A chat with Lesley Richardson, San Seb master photographer

Posted September 26, 2005

Lesley Richardson sprints as well as shoots. Here she glories in her British-team bronze medal from the 4x200 relay at the March 2005 European Masters Indoor Championships in Eskilstuna, Sweden. In August 2005, she posted thousands of photos from the World Masters Athletics Championships in San Sebastian. All are available for purchase.

By Ken Stone

Masterstrack.com: Tell me about yourself. What’s your photography background? What’s your athletic background? (Age, hometown, events, marks, etc.) Is photography a career or hobby for you?

Lesley Richardson: I am 36 years old, born and live in East London — yes where the Olympics in 2012 are going to be. I am currently an injured sprinter, but my best distance, I guess, is 400m with a PR of 62.8 seconds from when I was 17. I have always enjoyed taking photographs and last year decided to buy a pro camera and launched my website. Currently photography is a hobby but hopefully it will be successful in order that I can launch into a career within photography.

How many hours did you spend shooting events at San Sebastian? What were your longest days?

I was at the track most days for around 12 hours; can’t get up in the mornings — that’s my only problem. I covered nine of the 10 days of competition, the rest day from photography was because I was supposed to be running the 100. I was warming up and felt the hamstring twinging on a few strides so decided to take an early bath and scrap my name from the list…. I was also entered for the 200m and 400 but they didn’t happen either for me.

Did you pay your own way to Spain, or were you subsidized by the British Masters Team?

Nope, had to pay every penny myself. No subsidies are to be had from the British Masters; they haven’t got any money!

What were the most impressive performances — men’s and women’s — in your opinion. Feel free to cite as many as you’d like.

Now you’re testing my memory! Well (Enrico) Saraceni, of course, in the 200 unwinding those long legs down the straight to take gold, Willie Banks provided great entertainment in the triple jump, in the ladies my friend Bernie White in the W40 1500m in a last 200 sprint with the American girl, and Evaun Williams in the W65 throws, taking a variety of medals back home to the UK.

What kind of camera equipment did you use at San Seb? Tripods? Monopods? Fixed focal-lenth lenses or zoom? How many memory cards did you fill up, or did you transfer images to a laptop at the end of each session?

The camera is a Canon EOS 1D Mk 2, I use two lenses — mainly a Canon 70-200m zoom lense and a 28-135mm for portrait type static shots. I used two 4GB memory cards, which I loaded up onto my laptop at the end of each day.

Will you continue to shoot World Masters Athletics championships — or just those near the UK?

I intend to cover all the masters European and world events, but I am limited to taking annual holiday from my full-time job which is seven weeks a year.

How did you choose which events to shoot? (Since events were taking place at different venues daily.)

I wanted shots of the cross country, and I knew that it was first day of decathlon and heptathlon at the track and that I could shoot these events on their Day 2. After this, as the two main stadia were next door, I was track hopping from one to the other. Unfortunately I was unable to get out to Hernani, which was exclusively throws. The officials also would not let the photographers on the infield for the long throws, so the only shots you could get would be through the cage which look naf, so I didn’t take any of the long throws.

How bad were conditions in the marathon?

It was very hot; I am glad that I didn’t have to run it. It was bad enough sitting taking shots in the stadium of the steeplechase.

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September 26, 2005