World Rowing Championships - Plovdiv, Bulgaria

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Name
Seba
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So been sent to Plovdiv (no, me neither) for the World Rowing Championships for the next week. I've never done rowing in my life, so today was a learning curve to say the least.

Based myself at the start for today, and probably tomorrow, as it's only the heats so face on shots are of more use that the finish line. The start area is very odd, next to no one down there, apart from officials and photographers. Oddly quiet.

Here mainly for the Irish but seeing as we are punting out through Getty too might as well pick up some other countries and try and get some further sales.

Here are some highlights from Day 1. Will update as the week goes... and if the photography improves!

(the rest... https://www.sportsfile.com/more-images/775224436/)

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Day 2 over already. Only a few heats and repechages to get done. Walked the entire 2k course to get to the finish for the Ireland pair in case they didn't quality and reacted to it. Turns out they qualified... and did nothing.

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Nice set, Seb. Loving the silhouette shot.
 
Very nice, good to see something which doesn't feature too often.
Last image from each set stand out for me also.
 
Day 3 done. Another short day with mostly repechage races, so not much to shoot. Frustrating really as I feel I have nothing to show for my weak efforts! Only one Irish interest and their failure didn't really make a photo.

Realise I didn't number the the images from Day 2 sequentially with Day 1... so for Day 3 pretending I did...

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Daaaaay 4 (Four). Racing got cancelled today only a few races into the afternoon session. Luckily the O'Donovan brothers had just finished and won their quarter final so I got some images in the bag. Set up a remote on the finish line to see if it might work for the finals on the weekend. Hit and miss results. Needs some fine tuning.

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Completely forgot to do Day 5 (FIVE) yesterday. As things have gone from heats to semi-finals to finals today, I've stayed up the finish area to get reactions. It's a much tougher place to shoot. Backgrounds are grim and the rowers just feel so far from you. I even stuck my 1.4 converter on the 600mm today and it didn't feel like it made an once of difference.

Highlights of yesterday were the Ireland Women's Pair winning their semi-final - Their faces tell the story. Also the Men's Pair finishing in a joint-second with Italy in their semi-final, which the remote camera caught well. That has now been repositioned more square on to the finish line, and today caught Ireland's Sanita Purspure finishing well clear of the field and celebrating as she did nicely.

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DAY SEVEN! And what a day! Paul and Gary O'Donovan of Ireland bring home gold in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls. Easily the nicest in sport I've ever met. Gary was thrown a tricolour flag as he made his way to the podium so I lent Paul mine so it evened things up... was a bit awkward asking for it back after!

Well done lads!

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Great set, seemed to get better each day ;-) Although every one better than I could hope for. More action and opportunities as the week ewent on from the looks of it. For me, if i had to pick from the last few, 18, 21 and 25.
 
Cheers Shanks. It's been a long week. First couple of days at the start were good as you could get more variety I felt. At the finish it's side on action and then hope for a reaction. Very few emotions in the heats, quarters and semi-final finishes. Finals are good for reactions. It's tough also having to remember that unlike field sports I can't just run on and get a nice tight in shot following a win!

Last day today and hoping for another Irish medal in the Women's Single Sculls.
 
DAY EIGHT (8!) and another Gold for Ireland! Sanita Puspure quite simply dominated her Women's Single Sculls Final leading from start to finish. This was probably her last chance of a gold as she is near the end of her career, and after coming so close to medalling in previous years this was worth the wait!

It's been a long week over here, but enjoyable. I'm now flying home via Munich and a 6 hour stop-over in a business class lounge where there is a lot of free....... tea!

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You truley have an eye for this sport I really enjoyed scrolling through them. I love them all.
 
Quality throughout Seb. Proper reportage, on the money, and you clearly built up a good relationship with the Irish rowers too.

Hope you enjoyed the stay over there when you weren’t shooting & filing.
 
Quality throughout Seb. Proper reportage, on the money, and you clearly built up a good relationship with the Irish rowers too.

Hope you enjoyed the stay over there when you weren’t shooting & filing.

Great to hear from you, Andy. Been too long.

Was an interesting place, Plovdiv. The small old town and amphitheatre overlooking the city was beautiful, but outside of that was rather bland. I'd recommend it as an over-nighter.
 
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