Damn You Neil Murray
September 12th 2011 00:56
An article by Frank Rodrick for Thoroughbreds Worldwide and RacingWrite. Frank completes his six week mission of thoroughbred discovery with this report.
Damn You Neil Murray
See, I'm not really a horse guy. Or a horse race guy. Or a writer, or a photographer. I just thought I could maybe take some better pictures if I googled "how to shoot a horse race". And so I found Neil Murray's article on the subject that made it sound so easy. "How to Take Spectacular Racing Action Shots". There's some great advice there, about shutter speeds and f-stops and other things you normal people don't care about. So off I went to my first ever horse race, Opening Day at Del Mar Where The Surf Meets The Turf, with high hopes and great expectations.
Damn you, Neil.
I had, as of September 6th, over 96 gigabytes of bad horse racing photographs. About 4,000 shots. And none, not one, compared with Neil's photos. Where had I gone wrong? Why did his shots look so glorious, so dramatic, so professional, when my looked. . . amateurish? I went to my last race, Closing Day, determined to make it happen. Today was My Day, the day I would take The Shot.
I mean, Dear Reader, it's not like you're losing out on anything. By now you know I don't know anything about racing. I don't know why horses win or why jockeys win or why they always run away from the sun when my pictures would look so good if they'd just run clockwise. So I abandoned my post at the finish line and headed upstream to where the background was good and uncluttered. No videos screens. A better sun angle.
Here's the third race of the day, a Stakes C.e.r.f.S. We all know what that means, right? Sure. So I'm not going to condescend to explain.
Here's Rumor (2), with Garrett Gomez riding, just about to catch Salty Sarah (4), ridden by Martin Garcia. They're just out of the final turn, with a couple of furlongs to go. And she does catch Sarah, but then Salty Sarah takes the lead again. Then Rumor comes up. . .and they're like that the whole way down the stretch. Great race. Love that stuff, when it's really close. Here's about as far as Rumor ever got in front; finally won but only by a nose. I would show you but I was positioned way back, looking for an uncluttered background so I could get The Shot.
Race Four, a cheap claiming race for four-year-olds, was on the turf, the inside track where we Professional Photographers can get right up on the action. I love when they come out of the chute and make that first turn--I can watch the pack break up as someone takes the lead. Here, Martin Pedroza on Sir Bell (3) takes it, with Joel Rosario next on Red Alert Day (10). Rosario's the leading jockey for this meet so right there I figure the race is over.
And to my credit, I'm sort of right. Sort of. Here's Red Alert Day half a length in front of Sir Bell at the finish line. Can I call 'em, or what? But somehow Patrick Valenzuela has snuck in on Porfido. How did he do that?
I like when P-Val wins because he seems to enjoy it so much.
The big event of the day was a Grade 1 Stakes race, the Del Mar Futurity. Win and you're in, which I think means a guaranteed slot in the Breeder's Cup. Better google it to be sure, though. Creative Cause was the favorite, though there seemed to be some disagreement since Majestic City and Drill also had pretty good odds. It was a nice tight race, hard-fought, with five horses lined up even at one point. I missed that, of course; here, Rafael Bejarano on Creative Cause is doping off in back of the pack. Why?
. . . .and here's the finish: Drill (6), ridden by Martin Garcia is in the lead with Majestic City (4), David Flores riding, half a head behind. Creative Cause is still a length behind, next to Gun Boat.
But the interesting thing is, there was a bump, a foul, whatever you call it. Majestic City drifted wide out of the final turn and slammed into Creative Cause. You can see that here on the right, I think. Looks to me like all three horses were making a play, but Majestic City's right hip (?) is up against Creative Cause's shoulder. Amazing that nobody went down, and that Bejarano could keep in the game.
Great race. The judges moved Creative Cause up to second place, which is nice but still ain't like winning. Who would have won, without that foul? Did it slow Majestic City as much as it slowed Creative Cause? We'll never know.
And that was it for me. A whole meet at Del Mar, six weeks of living at the racetrack. What an experience! Thanks to Leonard, I was granted a press pass and found myself right down on the track, with the track photographers, right next to the horses, right in the winner's circle. I got angles and closeups the other amateur photographers could only dream of. But. . . I never got The Shot. I can hear you saying, Oh, pshaw, Frank, you did a fine job. Yeah, I got some decent photos here and there. I got some action shots and I got a few nice portraits of pretty horses. But I still don't have that touch. Take a look at Neil's stuff: the contrast, the composition, the intensity. THAT's racing photography. You made it look so easy, Neil, with your tips and your examples. (Snif.) How was I to know it was all a lie? (Sob.) That it takes racing knowledge and camera knowledge and experience and diligence and patience and let's face it, an eye I'll never have. (Sigh.) Still, who cares? Like a losing jockey, I'm just happy I got to get in the game. And what a game it was.
Thanks, Neil, for getting me started with race photography, and for introducing me to Leonard so I'd have something to do with my pictures. Thanks, Leonard, for actually polluting your websites with my nonsense and thank you, Leonard's readers, for not demanding my removal. It's been a lot of fun.
editor's note:
examples of Neil Murray's photography - and Frank Rodrick's - can be found at the links provided below:
Neil Murray Photography
Frank Rodrick Photography
Damn You Neil Murray
See, I'm not really a horse guy. Or a horse race guy. Or a writer, or a photographer. I just thought I could maybe take some better pictures if I googled "how to shoot a horse race". And so I found Neil Murray's article on the subject that made it sound so easy. "How to Take Spectacular Racing Action Shots". There's some great advice there, about shutter speeds and f-stops and other things you normal people don't care about. So off I went to my first ever horse race, Opening Day at Del Mar Where The Surf Meets The Turf, with high hopes and great expectations.
Damn you, Neil.
I had, as of September 6th, over 96 gigabytes of bad horse racing photographs. About 4,000 shots. And none, not one, compared with Neil's photos. Where had I gone wrong? Why did his shots look so glorious, so dramatic, so professional, when my looked. . . amateurish? I went to my last race, Closing Day, determined to make it happen. Today was My Day, the day I would take The Shot.
I mean, Dear Reader, it's not like you're losing out on anything. By now you know I don't know anything about racing. I don't know why horses win or why jockeys win or why they always run away from the sun when my pictures would look so good if they'd just run clockwise. So I abandoned my post at the finish line and headed upstream to where the background was good and uncluttered. No videos screens. A better sun angle.
Here's the third race of the day, a Stakes C.e.r.f.S. We all know what that means, right? Sure. So I'm not going to condescend to explain.
Here's Rumor (2), with Garrett Gomez riding, just about to catch Salty Sarah (4), ridden by Martin Garcia. They're just out of the final turn, with a couple of furlongs to go. And she does catch Sarah, but then Salty Sarah takes the lead again. Then Rumor comes up. . .and they're like that the whole way down the stretch. Great race. Love that stuff, when it's really close. Here's about as far as Rumor ever got in front; finally won but only by a nose. I would show you but I was positioned way back, looking for an uncluttered background so I could get The Shot.
Race Four, a cheap claiming race for four-year-olds, was on the turf, the inside track where we Professional Photographers can get right up on the action. I love when they come out of the chute and make that first turn--I can watch the pack break up as someone takes the lead. Here, Martin Pedroza on Sir Bell (3) takes it, with Joel Rosario next on Red Alert Day (10). Rosario's the leading jockey for this meet so right there I figure the race is over.
And to my credit, I'm sort of right. Sort of. Here's Red Alert Day half a length in front of Sir Bell at the finish line. Can I call 'em, or what? But somehow Patrick Valenzuela has snuck in on Porfido. How did he do that?
I like when P-Val wins because he seems to enjoy it so much.
The big event of the day was a Grade 1 Stakes race, the Del Mar Futurity. Win and you're in, which I think means a guaranteed slot in the Breeder's Cup. Better google it to be sure, though. Creative Cause was the favorite, though there seemed to be some disagreement since Majestic City and Drill also had pretty good odds. It was a nice tight race, hard-fought, with five horses lined up even at one point. I missed that, of course; here, Rafael Bejarano on Creative Cause is doping off in back of the pack. Why?
. . . .and here's the finish: Drill (6), ridden by Martin Garcia is in the lead with Majestic City (4), David Flores riding, half a head behind. Creative Cause is still a length behind, next to Gun Boat.
But the interesting thing is, there was a bump, a foul, whatever you call it. Majestic City drifted wide out of the final turn and slammed into Creative Cause. You can see that here on the right, I think. Looks to me like all three horses were making a play, but Majestic City's right hip (?) is up against Creative Cause's shoulder. Amazing that nobody went down, and that Bejarano could keep in the game.
Great race. The judges moved Creative Cause up to second place, which is nice but still ain't like winning. Who would have won, without that foul? Did it slow Majestic City as much as it slowed Creative Cause? We'll never know.
And that was it for me. A whole meet at Del Mar, six weeks of living at the racetrack. What an experience! Thanks to Leonard, I was granted a press pass and found myself right down on the track, with the track photographers, right next to the horses, right in the winner's circle. I got angles and closeups the other amateur photographers could only dream of. But. . . I never got The Shot. I can hear you saying, Oh, pshaw, Frank, you did a fine job. Yeah, I got some decent photos here and there. I got some action shots and I got a few nice portraits of pretty horses. But I still don't have that touch. Take a look at Neil's stuff: the contrast, the composition, the intensity. THAT's racing photography. You made it look so easy, Neil, with your tips and your examples. (Snif.) How was I to know it was all a lie? (Sob.) That it takes racing knowledge and camera knowledge and experience and diligence and patience and let's face it, an eye I'll never have. (Sigh.) Still, who cares? Like a losing jockey, I'm just happy I got to get in the game. And what a game it was.
Thanks, Neil, for getting me started with race photography, and for introducing me to Leonard so I'd have something to do with my pictures. Thanks, Leonard, for actually polluting your websites with my nonsense and thank you, Leonard's readers, for not demanding my removal. It's been a lot of fun.
editor's note:
examples of Neil Murray's photography - and Frank Rodrick's - can be found at the links provided below:
Neil Murray Photography
Frank Rodrick Photography
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