19 October 2009
Marathon
Posted by admin under: Camera; Photography .
Twenty years ago, I started out as a photographer in the world of local press.
The kindly and well read Alan Chalcraft, proprietor of the “Blackmore Vale Magazine” gave me a job as a stafff photographer, on the back of a good portrait of Princess Anne (now known as the Princess Royal). My printing, all black and white, was self- taught and a bit slow and my photographic technique, also self-taught, needed some honing.
Alan was a great editor with a good eye, and most importantly, he was patient. He refined my composition and encouraged me in so many ways. My brief as a photographer for the BVM was always a little different from most of the local press photographers. The first brief I was ever given was in total contravention of of what a photographer did in those days: “Don’t ever photograph a cheque presentation – big cheques are forbidden, and if you come back with a picture of one, we will sack you.”
Big cheques were a staple; charities and local clubs went to great trouble to have a 6ft cheque made up for a press photograph. Telling them that you would not photograph it was often difficult. Nevertheless, I always managed that alternative angle, learnt a lot, and kept my job.
Local media was a skilled job in those days: everything had to be photographed, from people, to animals to children (at least one school event every day was the norm), antiques, crafts – you name it, I photographed it and so it was with sports and events. No autofocus to start with – just patience and skill, especially as I worked with a Bronica Medium format camera for the first two years!
Probably as a result of my early experiences, I like to work in many of the fields that photography offers. Last week it was interiors for an architect with the Alpa shift camera and Phase One P45+ digital back. This weekend, I was privileged to be asked to photograph the Cardiff Half Marathon for Barnados, a major UK charity.
Events like the half marathon are a challenge: not only are there a lot of people (11,000 runners entered), but the course is large. Fortunately, most of the course images were captured by Gu and his event team and I was left to concentrate on the people and preparation + the start / finish area.
After Dawn, Cardiff © 2009 Nick Wilcox-Brown
The day started fine at 6am, albeit 6 degrees centigrade was a little hard to take after recent travels, but I was grateful for the sun. I attempted to capture every dimension of the day, from the Barnados team and the many hard working volunteers, through to the competitors, their families and supporters.
People were truly friendly and it made the days go fast. I was shooting a mix of cameras: an EOS 1Ds Mark III with a EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens and my favourite EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS for stills and a few clips of HD video.
I have not captured so many frames in many years: 800 frames of RAW images (20Gb) and 20 or 30 quick video clips. Now that Capture One is back in the game, I processed my images with it and was well pleased with the images.
Elite Runners; Cardiff Half Marathon 2009 © Nick Wilcox-Brown
The start, Barnados Half Marathon, Cardiff © 2009 Nick Wilcox-Brown
I love the above image – it is interesting to look through the RAW images and note the range of expressions that people have. 13 miles (20.9 km) is a long way and many people would have been building up to this race for months.
There has to be a winner in these things and local boy, Simon Lawson did it for Wales:
Simon Lawson, winner of Barnados Cardiff Half Marathon © 2009 Nick Wilcox-Brown
More interesting for me was the fact that the fastest female was Genet Measso, an Ethiopian who won another marathon last weekend and previously competed in Lahore and Delhi – quite a way from Cardiff.
Genet Measso, first female © 2009 Nick Wilcox-Brown
The day was truly enjoyable, if a little tough on the shoulders. I carried ample spare batteries, flash and many other accessories and needed few but the Zacuto Z-finder 2 for video.
Several hours on the MacBook Pro and later the ‘BigMac’ in the office (MacPro with dual Eizo monitors) generated a broad edit for Barnados to select from. To see a wider selection of these images, take a look HERE
4 Comments so far...
Pamela Shorney Says:
20 October 2009 at 10:18 am.
Nick,
Thank you so much for the stunning images you took on Sunday – they are fantastic. We are so excited to have a wide range of fantastic images for us to use to promote the event over the coming year and raise more funds for Barnardo’s work.
Your help was invaluable and I’m so glad you enjoyed the weekend!
Thank you!
Pam and the Barnardo’s Cardiff Half Marathon Team
admin Says:
20 October 2009 at 11:11 am.
Thank you for your kind comments Pam – a great day and a brilliant team to work with.
Alan Chalcraft Says:
26 October 2009 at 8:44 pm.
Shucks – is that me you are talking about? You are too kind. No, really.
Alan C
admin Says:
27 October 2009 at 12:01 am.
All true Alan. Thank you for giving me that chance.