is in the centre.
The faster women runners soon followed, singly then in growing numbers.
... together with more of the wheelchair competitors:
A phalanx of escort vehicles heralded the arrival of the lead men's group.
Martin Lel, the eventual men's winner, looking tired but keeping up the pace.
I moved on to find another vantage point for when the main bulk of runners started to come through, but at this point the heavens opened. I'd thought of getting the DLR back to Westferry so as to be able to get pictures from the elevated platform, but not surprisingly plenty of other spectators had had the same idea and the police were politely but firmly moving people off the station as they arrived. I did snatch a quick picture from the stairs though, as the race rounded the corner at Westferry.
The full photoset (itself only a small extract from the pictures I took - the dangers of 4Gb memory cards and a camera that can shoot 5 frames per second!) can be seen here.
As I arrived, the first of the wheelchair competitors were coming through:
The sharp bend made for some good action shots; there was a fine edge between having too long an exposure and blurring too much, and too short a one and getting pictures that made it look as if the wheelchair was standing still!
Then the front runners from the elite women's group came through; Irina Mikitenko, the eventual women's winner, is in the centre.
The faster women runners soon followed, singly then in growing numbers.
... together with more of the wheelchair competitors:
A phalanx of escort vehicles heralded the arrival of the lead men's group.
Martin Lel, the eventual men's winner, looking tired but keeping up the pace.
I moved on to find another vantage point for when the main bulk of runners started to come through, but at this point the heavens opened. I'd thought of getting the DLR back to Westferry so as to be able to get pictures from the elevated platform, but not surprisingly plenty of other spectators had had the same idea and the police were politely but firmly moving people off the station as they arrived. I did snatch a quick picture from the stairs though, as the race rounded the corner at Westferry.
The full photoset (itself only a small extract from the pictures I took - the dangers of 4Gb memory cards and a camera that can shoot 5 frames per second!) can be seen here.
