Second, I have no idea how the professionals get excellent pictures of this event. Park City's track is in a little canyon. Even at 3:00 on a sunny afternoon, it was already in the shadows. Worse, these sleds move fast!! Low light and fast objects make for tough photography. I mostly failed. Anyway....
They start with a brisk sprint to get moving.
Driver hops in first. Look closely. She really did "hop in" at a full sprint.
Driver is in. Now the stoker/pusher/back chick gets in. I have no idea what the correct term is.
The pusher settles in and the driver pulls back on the pushing stick. Again, you can sense my fine understanding of the sport's terminology.
Hunker down and fly!
It isn't far to the first big turn, but they don't have that much speed yet. Notice the Olympic rings in the top right. This was the track for the 2000 Olympic bobsled, luge and skeleton.
Clearly the prestige job is the driver's. The person in the back seems to be completely hunkered down, looking at their knees and smelling the driver's butt. I think I would opt for the driver job.
I can't tell you how much fake film (digital) I wasted trying to get pictures with the bobsled nice and sharp and the background all blurred. This was as close as I got and the damn railing is in the way. For some reason they want to keep the spectators out of the track and stray bobsleds out of the spectators.
These bobsleds are moving so fast that just about the time you start panning smoothly with them, they are in the next turn (which you can't see). I was trying to pan so fast I thought I would tear something in my back. I'll just have to practice and find better techniques.
If you are in Park City and want a thrill, you can ride down in a 4-man bobsled with an Olympic driver. It is an incredible rush and the fee goes to support the US team.
No comments:
Post a Comment