Yesterday, we went to the Montpelier Races and were excited for a fantastic afternoon of nice weather and relaxation with good friends. This year was no exception as the afternoon was a stunning 70 degree day with no humidity and fall colors surrounding the property. It was a fantastic afternoon all around and we couldn’t be more pleased and thank everyone that made the day such a success and so enjoyable.

When I teach photography, I often speak of photographers keeping a camera with them as much as possible. Since we were attending to socialize and visit with friends, I questioned bringing my camera simply because it would have been “something extra” to lug from the parking area to the event. At the last minute, I decided to practice what I preach and bring a camera along with a few lenses.

I brought the Sony a9iii, an autofocus dream machine containing the world’s first global shutter a 120 frame per second burst rate, and a 1/80,000 of a second shutter speed (that can actually synchronize with flash at that speed) and a three lenses. My choices for the day were a 14mm f/1.8 wide angle, a 35mm f/1.4, and a 135 f/1.8. I used all three but during this race I decided to aim for a “slow” shutter speed and motion blur, or a few panning shots that gave me the feeling of movement. Due to the midday lighting and minimum aperture of f/16 on the 14mm lens, I ended up with a “slow” shutter speed of 1/100 of a second (I could have lowered my ISO more, however the a9iii has a base ISO of 320 due to the global shutter. Anything less would “pull” the exposure and wouldn’t give me anything that I couldn’t accomplish in post processing.)

During this particular race, the horse lost the jockey and continued running around the track, so I made a few images and stopped to chat a but. I then heard a someone say something to the effect of, “here comes a horse.” I pun around and saw the horse running through the crowd pulling the ropes that were set up. On the side, you can see a lady falling and the chaos that ensued. I still had the camera set on a slow shutter speed but started to make photographs again. It’s hard to remember everything as it happened so fast. but due to the wide angle lens, I was able to capture the horse and the reactions of people in the surrounding scene.

Fortunately, our nine year-old wasn’t running around when the horse came through. She loves animals and the scene would have scared her.

My daughter and her friend, along with my wife, took some time to tour the Montpelier house, James Madison’s home, when he was generating ideas for our constitution.

I’m glad I brought a camera as I certainly would have regretted missing the unexpected.