HMS Oardacious – Lab Testing

Dylan Woods, Dr Fran Gunner (INM), Higo Mitchell-Heggs, Dr Dan Ruiz De Sa (INM)

Creating Images in the Laboratory

I was recently afforded the opportunity to accompany Hugo Mitchell-Heggs and Dylan Woods to the Institute of Naval Medicine where they were to conduct sub-maximal testing under the supervision of Dr Fran Gunner.  The testing was part of their pre reace preparations before they take on the Talisker Whisky Atalntic Challenge, a row across the Atlantic later in the year as part of a four man team all made up of submariners from the Royal Navy.

The tests were conducted in a standard laboratory with Hugo and Dylan on an ergo rowing machine connected, via a face mask, to the equipment used to monitor their performance.  Each athlete had three sets of repetitions to undertake at different intensities which gave me around 12 minutes to create the images.  I lit the room with four lights so that I could take a mixture of close ups and wider shots without altering the lights during the shoot so not to intefere with the reason we were in the lab – the testing.  Then by under exposing the image I was able to remove the background distraction to create a more intimate image of the athletes.

For more on HMS Oardacious challenge click here

Dylan Woods
Hugo Mitchell-Heggs
Dylan Woods
Hugo Mitchell-Heggs

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