The Finish

Last weekend we as photo club took pictures for Mud Masters at their Spring Edition. The Mud Masters Obstacle Run is a 6- or 12-kilometer run that is designed by marines and inspired by the most challenging assault courses in the world. As the name already indicates mud plays an important role here, just like mud water by the way, fire and other inconveniences. This edition, spanning two days, had about 8000 participants who not only had a challenging day of fun and mud madness, but also contributed to the charity this event sponsors, the Revalidatiefonds (Revalidation fund).

This time I was posted at the very last obstacle in the course: the Sizzler. This was a kind of gate where people had to run through about 15 meters of electric wires hanging down. This meant quite a challenge for the tormented participants, but also for the photographer – a challenge that was twofold.

In the first place everybody runs here as fast a possible to minimize the pain, preferably bending down of protecting the face against the wires, through the Sizzler passing the photographer towards the finish that is just behind him, where a cool beer and a t-shirt are awaiting. This means that also the photographer must deliver some kind of sportive performance, comparable to skeet-shooting.

A second challenge is to capture in that very short moment of passage – in between all this movement, usually in groups – the emotion. This is where it is all about, and there is plenty of it at this stage of the course. Here people arrive at the very end of the run, often literally, exhausted, covered in mud and soaked, glad to have reached (nearly) the end. And then they face this ‘energizing’ treat. Under these conditions participants go through a number of rapid emotional stages: first the hesitation, then they clench their teeth and run for it, followed by anger and pain when they get their shocks. And once they are through it you see their relief and joy when they realize they made it to the finish.

To capture these emotions you need concentration and (dynamic auto-) focus, empathy and panning your camera, and in post-processing ‘abstraction’: cropping, black & white conversion and playing with contrast. In the end you keep a few gold nuggets, shining in the ... mud.