I recently had the pleasure of shooting the J Class sailboat races off Newport, RI from a fast off shore center console chase boat piloted by experienced local skipper Michael duPont. These huge classic sailboats are astonishing to see up close racing under sail in real life! Hundreds of spectators including some of the top yachting photographers in the world were out in Newport Harbor for several days to view and capture the races…I was lucky to be one of them!
The various chase boats (and in turn the photographers) were at the mercy of rough seas. On board Chaperone, a 26’ Regulator sporting twin 250HP outboards, cameras were flying out of photographers’ hands, occasionally hitting the deck and getting soaked with five-footers breaking over the bow. Everyone got good shots early on in the harbor when the weather was mild but my challenge was to get off shore where the wind was blowing and capture the action!
At times the water was so rough it was impossible to change cards bouncing around in the waves. When I did see a great opportunity to shoot, it had to happen quick and without delay. I wasn’t even sure I was capturing what I was seeing but I stayed focused on shooting, tried to compensate for the rough seas with a fast shutter speed and hoped for the best. I was really relying on my equipment to keep up with my eyes and shutter finger.
The Nikon D3X, D3S and D7000 cameras and lenses I was using were forced to perform in situations I’d never experienced, and perform they did. There was constant splashing, bouncing and shaking and most of the time I couldn’t even hold the camera close enough to my face without getting banged up. Many times I couldn’t even tell if I was capturing the action in front of me and was worried about the equipment accidentally going overboard. One day the boat nearly rolled! I was hanging on for life with one hand and shooting with the other!
After three days of fast paced shooting, I had captured 7,000 images and regularly filled a 32GB CompactFlash card every few hours. At the end, I had filled 20 16 and 32GB Lexar Professional CF memory cards. My cards have to be large and fast enough to keep up with the quick auto focus of the camera. I have to admit, the Lexar Professional memory cards were a huge factor in ensuring this trip was a technical and artistic success! I had to have the capacity, speed and peace of mind to know that my images were being stored safely and would transfer quickly to my computer once the shoot was over so I could start my post production edit.
Back at my studio in Connecticut, it took four days of editing to narrow it down to my favorite thousand! It was an almost impossible task from there. Luckily, I had the help of good friend and Soundings Magazine Editor, William Sisson to help come to the rescue. Within a day, with Bill’s help, we were able to edit down to the best 50 shots - a job almost more difficult then the shoot itself.
Looking back, this project was a great time, equal parts fun and challenging. Much of my work is in the studio so this was a really different experience. I was looking for a unique photography adventure when I signed on to shoot the J Class race and a unique adventure it was!
