Post by Neilr on Oct 20, 2008 11:12:34 GMT -5
This year, like 2006, I was on a mission to shoot all the jousting passes, this being the jousting tournament. Eight knights participated, each running 4 passes per set. That adds up to 128 passes for the weekend (not counting the laissez-faire passes after the 6pm set Sunday night). That really cuts into the Faire (sigh). BUT, it's not often you can see and shoot so much jousting. So much to do, so little time....
Anyway, now I have 3000 images to cull out. The highlight pass for me was the unhorsing of Sir Edward Grey by Sir Ian Macfarlane during the 2pm set. This is my 5th year shooting jousting. I think unhorsings are the rarest event, much rarer than Tip To Tip strikes. In a sense, they are usually disappointing. My vision of an unhorsing is a Knight essentially stopped in mid-air by his opponents lance, basically the horse keeps going but the knight stops. That isn't the way it usually happens. Usually the knight the is knocked off balance enough that he slowly oozes off the horse. Or, sometimes the horse doesn't or can't stop fast enough and hits the wall under the dais (the entrance gate from the stables) and the knight keeps going (slamming into the wall!). I remember this happening to Sir Henry a couple years ago. I've shot well over 500 passes over the years and only seen a few unhorsings, all of the oozing type or the slamming into the wall type. I've had a few discussions about this with the knights and squires, who confirm what I've seen. Even more frustrating, I usually hear about the unhorsing that happened in the last set, or yesterday, when I was not out there shooting.
Yesterday was different...
www.pbase.com/nrothschild/image/104808818
This unhorsing happened just as I (and I assume most people) envision. Sir Edward was thrown straight off his horse, in the middle of the list, his horse galloping full stride. Based on my image file time stamps (counted in hundredths of a second), from impact to hitting the ground was 1.08 seconds. Now that's an unhorsing!
Sir Edward got back up on his horse and completed his passes. That takes some guts and a tough hide. Better he than I.
He had the unfortunate distinction of being unhorsed again, by Sir Henry, during the laissez-faire passes at the conclusion of the tournament - the 6pm set. It was a repeat of the 2pm unhorsing, accomplished in 1.21 seconds, more or less. In this pass Sir Edward scored a shattered lance against Sir Henry, who scored a broken tip. Considering that, I guess you could say that Sir Edward likely helped unhorse himself .
www.pbase.com/nrothschild/image/104812056
Later in the laissez-faire passes, Sir William seemingly almost unhorsed Sir Henry but Sir Henry (a great champion) recovered. Sir William is likely the champion of champions here, and the organizer of the Freelancers. Sir William is often accompanied by his granddaughter(?) in the closing procession. Sir William graciously acted as the tournament's backup knight, but at the the conclusion of the tournament he challenged all comers for some Laize Faire passes (well deserved). I've seen Sir Henry and Sir William go at it during the regular season passes and it's always a sight to behold, they being the two best competitors by a long stretch.
www.pbase.com/nrothschild/image/104812031
These two unhorsing images are "miracle images" for me. The choice of shooting positions is rather complicated by the issues of lighting, shooting angles and obstructions. It is unfortunate that the shooting positions I favor are very unfavorable for typical unhorsings because I rarely have unobstructed views of the ends of the list where they usually occur. These are the first unhorsings I have shot that I would consider usable. Because of my choice of shooting positions I had written off the chance to ever capture one. It was a great end of the season!
The one thing now that I have never shot, and, AFAIK, never even seen, would be double shattered lances. Something for next year
If there is any interest in this, I may try to put together some QuickTime movies of the unhorsings. Hopefully I will get some more images posted sometime this week.
Neil
Anyway, now I have 3000 images to cull out. The highlight pass for me was the unhorsing of Sir Edward Grey by Sir Ian Macfarlane during the 2pm set. This is my 5th year shooting jousting. I think unhorsings are the rarest event, much rarer than Tip To Tip strikes. In a sense, they are usually disappointing. My vision of an unhorsing is a Knight essentially stopped in mid-air by his opponents lance, basically the horse keeps going but the knight stops. That isn't the way it usually happens. Usually the knight the is knocked off balance enough that he slowly oozes off the horse. Or, sometimes the horse doesn't or can't stop fast enough and hits the wall under the dais (the entrance gate from the stables) and the knight keeps going (slamming into the wall!). I remember this happening to Sir Henry a couple years ago. I've shot well over 500 passes over the years and only seen a few unhorsings, all of the oozing type or the slamming into the wall type. I've had a few discussions about this with the knights and squires, who confirm what I've seen. Even more frustrating, I usually hear about the unhorsing that happened in the last set, or yesterday, when I was not out there shooting.
Yesterday was different...
www.pbase.com/nrothschild/image/104808818
This unhorsing happened just as I (and I assume most people) envision. Sir Edward was thrown straight off his horse, in the middle of the list, his horse galloping full stride. Based on my image file time stamps (counted in hundredths of a second), from impact to hitting the ground was 1.08 seconds. Now that's an unhorsing!
Sir Edward got back up on his horse and completed his passes. That takes some guts and a tough hide. Better he than I.
He had the unfortunate distinction of being unhorsed again, by Sir Henry, during the laissez-faire passes at the conclusion of the tournament - the 6pm set. It was a repeat of the 2pm unhorsing, accomplished in 1.21 seconds, more or less. In this pass Sir Edward scored a shattered lance against Sir Henry, who scored a broken tip. Considering that, I guess you could say that Sir Edward likely helped unhorse himself .
www.pbase.com/nrothschild/image/104812056
Later in the laissez-faire passes, Sir William seemingly almost unhorsed Sir Henry but Sir Henry (a great champion) recovered. Sir William is likely the champion of champions here, and the organizer of the Freelancers. Sir William is often accompanied by his granddaughter(?) in the closing procession. Sir William graciously acted as the tournament's backup knight, but at the the conclusion of the tournament he challenged all comers for some Laize Faire passes (well deserved). I've seen Sir Henry and Sir William go at it during the regular season passes and it's always a sight to behold, they being the two best competitors by a long stretch.
www.pbase.com/nrothschild/image/104812031
These two unhorsing images are "miracle images" for me. The choice of shooting positions is rather complicated by the issues of lighting, shooting angles and obstructions. It is unfortunate that the shooting positions I favor are very unfavorable for typical unhorsings because I rarely have unobstructed views of the ends of the list where they usually occur. These are the first unhorsings I have shot that I would consider usable. Because of my choice of shooting positions I had written off the chance to ever capture one. It was a great end of the season!
The one thing now that I have never shot, and, AFAIK, never even seen, would be double shattered lances. Something for next year
If there is any interest in this, I may try to put together some QuickTime movies of the unhorsings. Hopefully I will get some more images posted sometime this week.
Neil