It is hot, hot, hot. The weather and the rowers, I mean. I almost turned back when we got to the venue at the Teluk Bahang dam. But we had driven around half the island to get there and hey, the participants had flown from all over the world to participate. So, in the spirit of sportsmanship, we trudge up a little hill.
From the VIP stand, what you see are these tiny little speckles of the dragon boats. I had never been to a dragon boat race all my life. I was expecting loud drums, brightly coloured dragon boats and look forward to taking close-ups of fierce dragons heads. But oops, this is all I get!
The spectators cannot get near the races. Well, this is a dam supplying water to the people of Penang. I guess it is for security reasons? So, I changed my DSLR camera settings to the best, biggest, largest wateva settings and get my best shot. Ish, I was looking forward to close-up pics of those muscled men with their sweats glistening in the sun but that’s all I have. *grins*
The only attraction for me is this gentleman here who is the commentator. WOW! He can just rattles off the teams’ names and who is leading in which lane etc etc. I was standing next to him and all I see are tiny, little boats floating in the water. But to him, it is a race. So, yeah, he made it a lot more interesting. Thanks, Mister!
Another highly blown up pic. I took the photos in RAW format and set the resolution to over 3,000 pixels, using a 70-210mm lenses. And all I got are shots like these. *going to hide head in the ground* Where are all the excitement of a dragon boat race! The real race is full of loud drums, strong muscled, determine rowers and discipline team action. The teams are from Australia, Japan, China, Thailand…..and many other countries. Check out the website of Penang International Dragonboat.
i was at the races last year with a 70-200mm lens also and still got lousy shots even though i was even allowed to go on the boats and stands and all. i did not bother to go for the one this year with all the heat and all.
i miss it though. sigh.
[…] This piece of news is very freaky to me, after what I blabbered in my last post. I didn’t read the news until this evening. No wonder I saw Rescue 991 ambulance stationed at Pantai Miami (where the tsunami hit last time) this morning when I passed by to go to the Penang International Dragon boat race (to ogle muscled men in wet suits ;P ). I was totally unaware and joked that they are there to wait for tsunami to happen. *piak self, next time don’t mulut celupar* A tremor really hit us yesterday but I missed that chi-kik-ness because I was out driving. […]
i had the opportunity to take part in “ONE” of the trainings with these people, and i was down and out!
it was tremendous fun, we went boating at sea in penang, and the whole exhilaration of getting the right tempo and the right speed, everyone depending on everyone, especially that head of the boat (dunno what you call him) was just superb!
first and last time.
i had such a sore back and shoulders after that.. and i did warm up before!
but i would do it again if i had the chance. it was fun!
Hey
I was there last Saturday, and I found a spot where I’m facing the boats to the finishing line. Maybe you could noticed me, wearing a white T.shirt, medium build with this “kambing janggut”. And I got several good shots of the finishing, after cropping off the image into ponarama. You know-lah, those excess empty water at the bottom or the top made quite a distraction.
Then later, I was at the pier when I got several shots of the imcoming rowers, some of them in good faces, after wining the game, and some of them, especially foreigner participants, well, they looked very very tired after the rows.
I used a 70mm-300mm Nikkor to capture the boats, but so far, I’m only a bit of satisfied. So, no worry, will be bck next year, with a better lens.
Cheers
Eric Lai