One of my favorite things that I have gotten the opportunity to do since becoming involved with the Southern Tier Running club is photographing their races. And that means taking a lot of photographs of a bunch of the friends I have made along the way and sharing them all over the internet and there is nothing they can do about it.

This was my second time photographing the New Years Day 5 Miler for the Southern Tier Running Club. It was a bit colder and there I was snow on the grown this year. The runners were bundled up as was I. I staked out the spot I shot from last year, but I tried to shoot from a slightly different position so that there would be a different angle for the photos with hopefully a better background.

Prior to the race the sun was out. Despite the cold at least it would be sunny. That made me happy as a photographer. Finally a race with some good light. I had not been so fortunate during the last several races. Then wouldn’t you know it, right as the race was about to begin, the clouds rolled in. The sky became completely overcast. This put a damper on some of my plans but I was able to get some good shots with the trees in the background. The overcast sky made it really drab if I featured any images that included large portions of the sky.

Despite the cold and the drab sky it is always fun to get out there and watch the runners give it their best even on a less than ideal race day. It is great to see the race leaders coming down the road towards me and I know the fun part for me is about to begin. I have planned out what I want to shoot and how. Now to see if my vision will match up with the reality as the runners approach.

As fun as it is to photograph the runners at the front of the race it is just as nice to photograph people finishing later in the race. Sometimes that is where the best and most satisfying photographs can be found. There are people running their very first race who are giving it their best and are not going to be as fast as others. There are also more experienced runners that have been getting out for runs for many more years than most of us. I believe everyone deserves a nice race photograph no matter how fast or slow you are, young or old, veteran or newbie. I want you to have a photograph to enjoy from your race.

The runners might want to punch me for saying this but in some ways it is tougher being out there to photograph the race or volunteer than it is as a racer. When it is cold it is better to be running to stay warm than it is to be stationary taking photos, especially since you can’t where mittens and operate a camera. My fingers were about numb by the time I was done despite my ski gloves an hand warmers inside. Not only are runners warming themselves by running they are often out on the course and thus outside for a shorter period of time than me as the photographer or the volunteers. I generally don’t go inside until the final runner has passed me, which is often at the finish line. And volunteers picking up the course might be out there longer than I am. So be sure to thank your volunteers.

I think I want to do something a little different next year and try photographing from a different location. I would like to get different looking shots with different scenery. I think I may try running the course myself since I never have and see where I think might be any other good spots to take photos.

I hope all the runners especially my friends had a great time at the race and enjoyed the photos I shared. You can see the rest of the photos from the race on my Facebook page at Kyle Reynolds / KRNaturalPhoto. These are photographs straight out of the camera. Every single one. Nothing was deleted or edited so be kind. I stive to share as soon as possible so no editing.

Next race up is St. Patricks Day 5k and 10k by Southern Tier Running Club. See you there. Wave and I’ll take your photo. Or just be your bad-ass self running hard in a race and I will get a great photo of you busting your ass.