I'm going to let you in on a bit of a secret, I wasn't really sure just how big this race meet was. I don't live too far from the Putney boathouses and I frequently walk down there to live vicariously through these giant, competitive and certainly not camera shy athletes. Being the early bird, I got down there before most and had the good fortune of running into a fellow photographer, and now friend, Graeme, who told me about the meet in general and to prepare myself for a little chaos. I seized this opportunity to get up close and personal with the rowers and test out some angles that many I haven't seen in any other rowing shots.

The day was made for photography. The sun was out, the sky blue and the rowers turned out in full force. Graeme also mentioned that I shouldn't be coy as rowers are as vain as any athlete. He wan't lying. Often they would clock me taking their picture and would just look away, pretend they haven't seen me and tense. We've all been there.

Having spent 6 hours by the water, about the same editing, I wanted to make sure they were seen by their subjects, so I ended up spending about two more hours going through the photos and matching the University or club names the rowers were representing and tagged their boat club pages. The outpouring of love I got was overwhelming and I can honestly say looking back on this day, it certainly was one of my favourite shoots and one that really got me into rowing photography.

Until next year...and the next...and the next...