Cleveland Gallery Reader's Choice

The vote at Cleveland was a race between two photos, but late into the vote, the winning image clearly opened up a big lead over the other picture.

It appears as if "action" again was the main component people prefered in the gallery, although one could argue that the winning photo has that "sense of place" aspect that gave it the edge over the others. Where else but at Cleveland do you see cars go 10 wide?

18 of the 30 iamges were voted as at least somebody's favorite - so the selection was probably pretty good again. The images that didn't get top ratings were such pix like the Brazilian fans going nuts at the fence - not something i would expect to be a number one choice anyway, but definitely part of the story. I was surprised to only see one vote for Robby falling on his butt...

My personal favorite in this selection was the photo of Al unser zipping past the huge Pepsi banners, which finished second in the vote. I like this image so much that I use it as background for one of my business cards. This was the first time I actually "panned" with the 18-pound 600mm lens to get a new angle on a racetrack that is rather thin in photo opportunities.

Here the vote ranking for the Cleveland Gallery:

Filename                      Thumbnail Caption           votes  percent
the_unruly_horde.jpg          The Unruly Horde               15  23.81%
what_advertising.jpg          I don't see the Commercialism   8  12.70%
gilmeister.jpg                Veni Vidi Vici                  5   7.94%
carl_lewis.jpg                Let me Get this outta here      4   6.35%
flipping_off_moore.jpg        Flipping Off the Rookie         4   6.35%
rear_ending_andre.jpg         I used Andre to slow down       3   4.76%
all_hands_off.jpg             Everyone let go                 3   4.76%
strange_place.jpg             The Castle of El Medic          3   4.76%
runway_drafters.jpg           Runway Drafters                 3   4.76%
da_boy_is_fast.jpg            Where are the Bud Horses        3   4.76%
bold_rider_where_are_you.jpg  Bold Rider, Where are you?      2   3.17%
mo_outblurs_the_ads.jpg       Mo Outblurs the Ads             2   3.17%
gil_cruising_east_end.jpg     Everyone Wants Gil              2   3.17%
watch_for_mean_birds.jpg      Watch it: Birds on Runway       2   3.17%
robbys_chair.jpg              Plant Your Butt Here            1   1.59%
gordon_wipes_out.jpg          Talk About Embarassing          1   1.59%
shake_off_quick.jpg           Shake off! Jimmy is coming      1   1.59%
on_the_wagon.jpg              And he's on it - the Wagon?     1   1.59%
 total                                                       63 100.00%

I just made it from the grid to the photo hole outside of Turn one and squeezed between about 20 other photogrphers. This track begs for long lenses, and I put my biggest one on the monopod. I knew from last year that the start would be "ten wide" and they definitley delivered that again in 1996.