For his second victory in Vendee Globe (Solo sailing round the world race non-stop without assistance) Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) have been very good with us.
He have used flare , again and again, during 45mn his "FONCIA" was on tow in Les Sables d'Olonne fairway.
150 000 people were on bothside of quays .
What a great moment.
It's part of magic of Vendee Globe. No much sailing race provide a big welcome as Vendee Globe finish do in Les Sables. It will be nearly the same for all competitors coming back after their "world tour"
On the photographic side, to catch the atmosphere is not an easy one.
Flare are made for safety, and are very very powerfull light. Red flare are not very good for quality photography, as the red added at strong light , nearly burn the image.
1 Fev 2009 Les Sables d'Olonne (FRA)
Normal image ( a bit hard to calibrate) NO flash.
1 Feb 2009 Les Sables d'Olonne (FRA)
Photo with 2 layout , superposition, one B&W and normal color one. No flash.
It's hard to balance the natural skin and keep the red ambiance.
This time I tried to work with 2 layout, one normal and the other one in Black and white. and mixed both images in one. result is not bad but not good as a photo with flash light on face.
I was not able to use flash as our photo boat was more than 5 meters of Michel ( between 15 and 30 m).
It's what I did in 2001 when Michel Desjoyeaux won Vendee Globe.
As I was his team photographer, I have been in the best position possible to do the photo, and Mich helped me a lot , looking at me . I was around 4m from him and flash was strong enough to balance the strong light of red flare.
I got only one image! (see below)
Not much but enough to get front page of "L'Equipe" the day after.
10 Feb 2001 Les Sables d'Olonne (FRA)
Michel Desjoyeaux , winner of Vendee Globe on "PRB" (red flare + flash)
When Ellen MacArthur (GBR) succeed in Solo Sailing Round the World Record ( on trimaran "B&Q / Castorama") she did a fantastic arrival in Falmouth (UK) the morning after crossing the finish line off Ushant (FRA).
Her communication staff make a nice move, providing Ellen ( should say Dame Ellen, sorry Ellen ;+) some white flare!
Big difference, very very big difference, for us photographer.
by day or by night no problem with burn image ( white don't burn like red do).
it's make a nice yellow colour on people, but photo it's much easy to make (see image below).
8 Feb 2005 Falmouth (UK)
Ellen MacArthur arrival back in UK after breaking solo round the world record. (White flare) No flash
We should suggest to race organisers to provide a lot of white flare to sailors celebrating ( winner or not)
It's a strong image as champagne celebration.
2 commentaires:
Je sais pas trop... J'aime bien les fumigènes rouges ! ça fait plus "ambiance arrivée". C'est sur qu'ils sont plus difficiles à photographier... Faut mettre pas mal de flash ! B Stich
Définitivement je préfère les rouges, cela symbolise les arrivées depuis au moins 20 ans. Par ailleurs Thierry la comparaison n'ets pas tout à fait valable puisque tu prends des images en journée ou entre chiens et loups et tu compares avec des images de nuit.
A+
Christophe
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