PhotoWalkPro

Photo by Scott Kelby

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Virginia, perfect for the running of the 2008 International Gold Cup races.  This was my first time shooting a steeplechase and it was just as educational as it was fun.  My buddy Scott Kelby flew up for the day to join me in what was kind of a whirlwind of activity.  I picked him up at 11:00 at the airport and we sped off down Route 66 to make it to our mandatory meeting at 12:30 to get our course vests.  Neither Scott or myself had shot anything like this in the past and we were lucky enough to hook up with some of the great veteran photographers that were working the event.  Everyone was extremely friendly and gave us pointers on where to stand, where the horses would be running, and how not to get run over in the process.  We got to shoot 4 of the races before we had to make a run back to the airport for Scott’s return flight back home.

I spent the majority of the races shooting with the Canon 50D and was very impressed with the camera and how it handled.  I spent most of the time shooting at about 800 ISO so I could get enough shutter speed to really freeze the action.  I borrowed a 28-300 zoom which worked out pretty well since I was working with an effective focal length of about 480mm on the 50D.  Long lenses are pretty much a necessity for really getting tight on the action and having the zoom proved to be very beneficial.  I am still trying to get a handle on some of the new features of the 50D and it took me some time to figure out what the best focus mode should be for this type of action.  I actually spent part of the time using manual focus so I could pre-focus on a jump and then just start shooting as the horses came into view.

Here’s a few shots from the day.  If you want to see more, head on over to my Flickr site where I have uploaded a few more (link).

Be sure to read down for information on my upcoming photowalk in Harpers Ferry.

Related posts:

1. Virginia International Gold Cup
2. What Will the Nikonians Think – The New EOS 50D
3. A Focus Tip For Landscape Photography
4. Do you know what Hyperfocal Distance is?
5. The DC Photowalk – From Rain to Shine

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 12:10 am and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.