It's not often that the members of Hoylake Photographic Society get out together which is a shame, but when they do they have a good time. Five members recently shared a car and visited
Bangor on Dee racecourse for a spot of sports photography. Club members, George Evans, Rob Devenish, Les Pickstock and husband and wife team Phil and Cynthia Sadler decided to take on the challenge of shooting this fast paced sport and this is the story of their day.
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| Bangor on Dee - George Evans |
Firstly a little about Bangor on Dee. It's a small, friendly, quiet, picturesque course on the outskirts of Wrexham in North Wales with the coutryside as a backdrop. With free parking it's only £9 to enter the Course Enclosure which gives you access from the last fence to the winning post, and the start to the second fence. If you get there early enough you can park your car on a grassy bank close to and overlooking the start and first fence and picnic from your car.
If you want you can pay an extra £10 for entry to the Paddock Enclosure to photograph in the parade ring and take advantage of the posh hospitality
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| The winner takes it all - Phil Sadler |
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| Place your bets - Rob Devenish |
If you want a flutter before the racing starts then there are plenty of characters in the Course Enclosure willing to take your money and pay out again if your horse comes in.
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| Happy to help - Rob Devenish |
We arrived at the course two hours before the first race to give ourselves plenty of time to suss out the best spots to photograph and to obtain some guidance on course etiquette when photographing, and we found the staff on the course to be very friendly and happy to advise us on the best places to go.
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| To the final fence - George Evans |
With the advice of the course staff fresh in our minds, we decided to walk past the winning post and take a look at the final fence to decide on the strategy for capturing the action. The only problem we encountered during the day was the presence of the official course photographers who stand on the course at the final fence and get in your shot and they get upset if you take their favourite positions at the fence but with a bit of goodwill on both sides there was plenty of room for us all.
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| Clearing the last - George Evans |
With the discussions about lens choice and shooting positions over it was time for the first race, a steeplechase, and George Evans decided to take the wide angle approach and shoot from the ground. Now sports photography is a difficult subject to master if you haven't done it before, and horse racing is no different. Not knowing where along the fence the horse is going to jump so that you know where to focus, and how high and how far the jump and landing will be is down to guesswork if you're not experienced and it took George a couple of attempts to get this blind shot with only the sound of hoofs approaching to guide him.
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| To the finish - George Evans |
George decided to get around this problem by switching to his fisheye lens for the next race. A fisheye lens has such a large depth of field and a 180 degree view and he could take the guesswork out and rely on the silence of the approaching hoofs knowing that the take off had begun and press the shutter for a burst of shots.
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| Les Pickstock |
The weather forecast for the day was for showers and it was uncanny how each shower came in between races allowing us to get the shots that we wanted before the next one arrived.
With George and Rob covering the last fence, Les Pickstock decided to take the head on approach towards the winning post with a long lens and captured the horses on the first circuit of the race.
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| The first circuit - Les Pickstock |
The race card for the day had six alternating steeplechase and hurdle races with a flat chase to finish and with two races down it was time to move on to the first and second fences for a different perspective but not before Cynthia had captured this race for the post.
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| By a nose - Cynthia Sadler |
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| Cynthis Sadler |
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| Trailing - Rob Devenish |
Things were far more relaxed when we moved away from the final fence and the official photographers as we were able to get even closer to the action and take our pick of the best spots at the first and second fences.
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| Over the first - Cynthia Sadler |
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| Despondent - Rob Devenish |
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| Towards the second fence - Les Pickstock |
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| Left behind - Phil Sadler |
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| Phil Sadler |
Phil Sadler tried a bit of camouflage as a tactic but the blue jacket gave him away. Still he didn't spook the horses or riders and got this shot of a straggler.
Not all of the horses completed the course unscathed and happily none were seriously hurt but one had to be led back to the start.
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| Down but not out - Rob Devenish |
Between races there was a 20 minute window of opportunity to grab some general shots of the course and Les Pickstock wandered off to the betting area for a while and captured another incoming shower. Despite the showers the spirits of the punters weren't dampened as they gathered for shelter beneath a tent around the beer trailer and burger bar. Now where else would you go?
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| Storm approaching - Les P:ickstock |
There was one more chance to capture horses going over the jumps before the final flat race of the day and Cynthia made sure she got it in the bag with this shot.
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| Bangor on Dee Races - Cynthia Sadler |
With the final race of the day being a flat race, we decided to make for the finishing straight to grab some shots of horse and rider flat out and go out with a flurry of shots.
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| They're off - Phil Sadler |
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| At the Canter -Rob Devenish |
With the cat and mouse of the first circuits out of the way it was time to sprint to a finish and George got the spirit of the finish with this shot.
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| Sprint to the finish - George Evans |
But with half a furlong to go this horse and rider weren't giving up.
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| Pushing on - Les Pickstock |
After a great day out in the fresh air, sunshine and showers the sun came out just long enough to get a group shot at the winning post before going home. From left to right is, Rob Devenish, Cynthia Sadler, Les Pickstock and Phil Sadler. Some-one had to take the photo so George Evans is missing.
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| Rob, Cynthia, Les and Phil - George Evans |
Everyone agreed that it had been a brilliant day out and we're all keen to give sports photography another try by going back to Bangor on Dee and taking more club members with us next time.
If you're interested in photography and want to learn and improve your skills or just socialise with people with the same passion for photography then why not take a look at the
Hoylake Photographic Society website to see our program of meetings and events.
Club nights are every Friday, 7.30 pm - 10 pm, from September through to May at Newton Village Hall, Grange Cross Lane, West Kirby. Keep an eye on the blog because there may be some extra club activities taking place during the Summer.
