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Onne van der Wal was in the water. But he was not there by accident. On this shoot for Lexar, he was treading pristine blue
water at the Grenada Sailing Festival and shooting one of his favorite subjects - sailboats. Most professionals would be
reluctant to jump into the water with their gear, but not van der Wal.
For this shoot, the water provided not only a point-of-view that was beautiful and effective, but it also provided challenges
that many professional photographers would never encounter. Because of the water, van der Wal is using a Canon 1-DS MKII
and a Canon 15 mm lens, encased in a Seacam underwater housing. The lighting conditions for a shoot such as this can be
challenging, with strong reflections or back-light at certain marks not making it any easier. "When shooting half in the
water and half out, it's best to shoot when the sun is very high in the sky," van der Wal explains. "If I shot this when
the sun was lower, like at sunrise or sunset, the water would appear very dark and I wouldn't get the even light balance
above and below the water that I wanted."
There are also challenges to shooting a boat race that some photographers would never consider. "You have to be a good
swimmer," says van der Wal. "Sometimes, I'm in the water for hours on end to get the right shots, so I have to be able
to tread water for as long as it takes to get my shots." Due to his proximity to the starting and finishing lines at
races, van der Wal also has also acquired the valuable skill of dodging sailboats. "Sailors often look at me as if I'm
crazy, but being in the water is really the only way to get the sort of shots that I want," notes van der Wal.
To say that Onne van der Wal got an uncommon introduction to the world of professional photography would be an
understatement. His first venture into photography on a commercial scale was after the 76 ft yacht on which he was
racing, FLYER, won the 1981-82 Dutch Whitbread Around the World Race. Onne had taken pictures of the voyage using gear
that Olympus had given him specifically for this adventure, and the press was eager to publish the unique images that
van der Wal captured while sailing around the world.
The versatility that Onne displayed early on in his commercial career is still a mainstay of the sailing photography
that he does today. Onne has never been afraid to get wet or climb out on a masthead to get a great shot, and his
in-depth understanding of sailing makes his work truly unique.
Because of the wet condition in which he often finds himself when shooting, Onne needs a memory card that is fast enough
to capture an image at a split-second's notice, and large enough so that he does not have to exit the water to change
his cards. Lexar cards are fast enough and large enough to fulfill both of these needs. "Lexar's high-capacity 133X cards
allow me to keep shooting and shooting. Often, I can take more than 200 RAW images before changing cards," van der Wal
points out. "The types of shots that I take do not allow me to take the time to get out of the water, dry off, change
memory cards, reset my camera in the housing and jump back in. Lexar professional memory cards have the capacity and
the speed that I need to take as many pictures as I want, as quickly as I require."
Visit Onne van der Wal's profile page.
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