BEST of On The Road
"The 2006 Kentucky Derby"

June, 2006

Hi and welcome to this edition of On The Road. One of my favorite events of the year is the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Derby Week is a photographer's dream that offers opportunities for incredible images. Each day tends to build up great anticipation in horse racing fans and the media that culminates on Saturday with the running of the grand daddy of them all, The Kentucky Derby. Here are some images that I captured on Derby Day.

Image #1 The Trophy ... The Kentucky Derby Trophy is on display in the paddock area of Churchill Downs. It is kept in a glass case and protected by guards while nearby fans place their bets as the horses and jockeys proceed through a tunnel under the grandstands to the track. Nikon D200, ISO 200, 1/200 at f4, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom Lens, WB 6700K, Lexar 4G Flash Card. It is small compared to the Stanley Cup but just as precious.
Image #2 Red Dress and Derby Hat ... Perfect weather brought out the ladies and their Derby Hats. I was shooting the first race of the day from the Sky Terrace when I noticed this young lady walking out from the wagering windows underneath the grandstands. The horses where just approaching the start gate so I had some time to take an image of this stylish Derby fan. Nikon D200, ISO 200, 1/500 at f10, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom Lens, WB 7000K, Lexar 4G Flash Card.
Image #3 Breaking Away ... was the title the magazine gave this picture that ran as a double page spread. This picture was captured with a remote Nikon D2X camera located above and slightly outside gate #1. I positioned myself on the opposite side of the track about 12 feet up track from the start gate. I used a Pocket Wizard Transceiver set in the transmit mode on the hot shoe of my hand held Nikon D2X camera to trigger the remote which had a Pocket Wizard Transceiver set in the receive mode. When I pressed the shutter of my hand held D2X I was able to capture images of the start of the Kentucky Derby from both my hand held camera (Nikon D2X with High Speed Crop Mode and Nikon 17-55mm Lens) and from the remote camera position at the same time. The image with the hand held camera showed Barbaro, the eventual winner, in the middle of the pack and barely visible, while the remote image was a great opener for the magazine and one of my all time favorites. Nikon D2X, ISO 320, Aperture Priority with -0.3 EV (which gave me a 1/2500 at f4 exposure ), Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye Lens, WB 6300K, Pocket Wizard Transceivers, Bogan Magic Arm, Bogan Super Clamp and Safety Cable, Lexar 4G Flash Card. I placed the Bogan Magic Arm in place at 8:30am that morning so I would have my remote position secured for the Derby later that day. I then mounted the camera to the Bogan Magic Arm during the 45 minute gate set up prior to the Derby itself.
Image #4 Barbaro Makes His Move ... A few seconds after the start the gates are pulled away from the top of the stretch. I sent my assistant to retrieve the remote camera while I relocated myself about 30 yards up the front stretch from my original position. This location gave me the perfect view of the entire field of horses coming around turn four. It was at this point that Barbaro made his move and broke away from the pack. Nikon D200, ISO 400, 1/1250 at f4.5, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom lens, WB 6700K, Lexar 4G Flash Card. The original framing of this image was a horizontal that showed the entire field of horses but thanks to the D200 file size and image quality the magazine published a vertically cropped portion of the horizontal as a beautiful full page vertical.
Image #5 Heading For The Finish ... Jockey Edgar Prado brings Barbaro home to win the 132nd Kentucky Derby. I could see that Barbaro was pulling away quickly so I kept focused on him as he passed by on his way to the finish. Nikon D200, ISO 400, 1/1250 at f4.5, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom lens, WB 6700K, Lexar 4G Flash Card.
Image #6 Victory ... As soon as the horses passed me I walked up the track towards the finish area. I knew that Craig, the outrider in the red coat, would lead Barbaro back towards me for a victory celebration in front of the grandstands. This became a rather tricky one shot moment because Churchill Downs had instructed photographers to give a wide birth for the horse and I needed to keep my distance and stay clear of the horse. Nikon D200, ISO 400, 1/640 at f4.5, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom lens, WB 6700K, Lexar 4G Flash Card.
Image #7 Winner's Circle ... Some of the photographers have special access to the winners circle. I do not have this special access but I managed to make a nice image of the owners, trainer and jockey from a location outside the track rail. Some photographers outside the track rail gave up hope of capturing an image because the special access photographers were blocking the view, but I stayed with it and when the crowd parted for a split second I saw all four faces and took a picture. The magazine ran it as a half page. Nikon D200, ISO 320, 1/500 at f5.6, Nikon 200-400mm G VR lens with TC14E 1.4 Teleconverter, WB 6700K, Lexar 4G Flash Card.

Well, I hope you all have enjoyed this month's look at the 2006 Kentucky Derby. This event offers so much for the photographer that I have continued the Kentucky Derby coverage with some additional images and information in the June Workshop at the Ranch.

See you next time On The Road .................... Adios. Dave