Saturday was the start of the Yukon Quest dogsled race in downtown Fairbanks. For those of us who care about such things it is kind of like the superbowl of the local mushing scene. The Quest is a much more difficult race than more famous Iditarod. The lengths are about the same but the Quest has less support, less checkpoints, less of about everything except wilderness.
The start (and thus finish) alternate each year between Fairbanks and Whitehorse Canada. This year the start was in Fairbanks and the mushers will cross the finish line in Whitehorse after crossing 1000 miles of snowy and cold wilderness.
The start is also great fun to photograph. Some years I get a press pass for the backstage view, which is usually a much better option, but this year, I forgot about it until it was too late so was relegated to watching from the crowd side of thing. This allowed me to get a few different perspectives on the race. I got a few, like the one above, that is typical of mushing races. Though a fine shot it doesn't really tell much about the scene.
This second image was taken from the pedestrian bridge over the frozen Chena River. This perspective allows a different angle on the scene. It shows some of the crowd and, importantly, the sign indicating the start line. This one makes for an acceptable stock image, but again, isn't terribly unique.
This last image is my favorite from the morning and was completely serendipitous. I was trying to inch in and get some shots similar to the first one, when this woman in a bright red parka stepped right in front of me and raised her point and shoot to snap an image. I made lemonade from the situation, turned my focus on her camera and snapped this image.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
Ha! I love it, Dave! It's a unique perspective that's really well done. The framing is perfect, and the only thing that would make it even better would be if the background was just a little less blurred out, enough to see the shape of the dog team that is pictured in the woman's camera. But that would have been darn near impossible to capture without staging the shot.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love it.
Paul, I agree entirely. I have some different versions where I looked for someone with a camera, trying to get some blurred dogs in the background, but I couldn't get enough depth of field to make it work. Next time!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots! There was nearly a fist fight between a few photographers in the press area. I think you were safer on the outside!!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how wonderful that shot of the dog's face is! It really conveys an excited dogginess.
ReplyDelete