Readers may have noticed that I rarely take photos of people and never photograph sporting events, but yesterday I found myself supporting one of my friends at the Capital Sprints Regatta in Washington D.C. on the Anacostia River. This was her first competition as a member of the DC Strokes Rowing Club and it was great to get some shots of her in action to commemorate the event.
I had never before been to a regatta and I took a lot of photos in an effort to capture the feeling of the experience. I selected a few of my favorites for this posting, including some close-up portraits as well as some action shots.
DC Strokes
Heading for the start line
Their first race (DC Strokes)
Proud mother gets photo taken with her daugher
Getting the boat ready to go into the water
Two in a shell
Mixed competition (DC Strokes)
Watching the races
More DC Strokes
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
No bugs? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Those are great photos.
Thanks. Dan. Have no fear, I should be back to bugs this week.
Nice images. I too never was to a regatta, yet they have them here on the river sometimes.
It was like being at a track meet, but on water. It was wonderful to see the camaraderie among the rowers from the different teams prior to, during, and after the races.
That must be quite a workout. I’ve never seen one in person.
It was fun seeing a race like this in person. This one was a series of sprints in which the boats would all row up the river to the starting point and then finish right at the boat house, where the spectators were located. It was especially cool that the rowers ranged in experience from the novice ones (one year or less) to the much more experienced racers and there from one to eight rowers in the boats. Initially I shot from the shore, but later went to a bridge under which they rowed to get some better shots.
The good thing is, no matter how fast the race was, it couldn’t have been as fast as a dragonfly. 😉
Great shots, sometimes its fun to step away from our primary subjects and do something a bit different..:-)
Indeed it is. Maybe I’ll even get over my inhibitions about photographing people!
I still can’t get comfortable shooting people, bugs and flowers don’t complain when the pic does not turn out good.. 😉
Nice change of pace from the dragonflies!
It was definitely unusual for me to be photographing boats and people, a different challenge than I am used to facing. It was fun!