Slow Shutter, Fast Slalom; Girdwood (February 2020)
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This is another temporary break from Portugal: To stop race action and guarantee sharp images, I'm normally shooting at 1/2000th to 1/3200th of a second, depending on the event and ambient brightness (or darkness). But for variety, and to emphasize the motion and flow of racing, I used much slower shutter speeds, 1/160th and 1/200th, for part of a recent slalom race for the U16s and U19s. Results are mixed, since the probability of a sharp-enough image quickly drops with the shutter speed.
But a slow shutter doesn't mean slow racing. Here are representative results, some more successful than others. Speed and motion are particularly obvious in the spray of snow off skis and the tips of slalom gates deflected by impacts with racers.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.