A Mix of Weather at Brogborough Lake

I have often noted that when I go out with merely an idea of what I intend to photograph; not a set plan, that often results in my being distracted by opportunism.

For a moment on Sunday afternoon, I thought I might be visited by just such a situation as I had decided to further experiment with the best combination of film speed with which to maximise my chances of successfully photographing windsurfers, hence my second recent visit to Brogborough Lake, south of Bedford. I arrived and took out my two chosen lensed cameras – the Canon 7D with the 100-400mm, the 5D MkII with the 70-200mm. No sooner than I had locked my car, I was buzzed by a dragonfly. Now for some while I have wanted to capture shots of these wonderful insects, so I carefully watched this fellow as it dived and hovered, and I thought I was in with a chance to get shots.

So for the next five or ten minutes, I gave it and at least two others my undivided attention, and thought at first this was going to be another swapped option due to serendipity, but I was meeting with no success, so I returned to plan A, and made my way back to the main launch area for the surfboards. I hasten to add not with any regrets – I throughly enjoy the challenges involved in capturing the action of windsurfers.

What was noticeable was how many people greeted me warmly, this time around as many had taken a look at the last gallery of images from my most recent visit, which was very gratifying. But from my point of view, I had yet to be really satisfied with the results; I knew I could do better, and this was what I intended. It was not simply a matter of the weather, the sun or the wind direction it was also how to balance the resolution of the image against flare from the foaming water spray, the shutter speed and the depth of field, because all these parameters vary wildly. If it is dull I need the speed, and the aperture will be large, giving a narrower depth of field, meaning I have to be more accurate with focus. If there is bright sunshine, which direction is it coming from, and if it is well in front of me, I need to lower the ISO so I have the high dynamic range handled, I also need to consider the wind direction and therefore which side the surfer is, because I wish to see their faces in most cases. It would also help if I knew more about the subject and also the prevailing winds before travelling the distance between Caddington and Brogborough.

Having taken shots from a low angle along the shore to the right and beyond the main launch area, I then moved to the opposite end in the area where the Ampthill Anglers have a section of the lakeside, and still kept low before breaking off for an excellent bacon roll and tea, very kindly paid for by Barry Rivett.

The remaining time was spent right by the slipway and  was then treated to some jumps for my benefit, the first of which I barely caught as I was caught unawares, but these were the crême de la crême for me, until I spotted Rusty on Tony Tiffen’s board and learned that he was definitely going for a sail – once I had captured the departure and safe return of Man and his Best Friend, I called it a day!

Tony and Rusty go Sailing

Anyone who visits Brogborough will have come across the indomitable Rusty! Rusty and tennis balls go together like Bacon and Eggs (which by the way, are excellent fare at the Windesurfers Rest!)

What many may not know is Rusty has another passion beyond fetching balls, he can look extremely fetching windsurfing as can be seen in this short animated GIF – Obviously an old sea-dog and he has his sea-legs. I will now get back to processing the other stills from Sunday afternoon's shooting.

That's one very trusting dog; and a wonderful relationship between Man and his Best Friend!

Brogborough Early August Windsurfing

The Saturday was forecast to be mainly sunny and above all it was destined to be breezy, which gave me the opportunity to consider visiting the Windsurfing Club at Brogborough Lake.

The new owner is Sam, who took over the Club from Tony, so I checked that I could still enter to take photographs of the activities; fortunately Sam was very happy for me to come in, and so it was not long before I had set up the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm, and the 5D with the 70-200mm, so that the 7D would be mounted on the tripod with the gimbal head, and the 5D would be there for me to pick up when needed, handheld.

The first spot I chose was alongside the main slipway, a nice and low viewpoint. I was able to grab the shorter lens whenever necessary; to pick it up and put it down on top of the camera case whenever the need arose. After a while I decided that I wanted to a change of viewpoint and so I picked up all the gear and took a walk towards Ampthill Anglers spot, so that the sun was still behind me, but importantly I had a greater chance of being able to see the windsurfers themselves from this angle. I also had a higher viewpoint, making some variety to the shots I was taking.

I then returned to the club area so that I could get a bacon butty and a cup of tea and take a slightly different spot from which to take the remaining pictures. What really amused me was that Rusty the dog I photographed when I first visited the club had not lost his fascination for collecting tennis balls thrown into the water.

Whilst I was taking shots of the surfers one face was very familiar – Tony, the previous owner. I could see that he was obviously relishing the freedom to go out on the water without a concern for other responsibilities, and it was blatant he was really enjoying himself. It was good to find that as he came into the slipway he acknowledged me by waving, so a short while after I had finished my bacon I strolled to his caravan to say hello and give Tony and his wife a few of the shots I had taken of him at speed.