Starting to look at next chapter on light. Looks like have done first few exercises in the past anyway.
Last Sunday was Bristol Half Marathon day, chance for a rare earning day on photography. Get a princely £50 for 3 hours of taking hundreds of sweaty folk brandishing medals at the finish line.
I don't do this for the money (though there are some regulars who seem to - they mostly get the greater responsibility of taking photos on the course), more for the experience. This is second time I have been asked. It is good practice in getting composition right quickly - you have to get the medal the right way round, make sure the race number is visible, (so they can find themselves on the internet library) and get runner(s) in focus and reasonably composed in a very short time.
Photographing runners is a numbers game ideally suited to the digital image age. A photographer who takes 1000 images of which only 60% can be used is more useful than one who takes 600 of which 90% can be used. It would be anathema to some photographers but I enjoy it as I have some empathy, having run about 15 half marathons myself, and London Marathon in 2007 so know that some of the subjects are zonked and need a bit of encouragement.
I take about 600 photos - less then the others but I think good quality, would be interesting to know the usable rate. Most runners don't want to be bothered so I like to ensure the ones that I do take get a good chance of a purchasable product.
