The first week of May each year always manages to bring out the best (and some might say the worst) in what Louisville has to offer the world.  Yes, the Kentucky Derby is here…

For the first half of my time spent living in Louisville, I did as many Louisvillians do during Derby season – largely tried to ignore it.  It’s not that I was a party-pooper or that I have anything against horse racing and carnival-esque debauchery – it’s just that I never really gave it a fair shake.  Through high school, I did the marching band and jazz band thing (yeah, did I really need to point out that I’m a band geek?), so Derby week always meant marching in a looong, often hot and sweaty parade and performing as the token kids-playing-horrible-jazz background music for events like the Run for the Rosé.  A few years later, my sister made the trip in from Columbus, OH for Derby and we made a go at the proper infield experience.  Easily one of the hottest, longest, and downright dangerous situations I’ve ever voluntarily put myself into – ask me in person for details sometime.  Needless to say, I didn’t really have a lot of interest in the infield or the Derby in general for years after that.

Enter racing… no, not horse racing, but automobiles – specifically, autocrossing with the Kentucky Region SCCA.  I began racing in 2001 and quickly got involved in the inner workings of the club.  Along the way I became good friends with Courier-Journal staff photographer Michael Clevenger.  I guess Michael identified that I was a glutton for long, grueling thankless tasks with little monetary reward and fame by my enthusiasm for volunteering with the race club and figured he could count on my help covering the Kentucky Derby each year.  I unwittingly and eagerly agreed to help, and have been doing so for about 7 years now.

Photographers at the Kentucky Derby (and on Friday’s Kentucky Oaks race) are afforded some of the best access that can be had at Churchill Downs.  Millionaires’ Row? Psssh.  Paddock?  Natch.   Rooftop?  Spires?  Barns?  Yup.  And my favorite… trackside.  No, not those really good seats right on the rail – I’m talking about kneeling on the dirt and on the turf of the tracks themselves, picking grit from your hair after the horses gallop by and dodging trainers in Armini suits and rubber golashes.  Nearly knocking out jockeys turning around too quickly with a shoulderful of 600mm lens.  Yeah, that kind of access.  Nice.

But it comes at a price.  This year the price was measured in inches of rain.  Each year it seems Mother Nature does her best to test the mettle and dedication of fans, media, trainers, and the horses in eqaul measure.  This year was no different, as the skies poured buckets of rain on the train, filling the infield access tunnels with feet of murky water, spilled beer, and trash,  and turning the track into a soupy mess.  The bulk of our time was spent constantly setting, checking aim/focus, rain bagging, unbagging, checking, and rebagging remote cameras all along the inside and outside rails.

As fewer and fewer staff photographers are tasked with shooting the actual race with handheld cameras – instead tasked to crowd react shots, endless stacks of ‘hat pictures’ for the Features section, celebrity sightings, etc – remote cameras have taken on greater significance.  This year, we would set no less than a dozen remotes in the hundred or so feet following the finish line, as well as the starting gates.  These cameras are all daisy chained together in various bundles to (hopefully) get the timing of each shot for the exact moment when the leaders pass through – hopefully in focus, in frame, and preferrably doing something celebratory or at least interesting.

As you might guess, these daisy chains of remote cords terminate at a point some safe distance away from the action with a highly-trained and well compensated expert manning the controls.  Well, not

The master at work...

exactly.  The reality is that the buttons are held by yours truly, as well as three other helper-monkeys, and we do our best to judge the timing and composure of the shot based on instinct and our combined years of experience.  Geez.  It’s a good thing Michael is ever-present on the outer rail shooting panning shots (70-200mm, usually) and long shots (anywhere from 300mm to 600mm) of the field coming up the stretch.

There’s always healthy competition between the real photographers present on who will get the main cover shot, as well as cover of the Sports section.  This year, the addition of a more video cameras to the photo media staff added fuel to the fire. [Video Link]

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