June 15, 2003
Dangerously close to disaster
This montage (click it for a bigger image) was hair-raising for both the riders and the photographer.
Picture this. It's 730am on Prologue Day at the Finke. The temperature, which the MC keeps gloating about, is hovering a few degrees above 0C. I'm holding an expensive metal tube full of glass with bare hands and feeling the pain of it.
I'm dutifully taking shots in the morning's warm, low-angle sun. The race is starting out with the bizarre 'Outfits' class -- dirtbikes with sidecars. The sidecar drivers are not passive riders. They're hanging their ass out all over the bike to help it corner faster.
As the third crew to pass around the turn I'm watching comes roaring by, something catches! I think the driver caught the heavy dirt shoulder of the turn. In a flash I'm watching the bike roll over and the riders tumble through the air!
It was sort of like being in a car wreck myself. Everything was momentarily slow-motion. I remember realizing, "yeah, I'm aimed right on this wreck with a gigantic lens, and a monster camera with a power boost-drive." Then I remember considering for another agonizing moment, "is it rude to be photographing these guys flying through the air?". And then finally deciding, "Hell no! They'll enjoy the photographs better than anyone." and then snapping away.
I felt like an absolute hero for about five minutes. The guys (#1025 Steve Harvey and Mark Green from Taperoo) had righted their bike, restarted it, and finished the prologue. I'm grinning ear-to-ear for having caught this on film.
Then I re-inspect my film settings and realize, "holy fucking shit. holy fucking shit.
I suck.
I hate myself.
I suck.
I hate myself.
I suck.
I hate myself.
I suck.
I hate myself.
I really hate myself.
My clumsy, numb fingers had accidentally whacked the exposure setting down more than one stop. The photos were junk!
I cannot convey how disgusted with myself I was. I even digressed to hoping another outfit wiped out at the exact same spot for me to capture. This time I promised myself to have the exposure dialed in right, and hold down the shutter trigger as if it were a Vulcan chain gun.
Alas, and of course, it didn't happen. I consoled myself that maybe I could use Photoshop to torture a decent picture out of the data. And in fact, the rough draft you see above is reasonably salvaged. I probably can do a better job with more effort, but it's good enough for now.
At any rate, it was a good lesson for me, and I assiduously checked the exposure wheel from then on. As well, I tried to track the vehicles with my lens whether I was shooting or not. There's never enough time to catch a crash in midair otherwise.
Posted by Nils Blutig at June 15, 2003 09:51 PM | TrackBack