Learning the ropes
Having taken part in four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races, photographer Rick Tomlinson is perfectly placed to offer expert advice about shooting yachts, as Tracy Calder reveals
With its intoxicating mix of sky, land and sea, the Isle of Wight has attracted artists, politicians, royalty and sailors for centuries. The waters surrounding this island have enough hazards to challenge the most experienced yachtsmen: in 1990 the wreck of the SS Varvassi caused so much damage to the French Admiral’s Cup yacht that it had to be abandoned, before sinking. It’s no surprise, then, to find marine photographer Rick Tomlinson living on the island and running a gallery next to the water’s edge.
Rick grew up on the Isle of Man, where his dream of sailing round the world began to take shape. He spent much of his time there racing dinghies and boatbuilding, which in turn led him to move south and join a team building a yacht for Simon Le Bon, lead singer with the band Duran Duran. The boat (later named Drum) was designed to compete in the 1985/86 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, and due to his work on the build Rick was offered the chance to join the crew.
Disaster strikes
In the run-up to the event, the team entered Drum in the Fastnet Race – a 608-mile round trip starting from Cowes and ending at Plymouth. Part way through the trip disaster struck when the keel broke away from the hull, causing the boat to capsize, trapping six people (including Le Bon) inside. Thankfully, a competing boat raised the alarm and the team was rescued. But with just a month to go until the start of their round-the-world adventure, the crew had to work tirelessly to get the yacht ready to race again. Their efforts were rewarded when Drum came third overall in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
During his time on board Drum, Rick began
taking photographs, initially for fun. ‘In those days I was shooting film,’ he recalls. ‘I was using Nikon equipment, and I still use Nikon. Once you start with a system it’s hard to change because you have to replace all of the glass, but occasionally when you lose your camera bag overboard – which has happened to me more than once – you get an opportunity to rethink!’
Despite these ‘opportunities’, Rick has remained loyal to Nikon, largely due to the support he has received from the company over the years, and the general robustness of its camera bodies. But no matter how robust your camera is, if it goes overboard there isn’t much you can do to resuscitate it. On one occasion Rick was sailing in a chase boat when it capsized, hurling him and his camera into the sea. ‘ The propeller on the outboard motor was sticking out of the water, so I hung my camera on the end until we were rescued,’ he laughs. Amazingly, he managed to save some of the film from the shoot.
Rick converted to digital in 2001 while working as an expedition photographer in an ocean race. ‘We needed some pictures for immediate use, so we opted to shoot a few digitally, and the rest on film,’ he explains. ‘Halfway through the race we decided to shoot purely digital because the immediacy was so important.’ He currently uses a Nikon D810 as his main body and a D800 as a back-up. ‘ The D810 does everything I want it to,’ he enthuses. ‘For one, it gives me large file sizes, which is useful if I want to do some cropping later.’ Generally, though, Rick tries to keep post-production to a minimum,
‘Counteract the rolling by using your body: brace yourself and move your knees and arms ’
as a single trip can sometimes result in thousands of pictures and time is often of the essence.
When it comes to lenses Rick often uses a 70-200mm f/2.8, but finds room for 24-70mm, 17-35mm and 200-500mm glass in his kit bag. Naturally, this gear needs to be protected from sea spray and he employs a diver’s equipment bag for the purpose. When he gets home he uses a paintbrush to apply methylated spirit around the buttons, knobs and dials. ‘When I’m out on the water I protect the hotshoe with a cover,’ he explains. ‘ There’s a contact there that’s live and it can corrode if it gets sea water on it.’ Of course, Rick also has to protect himself from the elements, and for that he wears a foul-weather jacket. ‘I use one that’s one size too big so that I can tuck my camera underneath it and zip it up,’ he reveals.
Dealing with movement
But it’s not just sea spray that can dampen Rick’s spirits: the main challenge anyone faces when shooting boat-to-boat is movement. ‘ The boat you’re on is constantly rocking, so keeping the camera steady is really tricky,’ says Rick. ‘When you’re on the water there’s no point using a tripod, but you can counteract the rolling by using your body. It’s hard to explain, but you have to brace yourself in one position, and compensate by moving your knees and arms. It also helps if you use the viewfinder rather than the LCD screen, so you can press the camera lightly against your face.’ Naturally, the best way to improve your hit rate is to keep your shutter speed up high, and Rick recommends no less than 1/1000sec. ‘With an ISO of 400 and a shutter speed of 1/1000sec I can usually shoot at around f/8, which gives me enough depth of field,’ he advises.
Rick’s wisdom has been hard won – over the years he has taken part in four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races, and was the official photographer for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001- 02 and 2008- 09. For a landlubber like me it’s hard to imagine being at sea for up to 30 days at a time. ‘It’s no big deal,’ smiles Rick. ‘ You’re there because you want to be there, and you get into an easy routine – all you can really do is eat, sleep and sail.’ While making the short crossing back to the mainland, I wonder if Rick is making light of his achievements. It’s all very well to eat, sleep and sail, but adding photography into the mix presents a whole new set of challenges. To master the waves takes skill, stamina and a strong stomach – and Rick has all three.