The Eclipse for photography
 

Oh c'mon...

I'm sorry but I hate this.

Am I the only one?

All those great finishes and lovely stories... champions... and they choose this???

http://drf.com/news/article/109997.html

you are not alone

That photo is pathetic.

Not as pathetic as Joe Drape winning for a propaganda piece. Eclipse awards are rubbish.

It was the sadiest thing I have heard in a while..A BullSheat piece that was poorly researched and badly positioned. Phuck Joe Curtain

I'm a little interested in who wins the awards, but I really don't care. The piece in the Times was crap and that photo is truly pathetic.I won't be surprised if Flashing wins 3yo filly.

The horse and jockey look like models from a Breyer Horse set.

From a photographic standpoint, it's cool to be able to capture that kind of action... but why does the selection committee like photos of jockeys falling (wasn't last years a photo of Julien Leparoux almost falling off a horse?) or horses doing something unglamorous (wasn't the winner a few years ago of a horse jumping in the air with all four legs off the ground?). Can anyone post an Eclipse Award winning photo that really captures the thrill and excitement of this sport?

I'm more steamed about the Joe Drape award. He said something about it not being his job to promote horse racing. Nobody said it had to come out in favor of anything, he simply needs to do the most thorough research possible and I do believe that is his job.

As far as photography, just catch a jockey or a horse in midair in an unusual position and they could just mail you the award right then and there. It's the same every year isn't it? Sure seems like it unless I just block out the ones that aren't that way.

Where is Vic on this? And I thought only nominees were already out and the awards next week.

Does anyone have the other nominated photos for this?

The measuring stick for Eclipse media awards is a complete farce.

This year's photo was a VERY good shot. The typical shot of a horse with rider or two simply isn't that engaging - they are taken every day with very little variety, big race or not. A photographer really needs to have their proverbial ducks in a row to get a shot like the one that won this year, same for the Leparoux incident a few years back.

I still think my favorite Eclipse pic was of Stephen's Angel acting up on the Preakness undercard when she hovered above the track, off all four legs. Cindy Dulay took that shot spur of the moment. http://horseracing.about.com/od/late.../aa010304a.htm

There was one several years back of an incredible close-up of a horse head mid-race with dirt flying. That picture took incredible skill, and of course, some luck.

Consider that last year's picture was a MESS. Dettori dismount from Donativum, with the name of the race incorrectly spelled in the background, and practically the SAME picture having won an Eclipse a decade before. Now THAT was a travesty. The act of the dismount was completely expected, everyone took it, everyone knew it was coming, was completely UNSPONTANEOUS, and how you could judge that particular shot as better than any of the 50 other photogs who took is beyond me. Oh yeah, and the whole "we've done this before" thing wasn't considered, cause the committee probably never knew it.

The unusual almost HAS to reign in the photography category.

As for Drape's jury selecting his piece, according to the release from Bloodhorse, the panel of judges for the "Features/Enterprise Writing category was comprised of Rob Longley of the Toronto Star, Fred Klein, former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and Neil Milbert, former horse racing writer for the Chicago Tribune."

But after all, considering some of the people who have Eclipse ballots, and their general inability to even comprehend past performances, is ANY of this surprising?

OK, that is it. Milbert may know something about racing, but the Tribune only let him rewrite what the AP posted on Yahoo.

QUOTE=PatCummings]The measuring stick for Eclipse media awards is a complete farce.

This year's photo was a VERY good shot. The typical shot of a horse with rider or two simply isn't that engaging - they are taken every day with very little variety, big race or not. A photographer really needs to have their proverbial ducks in a row to get a shot like the one that won this year, same for the Leparoux incident a few years back.

I still think my favorite Eclipse pic was of Stephen's Angel acting up on the Preakness undercard when she hovered above the track, off all four legs. Cindy Dulay took that shot spur of the moment. http://horseracing.about.com/od/late.../aa010304a.htm

There was one several years back of an incredible close-up of a horse head mid-race with dirt flying. That picture took incredible skill, and of course, some luck.

Consider that last year's picture was a MESS. Dettori dismount from Donativum, with the name of the race incorrectly spelled in the background, and practically the SAME picture having won an Eclipse a decade before. Now THAT was a travesty. The act of the dismount was completely expected, everyone took it, everyone knew it was coming, was completely UNSPONTANEOUS, and how you could judge that particular shot as better than any of the 50 other photogs who took is beyond me. Oh yeah, and the whole "we've done this before" thing wasn't considered, cause the committee probably never knew it.

The unusual almost HAS to reign in the photography category.

As for Drape's jury selecting his piece, according to the release from Bloodhorse, the panel of judges for the "Features/Enterprise Writing category was comprised of Rob Longley of the Toronto Star, Fred Klein, former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and Neil Milbert, former horse racing writer for the Chicago Tribune."

But after all, considering some of the people who have Eclipse ballots, and their general inability to even comprehend past performances, is ANY of this surprising?[/quote]


I agree with you on the picture, it takes a keen eye and quick reflex to get a picture like this one. The pic itself represents something bad, but not many photographers are ready for a shot when this happens. He deserves the award IMO.

The picture doesn't represent anything bad. The article says "the horse" misjudged the jump and was fine afterwords.

I was meaning "bad" as jockey falling off of the horse. sorry for not explaing better.:o

It's a sports photo. My problem with it is it's not a triple crown race. I would have rather seen a picture of Quality Road bucking with a blindfold on. But that might have been somewhat bad publicity.

True

I think it's reprehensible. The fact that the horse was unhurt means nothing. Photos, TV, radio, print and are designed to illicit a response. This picture did for me. Saddness. All the glory we have out there to rejoice in and we're subjected to seeing these two brave athletes in a terror filled, vulnerable moment.

Just terrible.

One of my favorite equine photos is of the stretch drive in the 1997 Preakness. Free House has his eyes turned toward Silver Charm to his outside, and Free House looks enraged that Silver Charm is beating him. I believe the photo appeared on the cover of Blood Horse.

Pop on over to www.equidaily.com [frontpage] for a comparison of this year's winner and the winner of -- not a decade ago, but -- just two years back...

i think they could have found something better. expecting a horse to misjudge a jump isn't really something out of the ordinary considering how often it happens in those races.

It's pretty easy to take a video and pull 1 frame out of it for a photo. I'm not saying that was what was done, I'm just saying it's easy to do. I actually liked the photo of Leparoux almost going over the handlebars.

True, but the resolution isn't usually anywhere near still photography. That said, any professional sports photographer is going to use a camera that takes shots at an extremely high rate. I have no doubt the photographer took a dozen or more shots almost identical to this one, but this was the best one from that moment. Part of his or her job is knowing which shot is the best from the hundreds taken.

I'm not an expert but this photo tells a story. By Mathea Kelley.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/images/con...sic09MK298.jpg

and the guy works for the NY Slimes

gawd awful all the way around

Didn't even realize that...go freakin figure.

At the same time, I still don't think it is as bad as the Dettori flyer dismount.

Considering some of the Eclipses that go out there, that man (Junior Hungerford) should get one himself because he single-handedly saved what was a likely tragedy live on TV.

Just for interest, here's the last 11 winners all in one place. Unfortunately, I couldn't find photos 1998 & 2000

(I'll have to make it in 3 posts due to the 4 image limit)


1998 Ryan Haynes captures the dramatic fall of Self Reliance during a race at Northlands Park in Alberta, Canada, last July. Neither the horse nor rider Peter Wong was injured in the incident.

1999 Michael J. Marten appeared in the Nov. 8 issue of Daily Racing Form.


2000 Dave Landry's photo of Strike Smartly racing through flying mud, which appeared in the 2000 Queen's Plate Souvenir issue of the Canadian Thoroughbred,

2001 - Barbara D. Livingston, The Thoroughbred Chronicle


2002 - Michael Clevenger, Louisville Courier-Journal


2003 - Frank Anderson, Thoroughbred Times

2004 - Cindy Pierson Dulay, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred


2005 - Lynn Roberts, The Blood-Horse


2006 - Matt Goins, Lexington Herald Leader


2007 - Douglas Lees, Fauquier Times Democrat

2008 Matt Goins, photograph appeared in Al-Adiyat


2009 Jeff Taylor, Winchester Star, Virginia

Thanks Echo. good stuff


p.s. like the new sig.....well, I liked the old one too.

I respectfully disagree and would argue that that's precisely what separates a good photographer from a great one. It's like the photos with gimmicks have some unfair advantage.

... and again I have to disagree... I hated that shot of Stephen's Angel. It took zero talent... anyone could have taken it. It said nothing, it provoked nothing. It was emotionless.

A moody shot of an early morning workout (I've seen tons of these, many of them very very good), somethng like this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alydar_...n/photostream/

(and for anyone who would argue I'm being a hypocrite and it is gimmicky well it's exciting anyway!)... a huge upset shot (Revidere showed me his of Interpatation beating Gio Ponti... that kinda thing), even the usual shots of a jock with an arm up in the air crossing the finish... some of them are lovely, powerful, amazing. There can be so much emotion in something that happens every day, over and over, race after race and track after track. It's never the same though, is it? The light is different, different horses and riders, backgroundss, weather... some of these every day shots are stunning.

There's beauty every damned day in this sport that we love. Excitement, intensity, amazing things... horses and jockeys who - love them or hate them - have the only job in the world where an ambulance follows them all day and there wasn't a better shot???. Exurbance, collective joy, victory, defeat, crowds, angle after angle of facial expressions and the muscles these creatures have, nostrils and tails, silks and movement and this is the best of the year?

It's sad because the photo of the year? I think it's something we should all be proud of. I think it represents us... or it could.

A 5 year old with a throwaway camera (if they still make those) could have taken this picture.

I'm disgusted.

I had forgotten about this one when I wrote my post (re the link with something similar)...

Thanks for posting these, Echo Farm.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that in order to be eligible for an Eclipse Award, the photo has to have been published during the year.

I'm sure there are hundreds of more interesting and worthy photos, but they didn't appear in a publication.

http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=pr&id=42702

I'd love to see what else was submitted... not just the honorable mention shots but what else was considered.

That one brings back some bad memories. I played the rail horse, Rapid Proof, who went off at 17-1 that day.

I think Revidere's shot of Kodiak Kowboy winning in the rain was the best photo taken this year.

Thank you!!! I'm biased, however. I think these should have been considered!

If a photog sets up at a given jump on a 'chase course and waits long enough, he'll get a "wipe out" shot. It's like the hundred photogs in the BC winners circle waiting for Dettori to leap. My blind aunt could get that shot!

I agree with Pat about Cindy's shot from a few years ago. Maggie Kimmitt is also great at getting cool action shots and of course Barbara Livingston is always in the right spot for an action shot or great paddock shot.

Sarah Andrew does alot of cool shots, often with neat lighting effects etc and I have seen some shots taken by NYer Deb Kral that are spectacular. Some of Tod Marks' stuff in the Saratoga Special and Steeplechase Times are fabulous.

I'd much prefer any of that to the standard fare, especially is the "standard" stuff is a crash.