An organised event

The exercises now turn to a more narrative style. commencing with and organised event at which there are plenty of people and one can photograph freely and with variety, with people moving around.

I chose an afternoon at Bath races for this exercise; it fits the bill on terms of having many people moving around and there are opportunities to capture moments that encapsulate the essence of the experience.

The aim is to focus on the punters as they are what the day is all about. The involvement of the crowd in horse racing is unlike other sports: they are there to assess the chances of horses in races, to bet on them and to watch the races supporting their mounts. In a way, the actual racing is quite incidental to the main event. For this reason I made no attempt to photograph horses and jockeys actually competing; it was the audience that is interesting.

That said, the first image sets the context:

The image is of a horse and its jockey in the parade ring; the image sets the scene both for the overall exercise and for the next three images.

The image shows the intense concentration of the punter, with both his and his neighbours' newspapers and similar aides in view.

This image is a variant on the theme, emphasising the lengths to which some punters will go to support their pastime, even bringing a toddler along.

A close up of the same, with the father (we assume) calling to someone in or across the parade ring, while the girl is evidently rather tired.

It is important for the racecourses to provide the means for punters to make bets...bookies deal in cash only.

Turning to the racing proper, this is an image of two punters watching the action. I like the expression on the punter in the foreground; the serious, intent, almost lack of enjoyment is not untypical of the the average racegoer.

Most racegoers are male....

...but females are more evident among bookies. I like the expression of the woman on the right.

The final image is the classic one of a punter watching his steed perform with the aid of binoculars.

I found this a useful exercise towards the aim of producing a more narrative style of photography. It probably lacks a bit of direction, perhaps reflecting a lack of sufficient planning but I consider that my prime aim of showing the punter rather than the racing, has been achieved.