Summer 2014 at Saratoga Race Course

It was a whirlwind summer. This summer I spent a lot of time on my photography, and with the Saratoga Race Course practically in my backyard, I took to the Oklahoma Training Track, the main track, and the back stretch to photograph horses in a variety of different environments.

On several occasions, I went to the Oklahoma track at dawn to photograph the horses warming up.  The first time I went, I had my Tamron 150-600mm rental with me.  This lens has an incredible range and a decent performance for the price, but the slow aperture made it difficult to use in a number of situations.  If I were to invest in a telephoto lens, I'd rather have a faster aperture and less range, where I could add a teleconverter when needed.

The Whitney Viewing Stand allows you to view the horses from above without the rail getting in the way, but I find the composition from that vantage point to be less interesting.

One morning, my friend let me use her 300mm f/2.8 lens.  She warned me that I would become addicted, and she was right!  This lens is something else.

 

 

Onto the back stretch.  Another friend allowed me to use her 70-200 during one of the back stretch tours I went on. 

 

 

The 70-200 has a great IS feature that compensates for only vertical movement when panning.

At the back stretch tour you get to meet Buddy, a pony who helps the race horses stay calm.

Now onto the main track!

 

 

 

At the end of the summer, I made a sort of time lapse of many of the photos I took at the track.  I thoroughly enjoyed capturing the sights and scenes of the track, and I can't wait for next year!



Tools I used to create the photos this post:  Canon EOS 60D, Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM, Adobe Photoshop CS6