A swimmer slices through the water bringing up a graceful curve of water. Canon EOS 7D EF 100-400 at 210mm f/5 1/800 ISO 200
At the BC Summer Games of 2010 the triathlon events were in a small artificial lake, this made for not very interesting swimming as they went around in laps but it did make for some very good opportunities for photographers. The light was strong but still had some interesting characteristics especially as it play over the water. I could see that the most interesting time to take a photograph would be as the swimmer came up for a breath and her arm was reaching forward with a trailing stream of water. I set my shutter speed high and worked on trying to get the timing right. A long lens that I had rented for the occasion and a motor drive that would fire at 8fps both helped to catch that decisive moment when the swimmer was up for a breath, her arm was over her head and the trail of water had not yet fallen back. It took many tries and yielded some other interesting photos but this is the best of those.
-Russell Berg
A triathlete emerges from the water running hard before the water has even run off her body. Canon EOS 7D EF 100-400 at 100mm f/4 1/800 ISO 400
Getting a still photograph to elicit a feeling of movement and speed can be a difficult thing. Here at the same event I allowed the water to continue to help tell the story. The iconic image of a number written on the atheletes calf and the spray of water coming up off her gives us a lot of information in a non-traditional and interesting manner.
