Something that combines animals, transport and sport! Horseback wooden stick pokey pokey

[Phal]

Not the typical sport/transportation stuff... It's Horseback wooden stick pokey pokey from the past or as it's otherwise known, Jousting!

I used the 200-400mm for the first round when I was stood at the far end. For the second round I used my 100mm F2.8L and shot from a kind of diagonal angle to the runs they did.

It was an interesting experience to photograph that's for sure! I used some AF focus points I'd never used before in order to frame the shots which was fun 100mm on my 70 was probably a little bit long but at least it means I get some good close/sharp shots. Well for the most part they're sharp! Both different positions had their own challenges and the light had faded a bit for the later round. This meant that I decided on 1/1000 at around F4 but looking back I might have wanted a smaller aperture and faster exposure but I didn't fancy the high ISO


Here's the whole album of just over 100 pics from 2 rounds of jousting yesterday.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/phal44/sets/72157646842676261/
And here's a few action shots
Sunday Jousting round 1 - (28) by Phal44, on Flickr
Sunday Jousting round 1 - (33) by Phal44, on Flickr
Sunday Jousting round 1 - (35) by Phal44, on Flickr
Sunday Jousting round 2 - (33) by Phal44, on Flickr

 

[kevinb]

Look pretty damn sharp to my old eyes, love the timing to catch the poles breaking!

 

[Phal]

Yeah it's just luck of the draw really getting the shots at the right time. A nice shiny 1Dx would give me a few more options but the 70d does alright In the first shot I posted here you can see one of the metal end pieces flying off towards the top left.

In some cases I guess a bit more sunlight would have been handy since 1/1000 was still a bit slow to stop all blurring like this one:

Sunday Jousting round 2 - (64) by Phal44, on Flickr





In this one you can see the left rider getting the broken part to the face after the break

Sunday Jousting round 2 - (42) by Phal44, on Flickr


He got away with a large splinter in his eye slit so I guess those holes are narrow for a reason!

Sunday Jousting round 2 - (43) by Phal44, on Flickr

Sunday Jousting round 2 - (48) by Phal44, on Flickr

Sunday Jousting round 2 - (51) by Phal44, on Flickr

 

[Proud2btaff]

Fantastic, I was thinking Polo when i came into the thread lmao.

 

[Phal]

Fantastic, I was thinking Polo when i came into the thread lmao.

Hah not quite I quite fancy doing more Jousting but I guess it's not the most common sport to find happening nearby :/

 

[Proud2btaff]

Hah not quite I quite fancy doing more Jousting but I guess it's not the most common sport to find happening nearby :/

Gonna have to keep my ears to the ground and try and get to an event if it happens near me lol.

 

[Phal]

Gonna have to keep my ears to the ground and try and get to an event if it happens near me lol.

I wanted to photograph just general combat after reading this article but Jousting was a pleasant surprise

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27715991

 

[Proud2btaff]

I wanted to photograph just general combat after reading this article but Jousting was a pleasant surprise

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27715991

Brilliant, the photos are amazing it that, can you imagine being in the middle of that taking photos lol.

 

[Phal]

Brilliant, the photos are amazing it that, can you imagine being in the middle of that taking photos lol.

I don't think they'd let you be there lol

I've got some shots of a mock battle from the same event that the Jousting was at but it's not quite the same. It's like taking shots of a bunch of old dudes having a kickabout on a Sunday compared to Premiership Football. Proper full contact medieval combat with skilled participants would be awesome to shoot