I recently began shooting 5k and 10k races for a friend of mine and it’s been a very fun learning experience. I like the photojournalism aspect of shooting races as well as the ever-changing lighting conditions. The GW Parkway Classic happened back in April and this was my first assignment for Swim Bike Run photography. I was positioned about a little under a mile from the finish line and was all set up for my shot so I wouldn’t get any of the parked cars on the side of the street in my frame. But then the racers came racing by and did not follow the path I thought they would at all. They hugged the parked cars because that was the shortest line down the hill I was standing at the bottom of. So I have to improvise quickly.
I liked shooting the leaders as they came through because I could play around with the framing a bit. As I said, I was at the bottom of a big hill, so I could see them as they made their way down towards me. I was shooting with a 300mm/2.8 which gave me nice and creamy bokeh backgrounds. As the masses came through, I tried to pick out interesting looking people or interesting looking outfits. I played around with my positioning a bit, trying from different sides of the hill as well as different lenses and focal lengths. Overall I was pretty happy with this batch of photos, although I know I can do better with some more experience.
Full gallery of selects below. If you want to buy photos from this race, check out the full gallery over on Swim Bike Run Photography.
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