Although as a former (very former) high school sprinter, I have to say 11 seconds sounds like the impossible dream! But then, back then the best of the best were a bit slower than now too though, so my time wasn't all that embarrassing. Heh, heh.
Martin makes another good point -- a lot of the difference is in the lighting.
I would add that it is also the accessories that matter. The Fjord (?) pic pro has the woman with the umbrella (I shudder at the thought of it -- you wouldn't get me within 10 meters of that point, and I would consider the umbrella an added risk; I hope she had a safety rope attached somewhere) PLUS the cruise ships maneuvering.
The other striking one is the camels in front of that place that collapsed nearly trapping Indiana Jones! The photographer wasn't lucky to have them there -- s/he arranged it, I am sure.
And so on.
I have a bit of a feeling for this because I am involved with the tourist industry in a tourist destination. I see the cruise passengers, for isntance, come in and take their shots. Sometimes they have good luck and get good light and good activity going on; at other times, the sky is dull, the light is from the wrong direction, or it is outright raining when it needs to be sunny. They have about 8 hours in a place they have never seen before and will never see again, and are moved around in two or four mirror image streams so some people are at one beauty point in the morning and others in the afternoon.
Being on the spot, I can pick my day and my time to take my pictures. Are they
always the very best picture? No. Sometimes everything will come together for a visitor who is a decent photog and they will beat my picture. BUT in general, my pix will have an edge if only the best lighting or because I am able to shoot from a position they will not visit.
The tourists are still on the boat as it sails into Rabaul shortly after 6am so they can never get this picture. We are actually just moving into the season when this picture is possible -- because of the position of the sun -- and I will be watching for further opportunities to do this better. I have also reconnoitered a higher viewpoint. A big variable is the smoothness of the sea. In this picture it has a bit more ripple than I consider ideal. it can be smoother.
No cruise ship passenger will get this pic -- again, shortly after 6am, this time at the Kokopo market. Few tourists staying in local hotels would see this either; they are not aware of this early morning activity and most are focused on breakfast (and no harm in that) -- or maybe struggling awake after a lively night at the club bar.
Exactly at sunrise -- the local ferry boats, known as banana boats, coming streaming up to Kokopo beach ready to take passengers to island destinations. As a local, I knew exactly when this would happen and what it would look like, and dwelt on the right weather conditions. Since it happened right on dawn, I had to take a guess at how it would look, and I did the half hour or so walk to the harbor several times over a period of a fortnight or so before I got this shot. Again, few tourists would have ventured out in time to get the picture and unless they had already been out and spotted it, they would not know it was going to happen. And, of course, they would have to luck in on the weather.
I am not claiming that these are world shattering pictures, I am simply trying to make the point that in general, the casual visitor photographer has the odds stacked against them in getting the best pictures of a location.
--
Geoffrey Heard
Down and out in Rabaul in the South Pacific
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