Doris Blows in at Brogborough

Waking to warnings of high winds, meant that after a long wait for winds of sufficient strength to encourage Windsurfers to make or find the time to leave work on a Thursday, at last that day was here. I phoned Sam to check whether he had heard from any sailors, and learned three were scheduled — that was promising! I checked when they might arrive and gathered early afternoon, so I let him know I might see him later — that was hardly the full truth, I had made up my mind to definitely make it!

I then assembled the camera and lenses I planned to take along, but put the 70-200mm on the 5D MkIII and the 150-600mm was already on the 7D MkII, taking along a 300mm and a couple of other primes to cover the distances that I might need to cover, but as it turned out my first choice proved to be those I used — the 7D on the Gitzo tripod, and the 5D MkIII slung around my neck, for handheld closer shots.

The wind at home was fairly blustery, and fairly strong, but later on the road to Brogborough Lake it was considerably stronger, I presume to it being less built-up than within Marston Moretaine. When I met up with Sam, he reckoned it was the worst he had ever seen it, and he was not exaggerating! I drove over and on arrival opened the boot to assemble the tripod and gimbal head, and Doris blew the boot lid down on me!

I spotted Sam and he told me three were getting knitted up and one was already on the water, so picked up the gear and headed towards the bank, but since the wind was directly on the shore and the larger breakers were sending the slime inland, I put the tripod down a fair way back! It was not long before there were generally at least two out on the lake, and for a change I operated on the basis of shooting as often as I could because with the best will in the world shooting was very hit and miss, because I had to keep one shoulder against the tripod as the wind threatened to blow it over. Also, I had to keep resetting the levelling head as one or more tripod legs dug into the muddy, water- sodden ground — it certainly was not easy keeping the surfers in shot.

Every now and then a squall would come up, and I had to break off to keep my kit safe, but as one passed, I'd be back out and shooting again, also,if my subjects came in close, I would forego the camera on the tripod and shoot handheld, which as I find it hard to accurately synch the two bodies some of the true chronology is awry. I did get a few jumps and sequences, and was reasonably satisfied with what I did capture, but at least half of what I shot was binned, but I am really glad I made the effort, so I hope they give those who had braved the weather some pleasure.

Brogborough Lake – Light Erratic Wind

Sunday afternoon hinted at least of some wind mixed with some sunshine, so I used the opportunity to check the using of a prime 300mm against the zoom of the 150-600mm zoom whilst trying to capture sequences of windsurfers gybing, and after checking whether it was worth also changing my standpoint from the frontage of the club to the stretch of bank beyond where the anglers’ entrance is to the left.

Sam Barnes was not sure I had been given a good steer, but I took that chance and headed out of the car park and along the road and back into the field beyond with my heavy Gitzo tripod, gimbal head and the EOS 7D MkII with the 300m in my camera case.

After shooting for  while using the zoom, I swapped to using the 300mm handheld, which was reasonably manageable, but my conclusion was that I should really have taken the zoom from the tripod and mounted the 300mm onto the tripod as my horizons were going to be more consistent, if still not perfectly level! From the experience gained in post-processing, the fixed focal length was too limiting when the windsurfers came close, so the quality might be there, they were often far too tightly cropped, so my previous preference for zooms was confirmed. perhaps having two tripods each with different lenses might work, but for sheer practicality the long zoom range of the 150-600mm is definitely optimal.

In the lulls between when the windsurfers were at the other end of the lake I did occasionally take shots of damselflies, and I add one such here:

I shall try to stick with zooms for a while yet!

Brrr! Brogborough – Bitter Winds Favour the Brave

I made time to head for the lake at Brogborough in the hope that the wind might tempt the hardier sailors to venture there to make the most of what windsurfers need most – a stiff breeze. On my arrival however the lake was entirely free of humans, and knowing my time was likely to be spent experiencing windchill at its extreme for a long period, I stayed within my car keeping my body at a reasonable temperature and simply watched, waited and enjoyed the music from Classic FM. Travelling only from Marston Moretaine, meant the engine was barely reaching its operating temperature so I did not kill the engine till there was warm air within.

There were soon signs of activity, so then I gathered the tripod and cameras and put everything together, choosing the 7D MkII and the Tamron 150-600mm lens and mounted it atop the Lensmaster Gimbal head and the Novoflex levelling head on the heavy Gitzo tripod, having learned that the lighter tripods were buffeted by the wind meaning that they were not reliably stable platforms from which to shoot, in particular my carbon fibre tripod had to be weighted down for fear of being literally blown away!

I then grabbed the 5D MkIII and the 35mm f/1.4 to get some shots of the preparations as at this point there was even the occasional sunshine between scudding clouds, but fortunately no rain forecast as the ground was already treacherously sodden and slippery.

The presence of a camera has a beneficial effect here, as it does mean that those hardy souls who are honing their gybing and turn skills and their jumping tend to be within shooting range of the photographer, however, as I have learned, several are unaware that they can often come too close and it becomes well nigh impossible to capture unless you also have a shorter focal length lens within easy reach. Fortunately most of the time I have the coverage at both ends of the range when using either the 100-400mm on the full frame 5D MkIII or the 150-600mm on the 7D MkII.

I consider I was really lucky on this occasion as for most of the time there was a reasonable amount of light and plenty of on-water action to keep me on my toes, though when I was on the jetty, the water several times came up through the slats soaking my jeans and giving me soggy socks, perhaps I should have considered wellies and thick socks rather than my hardwearing shoes.

By the end of the day I was very satisfied with what I had captured; several sequences, the downside being the amount of time that I would be at the computer before being able to post a gallery on my blog.

Brogborough - Seriously High December Wind!

I only had a couple of hours at the most to get my fix of Windsurfing activity at the lake at Brogborough as in the afternoon I was due in Fairford Leys to enjoy hearing and watching my daughter playing Sax with the Aylesbury Community Band at a Carol Concert. On this occasion I would not be carrying a camera to the event, so needed this fix!

I wrapped up warm and setup my heavy tripod to give me some sort of stability, to have considered the carbon fibre one would have been lunacy, if I had a quick release mechanism for it I would have been best served by bringing along my Gitzo! In the future I think I will give it serous consideration in such blustery conditions; I must look into the possibility.

I found myself holding as tightly onto the camera to keep the tripod firm as contemplating  simply keeping light pressure on the shutter release whilst shooting. A tripod is supposed to be stable, well not this particular day! I was rewarded by some seriously skilled people braving the conditions to enjoy their sport and giving me some shots of which I was proud; there were several sequences where I came close to anticipating the start of the manoeuvres, but aligning the shots I would definitely be relying in sorting after the event in post processing as I might just as well have been in a bobbing dinghy as being on sloping dry land in that wind!

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and stayed only long enough to survive a very stiff neck and my painful and weak back which went just a few days before. I left the shots in chronological order and so some sequences will span some galleries I am afraid, but I had no more time.