[Leica] I swear to God I thought turkeys could trot!

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

Every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving there's a vast fun-run
here in Davis called the Turkey Trot. It runs down B Street, right in
front of my home's driveway, closes the street and causes minor
traffic snarls. But it's also quite the event.

This year I thought I'd be playful and attempt to do the kind of
action shooting I've never tried before.

Here's my favorite of those:

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7802-crp-crv-shrp.jpg>

although I like this one also:

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7732-crp-shrp.jpg>

and this one just for the way it all came together. It's the first
time I've really tried doing the slow shutter speed and pan thing.
Yeah, it's a cliche but it's MY cliche!

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7742-crv-shrp.jpg>

The run starts with a 5K for jogger/walkers and those with those
dual-overhead-cam kid-carts with the disk brakes and high performance
tires:

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7702-crp-crv-shrp.jpg>

The pace is slow and people have conversations while they're covering the 
route:

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7718-crv-shrp.jpg>

Some people have more fun that others although if you've got a
pony-tail (and I freely admit to having a serious thing about
pony-tails) you can flick it around:

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7801-crp-crv.jpg>

Finally the thundering herd comes through - the bulk of the 5k runners
although some people just aren't that thrilled with all the traffic:

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/11/19/_L3U7735-crp-crv-shrp.jpg>

So that's my attempt at covering the Turkey Trot.

You comments, suggestions for improvement, brick-bats, etc all most welcome.

All with the 1Ds Mk II and a variety of lenses from Canon 24-70L,
70-200L IS, and Leica 560 Telyt.

When I thought about this series I had planned on mounting the camera
down low at street level, but when I work up my knees were having none
of it. So it's not what I was imagining although the first two images
were setup with the tripod low and estimating when to shoot. At first
I wasn't sure I had caught anything!

Thanks for looking.

Adam Bridge

ps: The subject comes from one of the most hilarious bits of
television ever recorded. The first season of WKRP in Cincinnati
involved dropping turkeys from a helicopter. You never SEE it - you
only hear Les Nesmond describe it. I laugh until I have tears in my
eyes every time. Due to copyright issues these shows will probably
never make it to DVD in their original form, they had lots of great
music in the background and the royalty fees are said to be enormous.

But you can hear it online here:

<http://radio.about.com/library/blwkrpturkeydropaudio.htm>