Oct. 21, 2012 – (Left to center) Juniors T.J. Smith and Sam Shaw, Senior James Shovelin, and other members of the University of Pennsylvania men’s lightweight rowing team carry their racing shell to the launching docks before racing in the 2012 Head Of The Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by Billie Weiss. Oct. 21, 2012 – Members of the University of Pennsylvania men’s lightweight rowing team huddle around head coach Nick Baker (far right, red hat) before racing at the 2012 Head Of The Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. “You shouldn’t need any extra motivation today. This is the Head Of The Charles,” said Baker. Photo by Billie Weiss. Oct. 21, 2012 – Members of the University of Pennsylvania men’s lightweight rowing team place their racing shell into the Charles River before racing in the 2012 Head Of The Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by Billie Weiss. Oct. 21, 2012 – (Top to Bottom) Senior Mark Gannon, Juniors T.J. Smith and Sam Shaw, and Senior James Shovelin of the University of Pennsylvania men’s lightweight rowing team finish a stroke as they compete in the 2012 Head Of The Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by Billie Weiss. Oct. 21, 2012 – Junior Sam Shaw (left) and other members of the University of Pennsylvania men’s lightweight rowing team watch the 2012 Head Of The Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts before their race. The team arrived at the course five hours before their race began. Photo by Billie Weiss. I was assigned to shoot a five photo story for my Advanced Photojournalism class about some aspect of the annual Head Of The Charles Regatta, which was held this weekend in Boston. A good friend rowed for the University of Pennsylvania during his college days, so I was lucky enough to be able to follow their men’s lightweight team around as they competed in the race this year. Here are the five images I went with. Covering this event was more of a challenge than I anticipated. If you’ve only got one person on your team, you’ve really got to think about where you want to be and what shots you want to end up with. Obviously, you can’t be in more than one place at a time, so it’s important to think about finding a spot along the river that will allow for the best shot. In this case, that called for lots of walking, but I had a lot of fun and it was interesting to be a part of this event for the first time.
