5,500+ cross country race photos

[Tom Wertman]

I worked a high school x-country race over the weekend. Well over 700 runners from 250 schools from several states came to compete in 26 races. My position for 9 hours was the finish line. There were 3 photographers total. I don't know how many photos the others took but I know my count was over 5,500. The action was fast and furious as the runners came down the shoot and jockeyed for position. I could not appreciate the facial expressions and body stress until I began to look over the photos. Here are a few samples.


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[Daniel Browning]

Those are some great expressions! Nice job nailing focus -- that had to be tough.

[neuroanatomist]

Have fun going through them, looks like a great set. The examples you posted are great shots, Tom! From what I recall of running x-country in high school, you've captured the emotions of the finish very well!

[Steven23]

omg wow, what happen to the woman in yellow(7th one down) her knee is all banged up, and still keeps going. I shot a dance compatition a few months back, it was around 12 hours long, 3 days total, i only made it to 2 of them, i shot almost 20k images! Thank goodness i didnt have to edit them.

[Tom Wertman]

what happen to the woman in yellow

My guess is she got tripped at the starting line. The other knee may be worse. I heard they were 2-3 deep.

Thank goodness i didnt have to edit them

I don't either. I was working for someone else.They still haven't posted any to the race website so I'm surethey arebusy.


Tom

[Sheiky]

Looks good Tom,


could you share some exif? Some shots aren't the sharpest and I'm curious if it's the shutterspeed or the focus or a combination.


Anyway it seems that you were a busy man...ouch 5500 photos! Good luck sorting them. At least I think you'll be keeping some for your own collection aren't you?


The shots look great overall. I know how hard it is with athletics. They look down a lot and I always seem to be the best in caputuring that and closed eyes [:P]


Btw, the third shot is awesome![Y]


Jan