Out and about #15 - Close to home

These are a couple of shots I took from the area, near my home, were I usually walk/exercise.

Out and about #14 - Currais Trail, Gerês

This is a trail near the Gerês town in the Peneda-Gerês National Park. Its a natural and ethnographic trail as Currais stands for corrals in english. These were the spaces were the shepherds maintained the cattle during good weather when they could be taken and kept up the mountain.

The forecast was for some spots of rain. These were few and far between, which was good. However, there was plenty of mist and low clouds.

The misty crags awaiting at the top

 

A hard slog upwards but in forest trails, which is nice for a change.

 

A large number of cairns (moledros in portuguese) on the trail, to the left of the Lomba stream.

 

... and my new addition.

 

One of the corrals, this one apparently still in use.

 

 A view down the Gerês valley from the Pedra Bela viewpoint.

Mountain biking - Sunday 2/2

Thanks to the organization, I went to supply points on both the half and full marathons.
The possibilities in terms of shots are enormous, and really the only ones I didn't get was pictures of the cyclist and spectators in the background.  Unfortunately there were few along the track.

Panning here didn't go well (its diagonal) but I like the result anyway.

Flash performed well, I got better light then I thought. Of course it did mean getting close with a wide-angle.

Of course I took hundreds of photos, all very similar. The cyclist were constantly asking for them and I went a bit into the mode of the BUPA great Edinburgh Race and just snaped, snaped, snaped... Until, of course I thought of the 3-6 months of shutter life I was using up. Ouch...





Back to Esposende for a deserved lunch (close to 3PM by now) I still took some shots of the Marathon and Extreme arrivals.

After the race, the opportunities for photos don't disappear.

I hope you've enjoyed the photos and the short descriptions.

Mountain biking - Sunday 1/2

Although cloudy, Sunday was a much brighter day. So hopefully I'd get better results than yesterday...

When I arrived at Esposende it was already full of cyclist and spectators.

Big crowds are great for two particular perspectives: a wide angle shot of the vastness of the crowds, and a telephoto shot concentrated on individuals. The first helps you have a sense of what the shear mass of people feels like and with the second you catch and individual living the event (the telephoto means you don't disturb him).

For the first one obviously a large depth a field his good.

And the opposite may or may not apply for the second, see what feels best.

 

Its always interesting to capture moments aside from the big action of the race. These aren't particularly impressive photographs, but they are good as cover the event.

There also stands and kids activities as well as an old and modified bikes display.

Next, the actual marathons photos.

Mountain biking - Saturday (Extreme Event)

The first cyclist could leave as early as 6h30 AM, but few would take that option, and definitely not me.

I was there at a quarter past 7. It was a bleak start, dark and rainy.

I think there were fewer than expected cyclists in the event. Probably reconsidered with the poor conditions.

At the river crossing, the picture wasn't much better, there was a bit more light, but with periods of heavy rain.

I relied on auto focusing when trying to take the shots of the short cut, but not looking through the view-finder (because of the low angle) I got it wrong many times... Doh.

I also took my sisters digicam and took some video clips. Here's a mash up of those.

There were few cyclist passing, so I didn't get to make shots from all the angles I wanted to try.

Mountain biking - reconnaissance

Looking at the program, the routes and weather, I realized that I could do:

• the departure on Saturday for the Extreme event, and one location on the trail;
• Departures of the Marathons on Sunday, the Meeting's HQ area;
• Trail around the supply point in the Half-marathon.

I went to do the recce at 3PM, weather conditions were as I'd expect for Sunday (but not Saturday). I intercepted the trail here. Straight away, nice place for some action.

If they were coming down, they'd lean into the corner here, which would give some nice shots. However, they were climbing which also has its advantages, since the cyclist would be passing more slowly, and hence easier to photograph.

The track continued level for about 150m and they climbed with a good gradient for about 200m to a knoll on the hill and a long descent.
Almost always under heavy tree cover and with the sun more or less to the back of of the cyclists as they pass. Some ok terrain, but nothing spectacular.

There was this bend on the trail which gets light because of a small clearing. Around the expected time most of the participants would pass here they'd be getting light from the right or at a small angle from the front. Should be a nice spot.

I explored other paths, having been fooled by orange markings which were either from the previous year's MTB meet or from another event.

I rushed to the spot for the Extreme race. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my photos, I had a wedding of a childhood friend on the Saturday. I was limited  therefore to the initial part of the race and would miss the more spectacular scenery on the hills north of Esposende.
The brave or mad ;) cyclists would be riding more than 100km from Esposende to Ponte de Lima (passing by Serra da Nó) and on to Caminha (on the estuary of the Minho river, looking across to Spain).

Back to what I could do... I had two options, one at 13km and another at 25km.
Since the departures were spread out throughout one and a half hours, 25km would give me the chance to catch more of the cyclists as they climbed Padela Hill (Monte da Padela). However, because of the bad weather, the conditions would be pretty harsh on the southwest face.

In went with the Neiva river crossing at 13km. It certainly is very picturesque...

You can make out in the bushes by the river an abandoned water mill, of which there are many in this river (I'll have to do a walk here sometime...).

 

The bridge is said to be Roman, although it is not the usual arched type, that must be due to the shallowness of the river in this spot.

Immediately before arriving at the stone bridge there was this short-cut in the trail. I hoped they'd use it.

Despite many trees and the location being partly shadowed by the forest on the low hill, there was plenty of light when I visited, I expected worse for Saturday, as it would be earlier in the day and more overcast.

Lets see what we get...

New gear

As mentioned in previous posts, I had problems with my K10D.

I have since bought a used one and sold my faulty one on ebay. I can start shooting DSLR again. It is interesting... there is something about the mechanical process I have gotten used to.

I also found on a local classifieds a cheap FA 70-200mm. Not a stellar lens by most accounts, but decent quality. So I've bought to close a gap on AF telezoom. My Tamron 70-210mm is great, and might even be sharper, but MF is just to much of an issue for me in anything but stationary objects.