Breeder's Cup 2007 — Shooting in Adverse Conditions

Photographing this year's Breeder's Cup World Championship was indeed a bit challenging, to say the least. This was the first year the races were spread over 2 days and it was raining for both those days. Friday was by far the worst day, with relentless rains most of the day. The racing gods were in rare humor, deciding to wreak havoc with Monmouth's special weekend. The track, through no fault of the track superintendent and his crew, resembled the swampy bogs of northern New Jersey. And the turf wasn't much better.

Garrett Gomez aboard Midnight Lute captures The TVG Sprint on a sloppy track 

Aside from the unpleasantness of photographing in conditions such as these, it plays havoc on one's equipment.  It is extremely difficult to keep your camera dry, even using a sleeve (a plastic L-shaped bag, fits over the lenses and camera body). It was inevitable for some moisture to get into the camera. The first thing that started going haywire was the play back, I couldn't check what I had just shot. Then the shutter was getting glitches. I was never so glad for a race card to be finished, just to get the camera, and myself, out of the weather. 

Saturday was not as bad, the rain was lighter. And a baseball cap helped keep rain off my glasses, so I could finally see what I was shooting. The track was less soupy, but still quite a quagmire. Unless on the lead, the jockeys and the horses got pelted with mud, and came back looking the same brown color. The rain did finally stop and by 4:30, we could see sun peeking through the clouds.

The cruelest part of this weekend is that on Sunday, it was a lovely, bright, sunny day. Oh, those racing gods and their quirky sense of humor. 

It is really amazing what we will do for something we love to do. Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night, nor the heat of summer, nor the bone-chilling winter winds Aqueduct will stop our desire for the perfect shot.

What is wrong with us?