So, as promised first the story. I learned photography while working on my university’s yearbook. Our editor, a person who subsisted on this horrible substance called Mountain Dew used to dole out assignments to us. Very soon after I joined, we had to photograph various sports and I volunteered to photograph crew. Mind you I had a manual focus lens on a camera I had just recently learned how to use and I was shooting TRI-X, eh, TRI-X. The results were predictably dismal. I shoot a lot of things, but sports is something I as a rule shy away from for good reason. In short, it is hard.

Well, anyway, like usual, I have to stretch myself and at least try new things. One’s work cannot simply consist of sky lines, churches, angels, setting suns, etc. It has to have some kind of variety. And of course we have to conquer our fears. In my case, it is a fear of photographing people doing crew. Yes, strange fear, but there you have it.

Ah and no more perfect an opportunity ever existed for me to slay the crew meet dragon than the annual Head of the Charles regatta, where people who row crew race on the Charles River. This time though I was armed with an auto focus Canon XSI, camera of the gods. I do believe that the results were at least slightly better than my last attempt:

Sorry if these look like the gondoliers in Venice. It was an accident. Onward:

OK, enough crew. Maybe, just maybe I mastered it?