Stabilized Lenses & Action

Manhattan Sailing Club Hagan Memorial Race, originally uploaded by Stephenie Hollyman Copyright 2005.

I took this photo in October during the last race of the season of the Manhattan Yacht Club as I stood in club's Zodiac rubber raft. The wind blew at 26 knots, gusting upward with sudden gale-force bursts. This snap is a solid and tangible demo for how well the stabilizing technology works. To take these pix I tethered myself with a line slung around my ample behind which was secured to the rubber raft's bow with a bowline. Like a dog at the end of a leash, I created a bosun's chair of sorts that gave me balance as we madly careened across New York harbor. I bounced right along, dipping and swaying, bracing my knees, sort of like Tai-Chi.

At this point you might well ask... " just what was she doing THERE?" I can't blame you. In fact I often ask myself that same question. It does get confusing.

But all of us " Cross Media" producers do have to wear many hats. Don't you? We have to be versatile and supple like bamboo. This day, however, I wasn't just wearing another different hat , but foul weather gear instead, in my role as official photographer for the Manhattan Sailing Club to which I belong. Everybody took a pounding that day but my camera kept ticking as we chopped across harbor swell, rushing to rescue the crew of this boat which looked as if would capsize. Luckily it righted itself.

I used Canon's 20D digital camera. Without the stabilizer on the Canon 70-200 f. 28 lens I never would have captured the shot. The photo was taken at 800 ASA with Canon's 70-200 f. 2.8 stabilized lens at 1/160 at F.14. I set the camera to shutter priority mode and wracked this zoom lens out to 200mm. I set the stabilizer to vertical mode to correct the up and down pitch of the boat.