Preparations For The Race

I think it was just the day before that I heard there was going to be a long distance ice-skating race over in Almere in the Netherlands. This doesn't happen that often, so I figured I should go and check it out. The race was supposed to start at 7 or so in the morning so I left at 5 hoping I would beat the crowds. Somehow I had forgotten that the Netherlands is a tiny country and made it there well before 6. I was one of the first to arrive, and the only English speaker. And it was COOOLLLDDD!!! The race was pretty incredible to see, but I had to leave after a few hours because I was frozen. I had never stood on ice before and was definitely under-prepared. 

The camera I had with me was my D70. At the time it came out, it was an amazing device. But compared to the D700 I bought a few months later, its low light capabilities were horrible. This was obviously hand-held and anything over ISO 1600 got awful results. Compare this to the current camera which gets better results at ISO 6400. Oh well, I still really like this shot. The streams of light in the fog remind me of a picture I took when I was 14 in one of the dining areas at Yosemite. I'll have to find that and scan it in.

This image was taken on a D70 with a 20/2.8. Topaz DeNoise and Adjust applied.