Brogborough Lake – Boxing Day 2015

Many moons ago in what sometimes seem like another life, Boxing day was Day when Brands Hatch used to celebrate a very relaxed afternoon of motorsport, with often various humorous added attractions and all of us Marshal's used to be delivered of a Tot of Rum. Well, with a fairly stiff breeze and in the morning a fair amount of sunshine, I wondered whether the spirit of those days might prevail at Brogborough lake, with many turning up to work off the excesses of Christmas Day. I cannot be sure that was the motivation, but certainly there were several enthusiasts determined to take advantage of the conditions.

I was pleased me guess was basically correct, the atmosphere was relaxed, and despite there being no refreshments available, and sadly for the participants no showers, there was energy in abundance and I set to putting up my heavier tripod. After taking a few shots from this angle one of the sailors suggested I might like to take advantage of the wind direction to venture into the thicket and take shots of those jumping head-on, despite the direction of the sun – although the sun would not oblige by moving swiftly behind my right shoulder, it did take cover behind the clouds so that the lighting was far more favourable than directly into the lens.

This I did and I found the clearest spot I could, but it was far too slippery to consider making my way down to the foreshore – that is going to be a luxury of far drier weather, before I can take advantage of a low angle. For now, some shots were going to have the horizon bisecting the top of the sails in may shots. One lingering disappointment when shooting from this viewpoint is I see no faces, so the shots seem anonymous which is a shame.

Christmas is still the season of jumpers – fortunately! I did not expect to be shooting windsurfers in December, let alone on Boxing Day. It was also far warmer than any Boxing day at Brands Hatch, and that covered thirty-odd years.