Even though I'm a full time, professional photographer with 27 years photographic experience, it doesn't stop me learning or doing new things.
Doing a new thing was exactly what I did at the beginning of August - I photographed a sailing regatta called Calves Week, which was held in Schull, West Cork.
Sailing yacht 'Freya' in action during Calves Week 2017.
There was only one way to photograph the yachts - I had to get on a rib and up close and personal to the boats. Luckily, I have a great friend called John who has a rib so with him as Skipper and me as the cabin boy with the cameras, we were all set.
The Spirit of Calves Week!
After getting over my initial fear and screaming every time we hit a small ripple, I started to concentrate on getting the necessary shots. I knew I'd have to use a fast shutter speed, but had no idea I'd be at 1/2000th second! I started at 1/1000th, but that simply wasn't fast enough as I was getting motion blur.
'Rioja' sails under a spinnaker
I finally got the gist of things and by Friday, the big swell and awful weather weren't affecting me or my images at all! I shot 1,200 images over 3 days, far too much, but I was loving it! Hopefully I'll be shooting some more boaty stuff soon.
'Witchcraft' on a collision course with the camera!