My favorite track and field race has always been the 4×400 m relay. It was not my favorite race to photograph, however. I had trouble capturing the chaos that is the exchange zone. The chaos is not a flaw in the race. It is the race. It’s part of the beauty. The same was true of the 4×800, the sprint and distance medley relays, and the longer distance races.
Last year, I started experimenting with slow exposure panning. As the photo below will illustrate, when you can move the camera in sync with the athlete, you get a very cool dynamic effect. However, you get more failures than successes, so it requires a lot of practice and patience.
Finally, at this year’s California State Championships, it hit me that capturing the chaos of the exchange zone would require me to ditch the panning and hold the camera perfectly still. The photo just below this paragraph is a perfect example, for my money. It’s actually from the 4×800 m relay finals. The runner from Tech makes himself small as the exchanges unfold around him.
The images here combine techniques, but they all use a slow shutter speed of 1/50, whether or not they are panning. I finally have a technique for presenting the dynamic beauty of these events. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed capturing them. Racquel and I will be shooting the Nike Outdoor Nationals, so there’s one more meet to use them this year.
100% OF PROFITS FROM PHOTO SALES ARE DONATED TO YOUTH TRACK & FIELD PROGRAMS!
EXIF Data Below Applies Only To The Featured Photo In This Post
