“And They’re Off!!” – PSA Gold – Rhodri Phillips EPSA – Triumph Circuit – 2024-1397.
I had set myself a goal way back in BC (Before Covid) and that was to get my QPSA. Thanks to the support of Gary and Mike I managed it…. but was bitten by the bug. This meant that I went on, through 4 and 5 Stars to PPSA and finally my EPSA.
Having reached these milestones, and the AFIAP along the way, I fell into a bit of a lull, not entering any Competitions and in truth not taking many photographs at all. However earlier this summer I caught the bug again and started to get out and about again. In August I even started entering Salons and Circuits again, using mostly new images, I had no great hopes but thought that maybe I would eventually enter the rarified atmosphere of the Galaxies!!
One of the competitions I entered was the Triumph Circuit, PSA 2024-1397, finding myself short of recent images for the Journalism section I decided to look back at images I had never used. One such was, “And they’re Off” which was one of a series I took at the Richard Burton 10K event in 2023. I had been taking images at this even regularly and had managed to get many acceptances with some.
The winning image was taken on my Nikon Z6-2 with my Z27-70 Nikkor lens. I shot at 1/1000, f16 with a high ISO, as it was a dull day. This was then processed in LR and resized in PS.
I was looking to capture that first second as the gun went off and they were all setting their watches! I was also trying to capture the two previous race winners, Dewi and Olivia as they set off to defend their titles.
I was pleasantly surprised and very happy for the image to gain a PSA gold, on its first outing! As a side note in that particular Circuit, it gained a PSA Gold in one salon and was not even accepted in another!
Rhodri
