6/16/2005: Office Chair World Championship

[xoxoxoBruce]

Aw there there now. Don't take it so hard. Hey, you were right about the swivel.

[daniwong]

When the computers would go down at my old office - we would sometimes have chair races. But nothing like this. Frankly - working in an office - this looks like a lot of fun. But knowing my clutz-ish behavior - I would end up amputating some body part trying to get to the finish line.

[ToastyKen]

Caption from this temporary link:

A participant speeds down a road on a office chair during the first office chair World Championships in Olten, Switzerland June 11, 2005. The 64 office chair racers from Germany, France and Switzerland took part in a 200 metres long race in the old town of Olten.

[glatt]

Funny picture. I like it. The guy looks so intense.

I don't think the technical skill of the photographer is really anything too special. If there were 64 participants, then the photographer could set up shop at this one jump and have 64 tries to get a good shot. It's a bright, sunny day, so the aperature of the camera can be closed down pretty small, creating a large depth of field. The photographer can pre-focus on the center of the ramp, and still have much of the foreground and background still in focus to allow for the different paths the racers will follow. The participants are not going all that fast compared to a car race, so the shutter speed can be a little longer to create a sense of motion blur. Maybe a 60th of a second or a 30th of a second or so. The previously mentioned small aperature will allow such a relatively long exposure. As each racer goes over the jump, the photographer can hand hold the camera and pan with the motion. That keeps the racer relatively crisp, and blurs the background. Panning isn't so hard. You can't get a good shot every time when you pan the action, but with 64 tries, you will have several that will come out well.

I don't mean to say that the photographer has no talent. It's easy for me to sit here and figure out how the picture was taken. Quite another thing to set up the shot in the first place.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by glatt

It's a bright, sunny day, so the aperature of the camera can be closed down pretty small, creating a large depth of field.

But if you look closely the depth of field isn't that deep. Really the only thing that's sharp is the upper half of his body.

Uh...and his right knee.