[Larne]

Well it has been a mad weekend. About a week ago I sent a mail to the organisers of the Clipper Race and they agreed to let me have a media pass for the race finish in Liverpool on Saturday. On the day I turned up bright and early and managed to get one of the free places on the two media boats that would be going out to film the clippers as they raced from the Liverpool bar down to the Albert dock.

We spent three hours in with the yachts by the end of which I was thorougly seasick and my two bodies and a collection of lenses were soaking wet and covered in salt spray. But it was worth every minute of it.

Five of the best shown below. If you are interested you can see the rest of the final set of images here (go to the 07-08 Clipper Race gallery). The weather got better throughout the day so the better pictures come in the second half of the set.

#1 - Novascotia leading from Uniquely Singapore and Jamaica with M108 HMS Grimsby in the background


#2 - Durban2010 leading from Western Australia with Uniquely Singapore behind


#3 - Western Australia and Liverpool08 battle it out in the Mersey Estuary


#4 - Uniquely Singapore and Western Australia racing


#5 - Western Australia leading from Qingdao and Hull & Humber with other fleet members in the background


Thanks for looking - I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

[P-E]

Enjoyed looking at those with lovely celebrations at the end........hope that salt water hasn't caused any damage to your camera gear.

[Larne]

Thanks for the comments on the pictures P-E.

The 40D got pretty wet, as did the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 as that is the combo I was using most of the time. This was a combination of heavy rain and spray getting thrown up from the boat. I just decided not to worry about it with the biggest problem being keeping the lens clean (the hood on the Sigma lens really helped here).

The 10D went out in the rain mainly with my Canon 28-135mm IS on it. Again both got pretty wet although less of the salt spray as I used that combo at either end of the race.

The Sigma 10-20mm got a bit wet later on but nothing too major.

What I did not do was try to swap lenses at any point while I was out on the boat, deciding that would introduce the biggest risk. Having two bodies I was able to do that.

Everything dried naturally (as the sun came out later) and when I got home I wiped everything down thoroughly with a damp cloth and warm water (no chemicals) and then cleaned the lenses up properly with a lens cloth.

I did a commission in the late afternoon and then again this afternoon (50th Wedding Anniversary weekend for a client) and both cameras and lenses performed flawlessly.

There was a 20-year pro guy on the boat from OnEdition. You should have seen his crate full of top-end Canon gear. I drooled a lot!!

[ray]

Nice shot Niall

[Dutchie]

I like nr 3 and 5. Definitely a great set of pictures.

[M1ke A]

That's a great opportunity and (a different) subject to tackle.

It's a shame that the weather was so poor as the sea doesn't look that inviting

Perhaps next time you can blag a pass for somewhere sunnier and warmer?

[brian-iow]

Great set of photos and a wonderful opportunity to get up close and amongst the action.

[Markulous]

What a fab opportunity! Looks like they had a fun time tacking up to the finish (so I'm not surprised you got a tad wet!). I suppose it would've been more spectacular with a bit more wind (those boats are meant for 'real' weather! )

[Steve]

1, 2 and 5 are excellent. The lack of any distinguishing landmarks in the background add to the excitement of the shots and give them a real ‘man against the elements’ feel.

The head on framing of shot one with the waves breaking over the bow and the wind making the boat lean really make this shot. I can’t help but think that everything else in this shot could be considered as clutter or distraction…



You could also remove the second boat in the distance to clean it up even more, but that does fit in with the race theme?

[Larne]

Nice edit.

I came back from the event with around 500 images, all of which had to be critiqued and when I had selected the ones I wanted to keep (around 90) most had to be cropped and for nearly all of them curves and saturation changes made. On top of this I had to do a second commission over the weekend that involved shooting and evaluating a further 150 images and selecting / processing 50 of those so I could get prints ordered.

So you can imagine why I haven't had any time to think about amending any of the images! I have sent some samples through to a couple of magazines, with one of the samples being the original of that shot. I'm sure your edited version would have made a better impact but I guess I can't fit everything in!

[simpbow]

Nice set of shots & something different.