Capturing the (Classic)Moment
If I’m not writing content for SWS, or sailing aboard FAIR WINDS, you’ll probably find me taking photographs.
It’s what I do (and have done for 35 years) for a living. I generally don’t photograph boats, as that would be mixing work and pleasure, but I do feel that a working life behind a camera entitles me to comment on maritime photography.
It’s that time of year when the long list of imagery in the annual MIRABEAU YACHT RACING images competition opens to the public for voting. Click on that link. It’s worth a look.
Out of the 80 shortlisted images (yes its just like the Booker Prize) 10 are of classic or wooden yachts. The competition requires the yachts to be “racing” which I feel is a little limiting. Personally I have experienced far more maritime beauty when cruising than racing… but I don’t make the rules.
A few years ago I was asked to photograph for a book about a substantial sculpture collection, which was situated around a vineyard and rural property on The Mornington Peninsular in Victoria. Photographing sculpture is an interesting challenge as the creative work…or the “art”.. has already been done and the photographers job is merely to record faithfully the form, and try not to interpret or enhance. This can only really be done by choice of background and light. I found myself occasionally wanting to make the imagery more dramatic with by using wide angle lenses and strange camera angles, but realised that this was a mistake because the book was about sculpture not photography.
I think a little of this thinking should apply to photographing Classic Yachts. The boats themselves are the sculptures. Obviously the difference is that they are moving through an environment that gives opportunity to tell a bigger story, but sometimes too much “trickery” shouts “look at me, the clever photographer” rather than look at this image and understand a little of what it is like to witness this awe-inspiring sight.
Here are seven images of Classic Yachts that made the cut with some personal commentary for what its worth!
MARGARET RINTOUL by Andrea Francolini
I’ve got a soft spot for this image for a number of reasons, not least because its a stunning capture. Andrea has been a great supporter of SWS generously donating imagery to help us the publication rolling. The Image is also a favourite because it’s of one of the few Philip Rhodes designed boats in Australia MARGARET RINTOUL, a multiple Sydney Hobart winner. Another Rhodes boat FAIR WINDS belonging to your editors was also in this race, so we know what that Sydney Harbour swell felt like!
SKY by Giles Martin-Raget
For me this image captures the power and drama of Classic Yacht Racing better than any other picture in this years selection. SKY is a gaff-rigged yawl, designed and built in England by Thethis Ware in 1890. Without trickery, of lens selection, or overly dramatic lighting, or radical image processing, we can feel the excitement and perhaps even terror of the moment as the huge yawl threatens to broach. I can hear the shouting, and feel the spray. I love it!
BLACK WATCH by Rod Harris
BLACK WATCH is a very early S&S from 1938 launched as EDLU II. Rod Harris writes of the shot “There were several frames from which to choose within this sequence of photographs. Then this one became more prominent, as a friend shared with me, “Rod, with them blowing the tack and the definition in the sail with ominous clouds, adds a level of definition, beauty, and the spirit of this region.” Objectively, I was lured by the photograph’s simplicity, but internally was captured by its composition.”
SHENANDOAH OF SARK by Marc De Delley
SHENANDOAH OF SARK—named after the 55-mile Shenandoah River in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Virginia—was built in 1902 at New York shipyard Townsend and Downey. She’s a three masted schooner and 180 feet long so the power and majesty of the vessel is what I want to see. Perhaps here the photographer got a little obsessed with getting up close and trying his new wide angle lens and over excited by the hovering helicopter and forgot to portray on the potence of this magnificent vessel.
Skûtsjes of the cities Leeuwarden , Huizum and Drachten by Tom Coehoorn
Tom describes his photograph like this. “Close encounter of three 'skûtsjes' during a race for the 2022 SKS Skûtsjesilen Championship on lake 'Fluessen' near the village of Elahuizen in the Northern part of Netherlands.” The tension comes from the obviously close encounters of this fleet and dramatic crew work, emphasised by a longish lens. The boats are not your standard fare for Classic Racing which is refreshing but perhaps the flatness of the light means that the ultimate visual thrill is not present.
HALLALI 12M by Melanie Joubert
Melanie’s image is more of an “art piece” than a yacht racing image, but in that respect it works well. Without the splash it would be mediocre at best, but the sparkle adds drama to the image of the 1956 12 Meter designed and constructed by French naval architect Eugène Cornu
COLUMBIA by Frida Stenow
The Caribbean swell at Antigua Race Week focusses the viewers attention on the massive rig of the replica of Starling Burgess’s 1923 Schooner. The sliver of deck hints at the nature of the hull but despite seeing a few of the crew dressed in blue I feel like a distant voyeur, rather than an engaged participant.