by Beth Kosiak

The picture shown in the December competition results was taken at the U.S. National Whitewater Slalom Competitional in October of 2019. The course at the power plant in Dickerson MD was designed to mimic the course at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Water is diverted in a controlled fashion from the Potomac. There is another artificial course in Maryland on top of a mountain in Deep Creek. The Savage River in Western Maryland has also been used intermittently as a course.

The first thing to consider in shooting these competitions is the advance planning needed. Since access to the Dickerson course involves driving through the plant, there are security issues. Paperwork for permission to be on site needs to be completed well before arrival. Vehicles are escorted in groups to the site. Obtaining the roster of participants, their identifying bib numbers, and the times for the various boat classes will help you set your schedule and provide names for your subjects.

The next tip is to know something about the sport. I paddle and have raced. (FYI: The November PSA issue had suggestions about taking images of soccer players at various skill levels. Many, although not all, of the suggestions would apply here as well.)  

• It is important to determine where you want to locate yourself. I look for locations that will provide maximal opportunities. I look at the location of the gates from both sides of the river. 
• Then I look at the orientation of the gates; are they upstream gates or downstream gates—so that I can determine how the paddler(s) should be flowing from one gate to another and whether they will be facing me or be in profile. (There are markers on the gates that provide this orientation.) 
• Then I look at the water formations to see how they will impact entry into and out of the gates. I consider what I would call the likelihood of carnage (action). The newer boat requirements (lower volume and shorter) allow solo paddlers to come through the gates sideways—so plan your angles. (I do enjoy taking images of tandem boaters because both the bow and stern paddlers need to be more squarely in the gate to get both bodies through the gate and to avoid the penalties from touching gate poles or missing the gate. Frontal images of paddlers working in unison is something to behold.)
• I consider where the judges need to be located and make sure that I am not in their way. (Judges can be very helpful if they know you are serious and can make very good subjects as well.)
• I consider any site factors. Complete access to the water was limited by a fence, but the fence provided support for a long lens.
• I look at the light and consider the time of day. The course is an a bit of a valley—so initially rather dark with trees filtering the light coming from the east. The day was sometimes sunny, otherwise overcast—so some pictures were going to be in color; other black and white.

My position (with a foot-print of about three feet) provided a view of four gates. I was able to capture an entire sequence for some paddlers, or the actions of multiple paddlers at a single gate. All of the paddlers are working hard during the runs that last approximately three minutes. Some are stoic, but others display a range of facial expressions—one of which was shown in “ARGH.” (Getting whacked in the face with a pole will generate still other expressions.)  I used a 160-600mm lens with vibration control for hand-holding. I shot single images or short bursts if I was refocusing through serial gates. Because of the variable conditions in these setting, I used an ISO of 800 to 1600 (thank you Topaz for noise reduction) to keep the shutter speed at about 1000 or higher with an f-stop of 8 or higher for maximal depth of field when the subject is twisting and turning rapidly. I carried a lighter 28-300mm lens as a back-up and for wider shots. 

Such events provide a variety of opportunities besides just the competitors in action. There are swims with throw-rope rescues. There are judges conferring. There are paddlers doing rodeo moves after the competition. There are award ceremonies and after-parties.