August 5, 2025 • 46 mins
The unsung heroes of hydroplane racing deserve more recognition - the people behind the scenes who make this thrilling sport possible through their passion and dedication. This week, I sit down with one such unsung hero: Chris Denslow, H1 Unlimited's official photographer for over two decades.
Whether you're a photography enthusiast, a hydroplane racing fan, or simply appreciate stories of passion turned profession, this episode offers a rare glimpse behind the lens at what it takes to freeze time on the water at 200 mph. Visit Chris's photo galleries through the link in our show notes to experience his remarkable work firsthand.
Digital Roostertail's Photo Archive
Nation of Speed Exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum
Smithsonian Museum Virtual Tour
Help the podcast by subscribing to our new service, Roostertail Talk+. The podcast is still free to all on our website and through all major podcast platforms (such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Castbox, etc) but with Roostertail Talk+ there is more you can enjoy ! With this service you will get early links to new episodes, enjoy access to extra content, raffle prizes and more. This is a new service that we will be adding to as we move along. As always your support to make this show grow is very appreciated! https://www.buzzsprout.com/434851/supporters/new
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Ruchet Tail Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything
about the sport that we alllove, hydroplane racing.
I am your host, david Newton,and it's time once again, so sit
back, relax and welcome toRooster Tail Talk.
(00:50):
Hello race fans and welcomeback to the podcast.
It's Tuesday, august 5th 2025,and this is episode 156.
H1 Unlimited has wrapped uptheir chapter of the 2025 season
in the Pacific Northwest.
We just concluded the Gold Cupand Tri-Cities, as well as
Seattle Seafarers Regatta.
(01:12):
Hopefully, you had a good timeexperiencing the races if you
were there in person or watchingthe live streaming on YouTube.
But before those races happened,I had a chance to sit on Zoom
and interview Chris Denslow.
Now, some of you might not knowthe name, chris Denslow.
It's not a high-profile name inthe sport, but he is one of the
unsung heroes of H1 Unlimited,as there are so many people from
(01:34):
all different corners that makethis sport happen, so many
volunteers that really put intime and dedication to make the
sport what it is today, andChris has done so for the past
20 years.
Being an H1 officialphotographer for the sport, he's
developed some great photosover the years, has great talent
and great eye to take photosfor the sport, notably if
(01:58):
there's ever any great action onthe water, whether it's crashes
, close racing he has capturedthe moment through photography
and there's no doubt that you'veseen some of his great photos
over the years, either on socialmedia or on HON Unlimited site
itself.
Now there's great photographersthat have been in the round the
sport for years.
(02:19):
I interviewed Bill Osborne acouple of years ago, but there's
many others out there Jim Dunn,craig Barney and many others,
countless others.
I can't name off the top of myhead, but Chris has really upped
the level of the photography inthe sport in the past 20 years.
So let's listen into myinterview and learn a little bit
more about Chris Denslow.
(02:40):
I'm sitting on Zoom talkingwith Chris Denzlo.
Chris, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm good, david.
Thanks for asking.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
doing fine, doing fine I'm.
I was when we were trying toget dates down to figure out how
to do our interview.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I'm glad now that we're doing it in our homes and
not during the race, when it'sprobably going to be 100 and
whatever degrees oh yeah, so Ithink this is a better route to
go yeah, I don't think theinterview would have been very
productive during the week ofmadison, when it's like 90
degrees and the heat index of 10.
Right it was pretty miserable.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, I heard it was pretty bad this year, but I
think that's most years right.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I think it was making up for Guntersville not having
a lot of humidity.
Yeah, both had wind, though.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, well, I'm excited to talk to you about all
that you've done for thecircuit, for H1 Unlimited and
for racing, but I know you'vebeen a lifetime fan of the sport
and you've before we get intoyour your photography skills.
Can you talk about what it'sbeen meant to you to follow, h1
(03:53):
unlimited well, it's been hadmany names over the years, but
unlimited hydroplanes over theyears.
And and what your favorite boathas been?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
well, growing up in tri-cities, the unlimited
hydroplanes was such a big eventin the history of the area and
I mean it was the thing that youdid during the summer.
It was what you waited for allyears, kind of like another
christmas, yeah, wait and wait,and then you'd have it and then
it's over and and, uh, you haveto wait another year to see the
(04:25):
boats again.
But uh, so it was always a bigfocal point of my summer and, uh
, and my favorite boat growingup was the winged wonder pay and
pack.
That was the first boat Irooted for when I was a kid and
uh, it was really great to seeKen Muscatel rescue that from
(04:47):
Bardish's warehouse and have itrestored and then to see it on
the Columbia again.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, yeah, super cool, and I think, if I'm not
mistaken, didn't you incorporatethat into your logo?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I did For Digital Wistertail, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Atomic had some artwork for that boat already,
so it was they'd done a fewt-shirts, so it was.
It was.
It was a good choice toincorporate it into the logo.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Since that boat's been restored, have you had a
chance to get get a ride in that?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
No, you know, someday I might I uh pay for a ride in
that boat.
Um, I did ride in the dixon'sbar at all the 62 bar at all a
number of years ago, and uh, fora hydroplane fan.
That's just an experience thatyou just can't put a price on.
And uh, it's just so incredible.
(05:42):
I'm uh going down the backstretch and dixon hits the
throttle and that thing has thefull nitrous system in it.
Yeah, it's like the turbo boostin the old Knight Rider TV show
.
I had this bubble helmet onfrom that Steve Compton gave me
to wear and that thing'scatching the air and it it's
(06:05):
trying to yank my head off andI'm trying to get my head up and
then tilt it down.
So the air is hitting it here,pushing it back down.
But I needed a canard on thehelmet to get the helmet to ride
where I wanted it to ride.
That's cool, but you've riddenin one too, I believe.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I was going to say Dixon,he gives a good ride.
So if you get the chance, ifyou're lucky enough to have the
chance, I'm sure it was great.
But yeah, I got a ride in the58 Bartol right before COVID, oh
, okay, and they didn't blame me.
But the next ride out they blewthe motor out.
So I've done that that boat afew times.
(06:50):
Yeah, but it's, yeah, it's anincredible experience and my
thanks to the museum and andactually Don mock did a lot to
to get that ride for me.
So it was, that was a lot offun.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I, I, just, I, just I couldn't imagine driving in one
of those and having five otherson the water and racing like
there were nuts back then Ithink, well, yeah, when they,
when they tell you you're gonnasteer a lap and I'm, I'm
thinking you know, I don't knowhow that's gonna feel if it's,
you know, stiff or what not, butuh, it's definitely easier than
I thought it would be, butyou're kind of cutting through
(07:26):
those turns.
Um, I had a little drama on myride.
It's like when, uh, we werecoming around, uh we got cut off
by the oberto going into theinfield because, uh, they had
plumbed the boat wrong, I guess,and it was pumping water into
the boat instead of pumpingwater out of the boat.
So we had to take a tripthrough the TMZ.
(07:49):
But another cool thing about myride is David Williams was kind
of pacing us for part of a lapin the Wahoo so I could look
over to the side and see theWahoo.
That's cool, pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Well, did you ever have afavorite driver or drivers?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
you know, in early years not as much, um, I think I
mean there was always when billbought the, the uh paying back
stuff, my, my uh loyalty sort oftransitioned with the boat to
the atlas fan lines and then hebrought out the cab over boat,
(08:35):
and so then bill muncy wasprobably the first driver that I
more closely followed.
And then that went to and I wasa fan of chip for.
And then that went to and I wasa fan of chip for.
For a number of years Even Iused to be in any anybody,
anybody but Budweiser fan,basically, except when chip
wiser than I drew it forBudweiser.
But uh yeah, because of thewhole pain, pack Budweiser
(08:56):
rivalry when I was youngersupporting boats.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So right, right, a lot, of, a lot of great drivers
over the years, and those weresome, some greats, for sure.
Well, we're talking about yourphotography skills, because you
have an amazing set ofphotography skills, but I want
to know where did this start foryou?
Because I think you had someinfluence in your family.
But, but I want to hear moreabout that when did you start
taking photos?
(09:19):
Why was this?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
well, you can uh blame my uncle, cl Clark, for my
involvement in the sport.
He took some photos in theearly 70s and the family gift.
One time he gave us some photoalbums, copies of some of the
photos he took, because we wereall hydroplane fans and family.
Ok, I still have those photoalbums he originally gave us.
(09:46):
But uh, I mean back then youknow other than the program
hydroplane photos you might seein the paper.
Um, you know other otherhydroplane photos were kind of
like getting gold for dockingright.
I mean I went through those, Ican't say how many times.
And additionally he had a photothat he took of the pits and it
(10:16):
was used in the Lamps and Cranead for a number of years in the
Tri-Cities program Cool.
So I could always look and saythere's my uncle's picture in
the hydroplane program everyyear, and so I'd say that
planted the seed.
And when I got out of college Iwent to work at the Hanford site
and the first thing that Ibought with money that I had
(10:40):
earned from my job was a SLRcamera, and that was in 94.
And so I have this SLR cameraand I don't really know how to
use it and I'm walking out ofthe pits and the Alberto was
(11:03):
running and they just announcedlap for it.
It's like 157 or something andI think this boat had run on
like a marine turbine the yearbefore or something it was.
It wasn't anything special, butthey put like an l7 in it that
year to just rip this lap offand like wow, that's fast.
And I'm walking out of the pitsand the thing just blows over
(11:23):
right in front of me and I whipup my camera and I don't know
how to use my camera so I forgetthat it has an auto-wind
shutter.
So I'm like taking manualshutters, click, click, click.
And so now I think I've gotflip pictures on my camera and
(11:45):
so I go to like one hour photocamera what store was at the
time?
But it had a one hour photo.
I mean, I mean for the what Ihad and what I was doing.
They weren't bad.
One of them is actually in theDavid Williams Tri-Cities book.
Oh, okay, kind of hanging inthe air like this before it
(12:05):
landed and obliterated itself.
Yeah that was a nasty flip.
Yeah, that kind of ended thatboat.
I think there were white piecesof it, but so success right out
of the gate.
Dynamic photo.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
And it just kind of went on from there, at least
from the tri cities aspect, theH one stuff came later.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah Well, yeah, A number of years later I'm not
sure what year that was, but yougot involved as an official
photographer, H one.
How did you make thattransition?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I made it through the age-old practice of nepotism.
My cousin one of my cousinsthat was in the ABRA years and
he had recently redesigned theABRA website, okay, and he
casually mentioned at some theABRA website, okay, and he
casually mentioned that somefamily gathering were having.
Oh, I can print you a mediapass.
(13:06):
And so I'm like, yeah, sure,why not take this media pass?
And so he got me one, and thatwas 2006, I believe, and so I
was at, did Tri-Cities, and thenI had that passing all to
(13:31):
Seattle.
Because I'd been to Seafair ayear or so prior for like a
Saturday, because I happened tobe in Seattle for a family
picnic or something which was onSunday.
So I didn't go on Sunday but Iwent on Saturday.
But now I have this media pass,okay, I can go in with an
(13:51):
official credential.
So I did Seafair that year andI gave serious thought to going
to San Diego, but I didn't.
But the next year, 2007, Istarted going to other events,
starting with Detroit, and Idon't think I've missed anything
since, except a couple of testsessions that they've had.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Oh, you've been to every race since then.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, I've been to every race since, and that
includes six times to Doha,speaking of long flights, but I
just kind of hung around and Ioutlasted everybody else.
So photo photographer survivor.
I guess I won.
There you go.
You get to go to stand in thedriving heat and continue to
(14:40):
take photos.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Well, you're the winner, man.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Well, I Trophy.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, there should be a trophy for photographer.
Well, I've had conversationswith photographers over the
years and there's been a lot ofbig names, at least for
photographers in my books billosborne and jim dunn and many
others but has there been anyother?
You know photographers thathave maybe been a mentor to you
(15:12):
or given advice to you thatyou've looked up to over the
years you know, I didn't reallyknow any of the photographer
names back in the day.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I look back now at photos and say, oh, that was
taken by someone.
So I didn't know that at thetime.
But I pretty much was, and thiswas before I started, before
the Internet kind of madeeverything smaller and you can
interact with a lot of thesepeople more, and so I pretty
much just self-taught, kind ofstumbled my way through it.
(15:45):
It's a trial by fire right,Well, yeah, we, yeah, it was
just uh, shoot and see whatworks, see what works and what
doesn't.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, I think you've.
You've picked up.
You've had to pick up a lotover the years because I've had
conversations with people thathave said you can have the best
camera in the world, have allthe setups, but still take the
crappiest photos More of atalent and a nuance with that.
You picked things up over theyears and, like you said, it's
just been trial by fire fortrying it out.
(16:20):
But what have been some biglessons for yourself to to get
better at this?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
uh, you know, it was hard to get better when I
started because I was only doingone race and that was back in
the film days.
And so you'd say, I'd take my12 or 13 rolls of film and then
you'd take them to costco and afew days later you'd have the
result, but without being ableto quickly go to another race.
(16:47):
It was hard to carry anyimprovement from race to race
because there was a year betweeneach event.
Um, but uh, digital get instantfeedback and you can, you know,
adjust on the fly and it's alot easier to try new things and
you don't have to pay for thecost of developing the photos,
(17:11):
which, if you paid to developwhat you take digitally, would
be just astronomical.
But uh, it was just a lot oftrial, it was just a lot of
trial and error.
And, you know, once I found aset of settings that work and
pretty much stuck with them ascamera technology evolved I've
(17:31):
had to change my technique alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
But uh, it's just all all kind of trial and error
yeah, can you take a guess athow many photos you've taken
over the years?
Now?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
oh it's, it's got to be hundreds of thousands.
I mean it's.
I mean I'll take on a typicalday.
Let's see, let's take madison,for example, on friday or
saturday in madison and they'rerunning other classes not not
just unlimited Right At about7,000 pictures in that gallery.
Wow, in the, just the raw, theraw pictures that I after I call
(18:09):
out the bad focus and badcompetition stuff, and that
usually runs about 10% of whatthe total is.
Oh, okay.
But so I mean, that weekend isprobably because we didn't run a
lot.
Sunday, I think there were only4 000, 3500 in the sunday
gallery, so there's,conservatively counting friday,
(18:33):
probably about 12 000 for thatrace, which wasn't a full race.
Wow, but it's, you know, fivethousand a day.
It's probably a good rule ofthumb.
I was going to go back andcount it when you asked me to do
it.
I was gonna, like, count a year.
Yeah, it's just, but I'm sobehind on photo processing right
(18:53):
now and it's just, I'mcommitted to so many things, uh,
that I just didn't have time todo it.
I just like got like we're theweek before water follies and
about six boat teams realizedthey need hero cards and I
couldn't realize this a weekearlier, guys.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But well, well, that's, that's a.
That's a trend with hydroponracing.
We'll wait till last minute forsomething.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Oh, god, yes, every level of hydroplane racing too,
from RC to unlimited.
Yes, it is.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Man Well, speaking of RC, like you you don't just
take pictures of the unlimitedranks, you, you go to inboard
racing, outboard racing, vintageexhibitions, RC boat races, uh,
and you always take greatphotos.
But there has to be a groupthat's easier to take and a
group that's harder to take.
What do you consider to be thehardest class and easiest class
(19:51):
to photo?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
my class probably.
You know, rc is probably theeasiest because the venues are
smaller so I don't have to walkas much.
I could go like, for example,in ellensburg, I can shoot a
couple of places on thestraightaway.
I can go walk around and shoot,coming straight into the corner
, and there's not a whole lot ofmileage on the old legs and uh,
(20:20):
there, it's easier to.
There aren't uh, there isn'tsecurity or you know, a lot of
spec meters or stuff.
So you can pretty much shootanywhere on some of these rc
venues.
Right, remember we used to havethis one venue, rock island.
Remember that one?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
oh yeah yeah, just out of what was that?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
gravel pit.
Yep, yeah, I could go up to thetop of there and shoot around
the top of the rim and it waslike I was in a helicopter, yeah
.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, you had some great photos of that reef site.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
That was, and that was also fun because you'd go on
the backstretch and I don'tthink a lot of people appreciate
the skill it takes to drivethose VARSE seaboats.
Having run one into the bankmyself, I certainly appreciate
it.
But when you get to thebackstretch there's a lot about
(21:11):
depth perception and you can seewho has better depth perception
than other drivers by howthey're straight either straight
or not.
So straight going through thebackstretch, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I remember looking through some of those
photos that you've done inparticular and you'd see people
turning really hard left andthey're like 50, maybe 100 feet
off the buoy line, right it'slike I'm in lane 27.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And I need to be further out.
But I mean, it's hard to youknow accurately judge those
distances from a tower and theyou know start, finish line
right.
But unless you have, you knowpeople like dave brandt who you
know have seemed to have thissort of genetic ingrained feel
for where the lanes are and andto set the arc you know, just so
(22:03):
it's the right arc.
You know you can tell thereally good drivers are how they
perform on the backstretch.
But as far as hardest, I don'tthink any class is particularly
harder than any other.
Certain venues are harder toshoot than other venues.
(22:26):
What venues are the hardest?
Seafair being the prime exampleof that.
And seafair you're a lotfarther away from the boats and
there aren't a whole lot ofdifferent places you can easily
shoot from, unless you're on aboat or on the log boom or so
(22:48):
you're bouncing around out thereon the boat right and yeah,
that can it.
Well, it depends on the how, howthe weather is and stuff.
But yeah, depending on whereyou are, you can see some
significant wave action and uh,you spend the whole day on the
boat and you get back on dryland and your, your equilibrium
is still like on the boat.
(23:08):
It's like I don't think thisground is entirely stable.
But from the day of being outon the boat, yeah, but uh, but
yeah, that that would be theSeafair's probably the hardest
venue to shoot at, I'd say.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, do you have a favorite venue to take photos at
?
It's not biased, it's sayinghome.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Well, they all have pluses and minuses.
Madison used to be or I mean,madison still is pretty good,
but uh, them taking the nothaving the boats run under the
bridge is kind of a major, majordrag, and I didn't.
I was going to go up to thebridge this year but it was too
(23:53):
hot so I didn't want to.
I figured I'd eat stroke out onthe way back, so it's like I'll
just stay in the pits this year.
Yeah, the ice by the ice chestsof beverages, right, but uh,
yeah, I mean, tri-cities is agreat course, obviously, because
there's a lot of obstruction.
(24:14):
You can see everywhere on thecourse from essentially
everywhere except the pits.
Let's see where else.
Uh, madison, obviously you'reright there, the boats are right
off the shore.
So I mean you're really close tothe action, gunnersville.
You could see most of thecourse from the start finish
(24:36):
line, which was good, um, justcouldn't beat the wind,
unfortunately.
Right, right, detroit.
I'd love to have detroit comeback for the rooster tail turn
um, and being the first raceother than seafair that I
significantly traveled for, thatwas.
I mean, if that's going to beyour introduction to on the road
(25:00):
hydroplane photography, that'sthe place to do it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, I hope I can get that back.
I've never got a chance to gothere, so I'd like to go there
once yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
See a boat race.
My cousin didn't get theopportunity to go there, so I
know it seems like they tryevery year and make a good faith
attempt, so hopefully one ofthese days they'll break through
and uh and get it done yeah, wegot you know, like san diego
too, and there's san diego.
San diego's good.
(25:32):
I haven't been over to theisland in a few years.
Maybe I'll go back there thisnext year.
That's a good place to be inthe morning, but then the
afternoon island.
Yeah, yeah, but in the afternoonyou want to be on the
backstretch because the glareover there is pretty hellacious,
yeah but uh yeah, the weather'salways good.
(25:54):
So I mean san diego, it'salways good, good to end the
year at san diego yeah, it can'tbeat that.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I mean, it's a beautiful city, perfect weather,
almost every year.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Maybe we need to have him get that Hawaii race back.
Yeah, I'd go for that.
Yeah, I could go for that,although I don't know about the,
the how hard it would be torace on a military base these
days versus what they did backin the nineties when they did
both the Pearl Harbor race andthe the Norfolk race.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Right, right, that would be awesome.
It wouldn't be hard to convincethe family to go to Hawaii for
a boat race, all right.
Well, when you take your photos, you always seem have like it's
, it's a given now, like ifthere's a wreck or something
dramatic happens on the racecourse.
(26:50):
Just wait, we're gonna seechris's photos.
He's gonna have some greatphotos and you didn't.
You didn't let us down.
This year you got some greatphotos of gunner o'farrill
flipping and pre-season testing.
Uh, you got some great shots ofvillawauks, flip and
Gunnersville.
How do you always just getgreat shots?
You always seem to be in theright place at the right time.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, I'm the best ambulance chaser apparently.
No, I went through several,several years of not having
those shots.
And when you get right down toit, it you can learn about the
boats and how they behave andlook at the water and make
predictions on.
You know the courses, you knowwhere there are places where
(27:33):
there are speed bumps and theboats are going to hop and
things like that.
And you know all that and havethe best camera settings in the
world.
And there's still a, there'sstill quite a high luck factor
that that uh factors intowhether you're going to get
those shots or not.
Like, for example, on gunnero'farrell's thing, I was
screwing around with my cameraand I missed about half of it.
(27:54):
Oh right, then I.
Then I because I was like, ah,he's not going to blow over,
because it's testing.
Well, yeah, that was not theright thought, but he hung it in
the air long enough that I gota lot of good photos of it.
And also the camera technologyfor autofocus has advanced
(28:19):
significantly in the last fewyears.
Auto focus has advancedsignificantly in the last few
years.
Um can focus a lot faster anduh and hold the focus a lot
better.
Like the the uh vilwak sequence.
There are 98 photos in thatsequence and usually the in a
sequence that long, the camerawill, at some point during it,
(28:41):
see a rooster tail or a splashand briefly focus off topic and
refocus, so you get a few shotsthat are blurred.
None of them were blurred, sothey were all in focus, which
actually doesn't happen in asequence that long.
Yeah, so I mean there's,there's some luck I've I've
missed over the years.
I've gotten some over the years,but that Villalock one's
(29:04):
probably the best one I've evergotten, and the thing about that
one is that you could see itcoming, not necessarily that
there was going to be anaccident, but it was going to be
a pretty hot corner becausefour boats were going to hit it
at the same time, and normallyyou get two or maybe three, but
having four to hit it at thesame time and yeah, and normally
you get two or maybe three, buthaving four hit it that corner
(29:26):
at the same time, it's gonna besomething that's gonna happen.
So I started, started on theshutter when they're starting
the corner and just stayed on ituntil the lock was stuck in the
mud that's Forks down.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, well, it's, uh, it's impressive.
You can always count on you toget those great shots and I
remember for a few years I wouldtry to take photos with it it
was like 20 years ago with acamera and, yeah, the focus back
then wasn't as good as it isnow.
You have to wait.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Wait, okay, got it focused and yeah I had that same
experience before I bought mycamera in 94.
My my parents had bought acamera back in the day and I
tried to use that for a year and, and it's his old, the focus
system on it had this ring, thiscontrol f stop, and the damn
(30:19):
thing wasn't very tight and itwould keep sliding out of place
and screwing things up.
So that was kind of where Idecided that that I was in the
early 90s and I decided that I'dwait until I could buy a better
camera, which is what I did.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
So yeah yeah well, there's got to be some some
people out there in the waterthat you always want to track
because they're going to.
You're going to, you knowyou're going to get some good
photos on that and I'm sure youdon't want to throw anyone under
the bus for that but there areany RC drivers you want to throw
under the bus.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I never see drivers and RC is it's a.
You know, when you talk aboutgetting flips and missing flips,
I miss a lot of flips in rcbecause there's a lot of boats
and the action is compressedinto a smaller course.
I mean the there's scale,eighth scale, but you kind of,
(31:14):
when you do the math, it's kindof like they're doing a scale
speed of about 300 miles an hour.
Yeah, yeah, well, it's just.
I mean you're going back andforth with your head on on a
swivel and you know some boatswill, uh are more flighty and
more tend to blow over, like,say, jim white's atlas blue
(31:34):
blaster, for example.
Right, I mean it's a beautifulboat.
It carves up the water like areal Unlimited when it goes into
the corners Big, big skid finspray, but it also tends to go
over a lot too.
Yeah yeah, but I mean Unlimited.
You always want to keep youreye on J Michael Kelly, not
(31:58):
because he's going to have anaccident, but the way he flies
the boat.
He really takes it to the edgeto get the speed out of it.
It's pretty impressive how hecan float a boat down the whole
front straightaway.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, he's good at turning a three-point into a
one-point, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, exactly Trying to experiment with a new class
of hydroplane.
Let's just not go to zero point.
Mike.
Stay with three point.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Well, something that you've accomplished that not
really many of us have at all.
You have a photo.
It's currently in theSmithsonian Museum, part of an
exhibit about racing in America.
How in the world did you get aphoto input into the museum?
Did you sneak in there and justdrop it off?
(32:50):
How did this happen?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Well, if James Crisp was telling the story, that's
what he'd say.
But some sort of missionimpossible, you know type
operation is.
It was a.
It was really a long andpercolating thing and I had to
go back and look at the emailchain and find the emails from
it.
I recently looked at them andit started with ironically, it
(33:18):
started with I guess Dan Colesent a photo to James Crisp
asking if it was his, and itturned out.
Crisp sent it to me.
Turned out it was one of mine.
It was one I had shot off.
The Madison used to have astart-finish boat in the infield
at the start-finish line andone year I got to go out and
(33:38):
shoot photos from that 2010.
And it was a part of a sequenceI'd shot from that boat in 2010
.
So I replied back to Dan andthen somebody from the Visit
Madison Inc got in touch with meabout the Smithsonian or
something.
I had a request for this photofor this exhibit they were
(33:58):
planning on doing and could Ihave it in such and such
resolution and sign the photorelease.
And so this was 2018.
Okay, I put the photo out on myGoogle Drive and signed the
release and and I didn't thinkanything really much of it and I
think, uh, I think when Ichecked on it it was supposed
(34:20):
open.
The exhibit was supposed toopen in 2022 or something like
that, so it was a ways off so Ididn't really give it much mind
Around the time the exhibitopened up.
I checked again on theSmithsonian's website and they
had something about the exhibitbut there weren't any really any
pictures of what was in it, soI didn't know if it was in there
(34:41):
or not.
So I didn't say anything aboutit then and didn't really think
about it again for a while.
And more recently I checked inagain on a lark and found that
they had much more pictures ofwhat was in the exhibit and
(35:02):
found the photo that I could see, the photo in the exhibit.
And they have like a virtualtour you can do on the web.
Now you can walk through theexhibit, you can see where it is
, and I had a couple of myfriends who had actually been to
the exhibit and had seen itconfirmed it to me too.
So that's cool.
(35:23):
There hasn't been many much.
There hasn't been a whole lotof unlimited hydroplane stuff in
the Smithsonian.
The 82 Atlas or the 79 Atlaswas there for a while.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Right, yeah, there's not.
Yeah, not much representation,but but now they have your photo
.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, as long as this exhibit runs, it'll be there,
so but yeah, it's pretty, prettycool.
I never thought that would bethe you know end result of what
I do, but yeah, yeah, I meanthat's got to feel.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Feel great to know that you know you're
contributing to the sport inyour way and you got a piece in
the Smithsonian exhibit andthere's a link that has a
virtual tour of it.
I'm going to put that in thebio below so listeners can go in
and view that it's got a nicedisplay next to air racing and
car racing.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
It's got a few hydro buttons there.
Yeah, that's why I do what I do.
I can contribute something tothe furtherance of the sport.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
That has been besides taxes, has been one of the big
things that's been involved inshaping my life basically, yeah
well yeah, there's no doubtyou've made a big contribution
to the sport with all the photosthat you've taken and with the
(36:51):
our digital age now and how fastwe can get the consumption of
it, it's uh pretty amazing.
But out of your hundreds ofthousands of photos, I'm sure
you spent a lot of time when Iasked you this but to go through
them all.
Do you have a favorite photoout of everything that you've
taken over the years?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's a difficult question because, like you said,
there are a lot of photos, butI think if I were to choose one,
it would be a.
There was a photo I took ofSteve David and let's see, it
was in 2008 at San Diego andhe'd come in from the heat where
(37:33):
they'd clinched the boat titleand the driver title and Steve
had won the driver title before,but this is the first time that
addison had won the the boatand the driver title in in their
their big runs when they hadthat, got that new boat and uh,
so he's up on the cockpitcelebrating and and owen blauman
(37:58):
had been with the team and hehad this confetti cannon and
they shot this confetti cannonand there's a big cloud of
confetti and Steve's celebratingand the confetti's kind of
behind him and it just kind ofcaptured the thrill of that
moment.
And next year it ended up onthe side of the H1 truck.
(38:20):
Next year it ended up on theside of the h1 truck.
So, oh, I would, I wouldprobably say got a lot of good
photos of steve celebrating winsover the years, but that was
probably the best one yeah, Irecall seeing that photo.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Now it's.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
That was a magical photo with the, the confetti
around and, yeah, pretty coolI'm surprised they got away with
that because they're soenvironmentally uptight and san
diego's like can't you know,can't like have your water go
back in the, in the, in the bay,and right all that.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I don't know if the confetti was biodegradable or
not, but well, I'm I'm sure itwas all permit approved and
everything beforehand right.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Well, obviously they never do something against that
permit.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
All right.
Well, do you have any?
I know there's a lot of amateurphotographers out there that do
their best to get photos of theraces.
Do you have any tips for them?
Maybe better spots or settingsor anything you can, any tips
you can give those fans outthere?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
You're looking at getting an SLR camera, it's
better to spend your money on areally good lens to start with
than a really good body, becausethe lens will last you for
several camera bodies with goodglass.
No substitute for good glass.
(39:50):
Just uh, look online and seewhat other people are doing, and
usually you can.
Depending on how they postedtheir photos, you can drill into
the photo settings that are inthe image and see how they, how
they have their cameras at, andand uh, that's could be
(40:12):
instructive.
I know I peep on other photosfrom other photographers
sometimes just see what settingsthey're running.
But uh, we're pretty muchalways all just running a high
shutter speed and, uh, keep theiso as low as you can for the
lighting conditions, but don'tbe afraid to move it up, because
(40:33):
these days the noise isn'treally a factor anymore and
there's plenty of softwarethat'll take out any noise if
you have to shoot at a high isobecause it's cloudy or something
.
So it's about really all I canthink of ask, ask people if you
see them.
I've had several people ask mequestions and I'm happy to
(40:57):
answer them.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
So all right.
Well, some good tips there, butone last question I want to ask
you before you go, being anative tricity, tricityan, try,
what do you call yourselves overthere?
Try, 509ers I think, okay,right, being a 509er at the
(41:19):
columbia cup, what's yourfavorite spot to go and take
photos on the river?
I know you know you can get agood view outside of the pits,
but there's got to be a spotthat you like to go to.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I go to several spots and I like catching them coming
out of a turn.
A lot of times something canhappen in the turn.
I don't get over there enough,but shooting from the levee on
(41:48):
the Pasco side is because thatturn usually gets really, really
snotty when you get about fourboats going through it.
I don't get over there on raceday but that's a good place to
shoot from.
Uh, really anywhere down the,down the either front or back
stretch, there really isn't abad spot to shoot from because
(42:11):
you can see see everything fromuh from the whole course.
So there are no obstructionsbut uh, so no real favorites.
But I kind of have a plan eachyear and it's been kind of
foiled the last couple yearswhen we had the depth problem
(42:31):
last year and the pond weedproblem the year before, where
we didn't do anything on friday.
But yeah like go to the levee orgo to the pasco side on friday
and shoot the second turn exiton saturday and sunday.
I usually shoot from a man liftand start finish line.
(42:53):
So awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Well, I'm sure you'll get some great shots this year.
I'm looking forward to seeingwhat you produce.
I already had some great shotsearlier from Guntersville and
Madison, and I know they'll keepon producing more great photos.
Thanks for all you do, chris.
Well, thanks, david.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Thanks for what you do too.
You've turned this BrewsterTale talk into kind of an
institution.
It's really neat.
All right, well, thank you,thank you.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Well, that's all the time we have for this week.
Knuckleheads, hope you enjoyedmy talk with chris denslow, as
we got to learn a little bitmore about chris, what he's gone
through to become an officialh1 photographer for the sport
and how he has just reallypreserved a lot of the history
of the sport through photography.
If you haven't checked out hiswebsite on SmugBug, check the
bio below.
I've got a link and you canspend hours upon hours looking
(43:51):
through all of his thousands andthousands of photos.
He's really done a great job ofpreserving the history of the
sport.
So really, thanks goes to Chrisfor covering that side of the
sport.
So really, thanks goes to Chrisfor covering that side of the
sport.
Well, I've got some greatinterviews I have conducted at
the Columbia Cup and Seafair.
I've got some great interviewsfor months to come.
(44:11):
Some new episodes will becoming out soon on our same time
on every Tuesday, but untilthen, check us out online at our
website, roostertaltalkcom.
As well on social media, we'reon Facebook and Instagram, and
if you haven't checked outRooster Tail Talk Plus yet, you
still have a chance to become amember and get one of the
(44:33):
collectible trading card sets.
You can see a link in the biobelow, or it's on our website at
bruchertiltalkcom as well.
Well, listeners, I guess that'sall I have today, so until next
time.
I hope to see you at the races.
Ruchet Tail Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything
about the sport that we alllove, hydroplane racing.
I am your host, david Newton,and it's time once again, so sit
back, relax and welcome toRooster Tail Talk.
(00:50):
Hello race fans and welcomeback to the podcast.
It's Tuesday, august 5th 2025,and this is episode 156.
H1 Unlimited has wrapped uptheir chapter of the 2025 season
in the Pacific Northwest.
We just concluded the Gold Cupand Tri-Cities, as well as
Seattle Seafarers Regatta.
(01:12):
Hopefully, you had a good timeexperiencing the races if you
were there in person or watchingthe live streaming on YouTube.
But before those races happened,I had a chance to sit on Zoom
and interview Chris Denslow.
Now, some of you might not knowthe name, chris Denslow.
It's not a high-profile name inthe sport, but he is one of the
unsung heroes of H1 Unlimited,as there are so many people from
(01:34):
all different corners that makethis sport happen, so many
volunteers that really put intime and dedication to make the
sport what it is today, andChris has done so for the past
20 years.
Being an H1 officialphotographer for the sport, he's
developed some great photosover the years, has great talent
and great eye to take photosfor the sport, notably if
(01:58):
there's ever any great action onthe water, whether it's crashes
, close racing he has capturedthe moment through photography
and there's no doubt that you'veseen some of his great photos
over the years, either on socialmedia or on HON Unlimited site
itself.
Now there's great photographersthat have been in the round the
sport for years.
(02:19):
I interviewed Bill Osborne acouple of years ago, but there's
many others out there Jim Dunn,craig Barney and many others,
countless others.
I can't name off the top of myhead, but Chris has really upped
the level of the photography inthe sport in the past 20 years.
So let's listen into myinterview and learn a little bit
more about Chris Denslow.
(02:40):
I'm sitting on Zoom talkingwith Chris Denzlo.
Chris, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm good, david.
Thanks for asking.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
doing fine, doing fine I'm.
I was when we were trying toget dates down to figure out how
to do our interview.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I'm glad now that we're doing it in our homes and
not during the race, when it'sprobably going to be 100 and
whatever degrees oh yeah, so Ithink this is a better route to
go yeah, I don't think theinterview would have been very
productive during the week ofmadison, when it's like 90
degrees and the heat index of 10.
Right it was pretty miserable.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, I heard it was pretty bad this year, but I
think that's most years right.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I think it was making up for Guntersville not having
a lot of humidity.
Yeah, both had wind, though.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, well, I'm excited to talk to you about all
that you've done for thecircuit, for H1 Unlimited and
for racing, but I know you'vebeen a lifetime fan of the sport
and you've before we get intoyour your photography skills.
Can you talk about what it'sbeen meant to you to follow, h1
(03:53):
unlimited well, it's been hadmany names over the years, but
unlimited hydroplanes over theyears.
And and what your favorite boathas been?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
well, growing up in tri-cities, the unlimited
hydroplanes was such a big eventin the history of the area and
I mean it was the thing that youdid during the summer.
It was what you waited for allyears, kind of like another
christmas, yeah, wait and wait,and then you'd have it and then
it's over and and, uh, you haveto wait another year to see the
(04:25):
boats again.
But uh, so it was always a bigfocal point of my summer and, uh
, and my favorite boat growingup was the winged wonder pay and
pack.
That was the first boat Irooted for when I was a kid and
uh, it was really great to seeKen Muscatel rescue that from
(04:47):
Bardish's warehouse and have itrestored and then to see it on
the Columbia again.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, yeah, super cool, and I think, if I'm not
mistaken, didn't you incorporatethat into your logo?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I did For Digital Wistertail, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Atomic had some artwork for that boat already,
so it was they'd done a fewt-shirts, so it was.
It was.
It was a good choice toincorporate it into the logo.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Since that boat's been restored, have you had a
chance to get get a ride in that?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
No, you know, someday I might I uh pay for a ride in
that boat.
Um, I did ride in the dixon'sbar at all the 62 bar at all a
number of years ago, and uh, fora hydroplane fan.
That's just an experience thatyou just can't put a price on.
And uh, it's just so incredible.
(05:42):
I'm uh going down the backstretch and dixon hits the
throttle and that thing has thefull nitrous system in it.
Yeah, it's like the turbo boostin the old Knight Rider TV show
.
I had this bubble helmet onfrom that Steve Compton gave me
to wear and that thing'scatching the air and it it's
(06:05):
trying to yank my head off andI'm trying to get my head up and
then tilt it down.
So the air is hitting it here,pushing it back down.
But I needed a canard on thehelmet to get the helmet to ride
where I wanted it to ride.
That's cool, but you've riddenin one too, I believe.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I was going to say Dixon,he gives a good ride.
So if you get the chance, ifyou're lucky enough to have the
chance, I'm sure it was great.
But yeah, I got a ride in the58 Bartol right before COVID, oh
, okay, and they didn't blame me.
But the next ride out they blewthe motor out.
So I've done that that boat afew times.
(06:50):
Yeah, but it's, yeah, it's anincredible experience and my
thanks to the museum and andactually Don mock did a lot to
to get that ride for me.
So it was, that was a lot offun.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I, I, just, I, just I couldn't imagine driving in one
of those and having five otherson the water and racing like
there were nuts back then Ithink, well, yeah, when they,
when they tell you you're gonnasteer a lap and I'm, I'm
thinking you know, I don't knowhow that's gonna feel if it's,
you know, stiff or what not, butuh, it's definitely easier than
I thought it would be, butyou're kind of cutting through
(07:26):
those turns.
Um, I had a little drama on myride.
It's like when, uh, we werecoming around, uh we got cut off
by the oberto going into theinfield because, uh, they had
plumbed the boat wrong, I guess,and it was pumping water into
the boat instead of pumpingwater out of the boat.
So we had to take a tripthrough the TMZ.
(07:49):
But another cool thing about myride is David Williams was kind
of pacing us for part of a lapin the Wahoo so I could look
over to the side and see theWahoo.
That's cool, pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Well, did you ever have afavorite driver or drivers?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
you know, in early years not as much, um, I think I
mean there was always when billbought the, the uh paying back
stuff, my, my uh loyalty sort oftransitioned with the boat to
the atlas fan lines and then hebrought out the cab over boat,
(08:35):
and so then bill muncy wasprobably the first driver that I
more closely followed.
And then that went to and I wasa fan of chip for.
And then that went to and I wasa fan of chip for.
For a number of years Even Iused to be in any anybody,
anybody but Budweiser fan,basically, except when chip
wiser than I drew it forBudweiser.
But uh yeah, because of thewhole pain, pack Budweiser
(08:56):
rivalry when I was youngersupporting boats.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So right, right, a lot, of, a lot of great drivers
over the years, and those weresome, some greats, for sure.
Well, we're talking about yourphotography skills, because you
have an amazing set ofphotography skills, but I want
to know where did this start foryou?
Because I think you had someinfluence in your family.
But, but I want to hear moreabout that when did you start
taking photos?
(09:19):
Why was this?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
well, you can uh blame my uncle, cl Clark, for my
involvement in the sport.
He took some photos in theearly 70s and the family gift.
One time he gave us some photoalbums, copies of some of the
photos he took, because we wereall hydroplane fans and family.
Ok, I still have those photoalbums he originally gave us.
(09:46):
But uh, I mean back then youknow other than the program
hydroplane photos you might seein the paper.
Um, you know other otherhydroplane photos were kind of
like getting gold for dockingright.
I mean I went through those, Ican't say how many times.
And additionally he had a photothat he took of the pits and it
(10:16):
was used in the Lamps and Cranead for a number of years in the
Tri-Cities program Cool.
So I could always look and saythere's my uncle's picture in
the hydroplane program everyyear, and so I'd say that
planted the seed.
And when I got out of college Iwent to work at the Hanford site
and the first thing that Ibought with money that I had
(10:40):
earned from my job was a SLRcamera, and that was in 94.
And so I have this SLR cameraand I don't really know how to
use it and I'm walking out ofthe pits and the Alberto was
(11:03):
running and they just announcedlap for it.
It's like 157 or something andI think this boat had run on
like a marine turbine the yearbefore or something it was.
It wasn't anything special, butthey put like an l7 in it that
year to just rip this lap offand like wow, that's fast.
And I'm walking out of the pitsand the thing just blows over
(11:23):
right in front of me and I whipup my camera and I don't know
how to use my camera so I forgetthat it has an auto-wind
shutter.
So I'm like taking manualshutters, click, click, click.
And so now I think I've gotflip pictures on my camera and
(11:45):
so I go to like one hour photocamera what store was at the
time?
But it had a one hour photo.
I mean, I mean for the what Ihad and what I was doing.
They weren't bad.
One of them is actually in theDavid Williams Tri-Cities book.
Oh, okay, kind of hanging inthe air like this before it
(12:05):
landed and obliterated itself.
Yeah that was a nasty flip.
Yeah, that kind of ended thatboat.
I think there were white piecesof it, but so success right out
of the gate.
Dynamic photo.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
And it just kind of went on from there, at least
from the tri cities aspect, theH one stuff came later.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah Well, yeah, A number of years later I'm not
sure what year that was, but yougot involved as an official
photographer, H one.
How did you make thattransition?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I made it through the age-old practice of nepotism.
My cousin one of my cousinsthat was in the ABRA years and
he had recently redesigned theABRA website, okay, and he
casually mentioned at some theABRA website, okay, and he
casually mentioned that somefamily gathering were having.
Oh, I can print you a mediapass.
(13:06):
And so I'm like, yeah, sure,why not take this media pass?
And so he got me one, and thatwas 2006, I believe, and so I
was at, did Tri-Cities, and thenI had that passing all to
(13:31):
Seattle.
Because I'd been to Seafair ayear or so prior for like a
Saturday, because I happened tobe in Seattle for a family
picnic or something which was onSunday.
So I didn't go on Sunday but Iwent on Saturday.
But now I have this media pass,okay, I can go in with an
(13:51):
official credential.
So I did Seafair that year andI gave serious thought to going
to San Diego, but I didn't.
But the next year, 2007, Istarted going to other events,
starting with Detroit, and Idon't think I've missed anything
since, except a couple of testsessions that they've had.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Oh, you've been to every race since then.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, I've been to every race since, and that
includes six times to Doha,speaking of long flights, but I
just kind of hung around and Ioutlasted everybody else.
So photo photographer survivor.
I guess I won.
There you go.
You get to go to stand in thedriving heat and continue to
(14:40):
take photos.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Well, you're the winner, man.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Well, I Trophy.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, there should be a trophy for photographer.
Well, I've had conversationswith photographers over the
years and there's been a lot ofbig names, at least for
photographers in my books billosborne and jim dunn and many
others but has there been anyother?
You know photographers thathave maybe been a mentor to you
(15:12):
or given advice to you thatyou've looked up to over the
years you know, I didn't reallyknow any of the photographer
names back in the day.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I look back now at photos and say, oh, that was
taken by someone.
So I didn't know that at thetime.
But I pretty much was, and thiswas before I started, before
the Internet kind of madeeverything smaller and you can
interact with a lot of thesepeople more, and so I pretty
much just self-taught, kind ofstumbled my way through it.
(15:45):
It's a trial by fire right,Well, yeah, we, yeah, it was
just uh, shoot and see whatworks, see what works and what
doesn't.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, I think you've.
You've picked up.
You've had to pick up a lotover the years because I've had
conversations with people thathave said you can have the best
camera in the world, have allthe setups, but still take the
crappiest photos More of atalent and a nuance with that.
You picked things up over theyears and, like you said, it's
just been trial by fire fortrying it out.
(16:20):
But what have been some biglessons for yourself to to get
better at this?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
uh, you know, it was hard to get better when I
started because I was only doingone race and that was back in
the film days.
And so you'd say, I'd take my12 or 13 rolls of film and then
you'd take them to costco and afew days later you'd have the
result, but without being ableto quickly go to another race.
(16:47):
It was hard to carry anyimprovement from race to race
because there was a year betweeneach event.
Um, but uh, digital get instantfeedback and you can, you know,
adjust on the fly and it's alot easier to try new things and
you don't have to pay for thecost of developing the photos,
(17:11):
which, if you paid to developwhat you take digitally, would
be just astronomical.
But uh, it was just a lot oftrial, it was just a lot of
trial and error.
And, you know, once I found aset of settings that work and
pretty much stuck with them ascamera technology evolved I've
(17:31):
had to change my technique alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
But uh, it's just all all kind of trial and error
yeah, can you take a guess athow many photos you've taken
over the years?
Now?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
oh it's, it's got to be hundreds of thousands.
I mean it's.
I mean I'll take on a typicalday.
Let's see, let's take madison,for example, on friday or
saturday in madison and they'rerunning other classes not not
just unlimited Right At about7,000 pictures in that gallery.
Wow, in the, just the raw, theraw pictures that I after I call
(18:09):
out the bad focus and badcompetition stuff, and that
usually runs about 10% of whatthe total is.
Oh, okay.
But so I mean, that weekend isprobably because we didn't run a
lot.
Sunday, I think there were only4 000, 3500 in the sunday
gallery, so there's,conservatively counting friday,
(18:33):
probably about 12 000 for thatrace, which wasn't a full race.
Wow, but it's, you know, fivethousand a day.
It's probably a good rule ofthumb.
I was going to go back andcount it when you asked me to do
it.
I was gonna, like, count a year.
Yeah, it's just, but I'm sobehind on photo processing right
(18:53):
now and it's just, I'mcommitted to so many things, uh,
that I just didn't have time todo it.
I just like got like we're theweek before water follies and
about six boat teams realizedthey need hero cards and I
couldn't realize this a weekearlier, guys.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But well, well, that's, that's a.
That's a trend with hydroponracing.
We'll wait till last minute forsomething.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Oh, god, yes, every level of hydroplane racing too,
from RC to unlimited.
Yes, it is.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Man Well, speaking of RC, like you you don't just
take pictures of the unlimitedranks, you, you go to inboard
racing, outboard racing, vintageexhibitions, RC boat races, uh,
and you always take greatphotos.
But there has to be a groupthat's easier to take and a
group that's harder to take.
What do you consider to be thehardest class and easiest class
(19:51):
to photo?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
my class probably.
You know, rc is probably theeasiest because the venues are
smaller so I don't have to walkas much.
I could go like, for example,in ellensburg, I can shoot a
couple of places on thestraightaway.
I can go walk around and shoot,coming straight into the corner
, and there's not a whole lot ofmileage on the old legs and uh,
(20:20):
there, it's easier to.
There aren't uh, there isn'tsecurity or you know, a lot of
spec meters or stuff.
So you can pretty much shootanywhere on some of these rc
venues.
Right, remember we used to havethis one venue, rock island.
Remember that one?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
oh yeah yeah, just out of what was that?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
gravel pit.
Yep, yeah, I could go up to thetop of there and shoot around
the top of the rim and it waslike I was in a helicopter, yeah
.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, you had some great photos of that reef site.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
That was, and that was also fun because you'd go on
the backstretch and I don'tthink a lot of people appreciate
the skill it takes to drivethose VARSE seaboats.
Having run one into the bankmyself, I certainly appreciate
it.
But when you get to thebackstretch there's a lot about
(21:11):
depth perception and you can seewho has better depth perception
than other drivers by howthey're straight either straight
or not.
So straight going through thebackstretch, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I remember looking through some of those
photos that you've done inparticular and you'd see people
turning really hard left andthey're like 50, maybe 100 feet
off the buoy line, right it'slike I'm in lane 27.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And I need to be further out.
But I mean, it's hard to youknow accurately judge those
distances from a tower and theyou know start, finish line
right.
But unless you have, you knowpeople like dave brandt who you
know have seemed to have thissort of genetic ingrained feel
for where the lanes are and andto set the arc you know, just so
(22:03):
it's the right arc.
You know you can tell thereally good drivers are how they
perform on the backstretch.
But as far as hardest, I don'tthink any class is particularly
harder than any other.
Certain venues are harder toshoot than other venues.
(22:26):
What venues are the hardest?
Seafair being the prime exampleof that.
And seafair you're a lotfarther away from the boats and
there aren't a whole lot ofdifferent places you can easily
shoot from, unless you're on aboat or on the log boom or so
(22:48):
you're bouncing around out thereon the boat right and yeah,
that can it.
Well, it depends on the how, howthe weather is and stuff.
But yeah, depending on whereyou are, you can see some
significant wave action and uh,you spend the whole day on the
boat and you get back on dryland and your, your equilibrium
is still like on the boat.
(23:08):
It's like I don't think thisground is entirely stable.
But from the day of being outon the boat, yeah, but uh, but
yeah, that that would be theSeafair's probably the hardest
venue to shoot at, I'd say.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, do you have a favorite venue to take photos at
?
It's not biased, it's sayinghome.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Well, they all have pluses and minuses.
Madison used to be or I mean,madison still is pretty good,
but uh, them taking the nothaving the boats run under the
bridge is kind of a major, majordrag, and I didn't.
I was going to go up to thebridge this year but it was too
(23:53):
hot so I didn't want to.
I figured I'd eat stroke out onthe way back, so it's like I'll
just stay in the pits this year.
Yeah, the ice by the ice chestsof beverages, right, but uh,
yeah, I mean, tri-cities is agreat course, obviously, because
there's a lot of obstruction.
(24:14):
You can see everywhere on thecourse from essentially
everywhere except the pits.
Let's see where else.
Uh, madison, obviously you'reright there, the boats are right
off the shore.
So I mean you're really close tothe action, gunnersville.
You could see most of thecourse from the start finish
(24:36):
line, which was good, um, justcouldn't beat the wind,
unfortunately.
Right, right, detroit.
I'd love to have detroit comeback for the rooster tail turn
um, and being the first raceother than seafair that I
significantly traveled for, thatwas.
I mean, if that's going to beyour introduction to on the road
(25:00):
hydroplane photography, that'sthe place to do it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, I hope I can get that back.
I've never got a chance to gothere, so I'd like to go there
once yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
See a boat race.
My cousin didn't get theopportunity to go there, so I
know it seems like they tryevery year and make a good faith
attempt, so hopefully one ofthese days they'll break through
and uh and get it done yeah, wegot you know, like san diego
too, and there's san diego.
San diego's good.
(25:32):
I haven't been over to theisland in a few years.
Maybe I'll go back there thisnext year.
That's a good place to be inthe morning, but then the
afternoon island.
Yeah, yeah, but in the afternoonyou want to be on the
backstretch because the glareover there is pretty hellacious,
yeah but uh yeah, the weather'salways good.
(25:54):
So I mean san diego, it'salways good, good to end the
year at san diego yeah, it can'tbeat that.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I mean, it's a beautiful city, perfect weather,
almost every year.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Maybe we need to have him get that Hawaii race back.
Yeah, I'd go for that.
Yeah, I could go for that,although I don't know about the,
the how hard it would be torace on a military base these
days versus what they did backin the nineties when they did
both the Pearl Harbor race andthe the Norfolk race.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Right, right, that would be awesome.
It wouldn't be hard to convincethe family to go to Hawaii for
a boat race, all right.
Well, when you take your photos, you always seem have like it's
, it's a given now, like ifthere's a wreck or something
dramatic happens on the racecourse.
(26:50):
Just wait, we're gonna seechris's photos.
He's gonna have some greatphotos and you didn't.
You didn't let us down.
This year you got some greatphotos of gunner o'farrill
flipping and pre-season testing.
Uh, you got some great shots ofvillawauks, flip and
Gunnersville.
How do you always just getgreat shots?
You always seem to be in theright place at the right time.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, I'm the best ambulance chaser apparently.
No, I went through several,several years of not having
those shots.
And when you get right down toit, it you can learn about the
boats and how they behave andlook at the water and make
predictions on.
You know the courses, you knowwhere there are places where
(27:33):
there are speed bumps and theboats are going to hop and
things like that.
And you know all that and havethe best camera settings in the
world.
And there's still a, there'sstill quite a high luck factor
that that uh factors intowhether you're going to get
those shots or not.
Like, for example, on gunnero'farrell's thing, I was
screwing around with my cameraand I missed about half of it.
(27:54):
Oh right, then I.
Then I because I was like, ah,he's not going to blow over,
because it's testing.
Well, yeah, that was not theright thought, but he hung it in
the air long enough that I gota lot of good photos of it.
And also the camera technologyfor autofocus has advanced
(28:19):
significantly in the last fewyears.
Auto focus has advancedsignificantly in the last few
years.
Um can focus a lot faster anduh and hold the focus a lot
better.
Like the the uh vilwak sequence.
There are 98 photos in thatsequence and usually the in a
sequence that long, the camerawill, at some point during it,
(28:41):
see a rooster tail or a splashand briefly focus off topic and
refocus, so you get a few shotsthat are blurred.
None of them were blurred, sothey were all in focus, which
actually doesn't happen in asequence that long.
Yeah, so I mean there's,there's some luck I've I've
missed over the years.
I've gotten some over the years,but that Villalock one's
(29:04):
probably the best one I've evergotten, and the thing about that
one is that you could see itcoming, not necessarily that
there was going to be anaccident, but it was going to be
a pretty hot corner becausefour boats were going to hit it
at the same time, and normallyyou get two or maybe three, but
having four to hit it at thesame time and yeah, and normally
you get two or maybe three, buthaving four hit it that corner
(29:26):
at the same time, it's gonna besomething that's gonna happen.
So I started, started on theshutter when they're starting
the corner and just stayed on ituntil the lock was stuck in the
mud that's Forks down.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, well, it's, uh, it's impressive.
You can always count on you toget those great shots and I
remember for a few years I wouldtry to take photos with it it
was like 20 years ago with acamera and, yeah, the focus back
then wasn't as good as it isnow.
You have to wait.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Wait, okay, got it focused and yeah I had that same
experience before I bought mycamera in 94.
My my parents had bought acamera back in the day and I
tried to use that for a year and, and it's his old, the focus
system on it had this ring, thiscontrol f stop, and the damn
(30:19):
thing wasn't very tight and itwould keep sliding out of place
and screwing things up.
So that was kind of where Idecided that that I was in the
early 90s and I decided that I'dwait until I could buy a better
camera, which is what I did.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
So yeah yeah well, there's got to be some some
people out there in the waterthat you always want to track
because they're going to.
You're going to, you knowyou're going to get some good
photos on that and I'm sure youdon't want to throw anyone under
the bus for that but there areany RC drivers you want to throw
under the bus.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I never see drivers and RC is it's a.
You know, when you talk aboutgetting flips and missing flips,
I miss a lot of flips in rcbecause there's a lot of boats
and the action is compressedinto a smaller course.
I mean the there's scale,eighth scale, but you kind of,
(31:14):
when you do the math, it's kindof like they're doing a scale
speed of about 300 miles an hour.
Yeah, yeah, well, it's just.
I mean you're going back andforth with your head on on a
swivel and you know some boatswill, uh are more flighty and
more tend to blow over, like,say, jim white's atlas blue
(31:34):
blaster, for example.
Right, I mean it's a beautifulboat.
It carves up the water like areal Unlimited when it goes into
the corners Big, big skid finspray, but it also tends to go
over a lot too.
Yeah yeah, but I mean Unlimited.
You always want to keep youreye on J Michael Kelly, not
(31:58):
because he's going to have anaccident, but the way he flies
the boat.
He really takes it to the edgeto get the speed out of it.
It's pretty impressive how hecan float a boat down the whole
front straightaway.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, he's good at turning a three-point into a
one-point, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, exactly Trying to experiment with a new class
of hydroplane.
Let's just not go to zero point.
Mike.
Stay with three point.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Well, something that you've accomplished that not
really many of us have at all.
You have a photo.
It's currently in theSmithsonian Museum, part of an
exhibit about racing in America.
How in the world did you get aphoto input into the museum?
Did you sneak in there and justdrop it off?
(32:50):
How did this happen?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Well, if James Crisp was telling the story, that's
what he'd say.
But some sort of missionimpossible, you know type
operation is.
It was a.
It was really a long andpercolating thing and I had to
go back and look at the emailchain and find the emails from
it.
I recently looked at them andit started with ironically, it
(33:18):
started with I guess Dan Colesent a photo to James Crisp
asking if it was his, and itturned out.
Crisp sent it to me.
Turned out it was one of mine.
It was one I had shot off.
The Madison used to have astart-finish boat in the infield
at the start-finish line andone year I got to go out and
(33:38):
shoot photos from that 2010.
And it was a part of a sequenceI'd shot from that boat in 2010
.
So I replied back to Dan andthen somebody from the Visit
Madison Inc got in touch with meabout the Smithsonian or
something.
I had a request for this photofor this exhibit they were
(33:58):
planning on doing and could Ihave it in such and such
resolution and sign the photorelease.
And so this was 2018.
Okay, I put the photo out on myGoogle Drive and signed the
release and and I didn't thinkanything really much of it and I
think, uh, I think when Ichecked on it it was supposed
(34:20):
open.
The exhibit was supposed toopen in 2022 or something like
that, so it was a ways off so Ididn't really give it much mind
Around the time the exhibitopened up.
I checked again on theSmithsonian's website and they
had something about the exhibitbut there weren't any really any
pictures of what was in it, soI didn't know if it was in there
(34:41):
or not.
So I didn't say anything aboutit then and didn't really think
about it again for a while.
And more recently I checked inagain on a lark and found that
they had much more pictures ofwhat was in the exhibit and
(35:02):
found the photo that I could see, the photo in the exhibit.
And they have like a virtualtour you can do on the web.
Now you can walk through theexhibit, you can see where it is
, and I had a couple of myfriends who had actually been to
the exhibit and had seen itconfirmed it to me too.
So that's cool.
(35:23):
There hasn't been many much.
There hasn't been a whole lotof unlimited hydroplane stuff in
the Smithsonian.
The 82 Atlas or the 79 Atlaswas there for a while.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Right, yeah, there's not.
Yeah, not much representation,but but now they have your photo
.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, as long as this exhibit runs, it'll be there,
so but yeah, it's pretty, prettycool.
I never thought that would bethe you know end result of what
I do, but yeah, yeah, I meanthat's got to feel.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Feel great to know that you know you're
contributing to the sport inyour way and you got a piece in
the Smithsonian exhibit andthere's a link that has a
virtual tour of it.
I'm going to put that in thebio below so listeners can go in
and view that it's got a nicedisplay next to air racing and
car racing.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
It's got a few hydro buttons there.
Yeah, that's why I do what I do.
I can contribute something tothe furtherance of the sport.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
That has been besides taxes, has been one of the big
things that's been involved inshaping my life basically, yeah
well yeah, there's no doubtyou've made a big contribution
to the sport with all the photosthat you've taken and with the
(36:51):
our digital age now and how fastwe can get the consumption of
it, it's uh pretty amazing.
But out of your hundreds ofthousands of photos, I'm sure
you spent a lot of time when Iasked you this but to go through
them all.
Do you have a favorite photoout of everything that you've
taken over the years?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's a difficult question because, like you said,
there are a lot of photos, butI think if I were to choose one,
it would be a.
There was a photo I took ofSteve David and let's see, it
was in 2008 at San Diego andhe'd come in from the heat where
(37:33):
they'd clinched the boat titleand the driver title and Steve
had won the driver title before,but this is the first time that
addison had won the the boatand the driver title in in their
their big runs when they hadthat, got that new boat and uh,
so he's up on the cockpitcelebrating and and owen blauman
(37:58):
had been with the team and hehad this confetti cannon and
they shot this confetti cannonand there's a big cloud of
confetti and Steve's celebratingand the confetti's kind of
behind him and it just kind ofcaptured the thrill of that
moment.
And next year it ended up onthe side of the H1 truck.
(38:20):
Next year it ended up on theside of the h1 truck.
So, oh, I would, I wouldprobably say got a lot of good
photos of steve celebrating winsover the years, but that was
probably the best one yeah, Irecall seeing that photo.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Now it's.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
That was a magical photo with the, the confetti
around and, yeah, pretty coolI'm surprised they got away with
that because they're soenvironmentally uptight and san
diego's like can't you know,can't like have your water go
back in the, in the, in the bay,and right all that.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I don't know if the confetti was biodegradable or
not, but well, I'm I'm sure itwas all permit approved and
everything beforehand right.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Well, obviously they never do something against that
permit.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
All right.
Well, do you have any?
I know there's a lot of amateurphotographers out there that do
their best to get photos of theraces.
Do you have any tips for them?
Maybe better spots or settingsor anything you can, any tips
you can give those fans outthere?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
You're looking at getting an SLR camera, it's
better to spend your money on areally good lens to start with
than a really good body, becausethe lens will last you for
several camera bodies with goodglass.
No substitute for good glass.
(39:50):
Just uh, look online and seewhat other people are doing, and
usually you can.
Depending on how they postedtheir photos, you can drill into
the photo settings that are inthe image and see how they, how
they have their cameras at, andand uh, that's could be
(40:12):
instructive.
I know I peep on other photosfrom other photographers
sometimes just see what settingsthey're running.
But uh, we're pretty muchalways all just running a high
shutter speed and, uh, keep theiso as low as you can for the
lighting conditions, but don'tbe afraid to move it up, because
(40:33):
these days the noise isn'treally a factor anymore and
there's plenty of softwarethat'll take out any noise if
you have to shoot at a high isobecause it's cloudy or something
.
So it's about really all I canthink of ask, ask people if you
see them.
I've had several people ask mequestions and I'm happy to
(40:57):
answer them.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
So all right.
Well, some good tips there, butone last question I want to ask
you before you go, being anative tricity, tricityan, try,
what do you call yourselves overthere?
Try, 509ers I think, okay,right, being a 509er at the
(41:19):
columbia cup, what's yourfavorite spot to go and take
photos on the river?
I know you know you can get agood view outside of the pits,
but there's got to be a spotthat you like to go to.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I go to several spots and I like catching them coming
out of a turn.
A lot of times something canhappen in the turn.
I don't get over there enough,but shooting from the levee on
(41:48):
the Pasco side is because thatturn usually gets really, really
snotty when you get about fourboats going through it.
I don't get over there on raceday but that's a good place to
shoot from.
Uh, really anywhere down the,down the either front or back
stretch, there really isn't abad spot to shoot from because
(42:11):
you can see see everything fromuh from the whole course.
So there are no obstructionsbut uh, so no real favorites.
But I kind of have a plan eachyear and it's been kind of
foiled the last couple yearswhen we had the depth problem
(42:31):
last year and the pond weedproblem the year before, where
we didn't do anything on friday.
But yeah like go to the levee orgo to the pasco side on friday
and shoot the second turn exiton saturday and sunday.
I usually shoot from a man liftand start finish line.
(42:53):
So awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Well, I'm sure you'll get some great shots this year.
I'm looking forward to seeingwhat you produce.
I already had some great shotsearlier from Guntersville and
Madison, and I know they'll keepon producing more great photos.
Thanks for all you do, chris.
Well, thanks, david.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Thanks for what you do too.
You've turned this BrewsterTale talk into kind of an
institution.
It's really neat.
All right, well, thank you,thank you.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Well, that's all the time we have for this week.
Knuckleheads, hope you enjoyedmy talk with chris denslow, as
we got to learn a little bitmore about chris, what he's gone
through to become an officialh1 photographer for the sport
and how he has just reallypreserved a lot of the history
of the sport through photography.
If you haven't checked out hiswebsite on SmugBug, check the
bio below.
I've got a link and you canspend hours upon hours looking
(43:51):
through all of his thousands andthousands of photos.
He's really done a great job ofpreserving the history of the
sport.
So really, thanks goes to Chrisfor covering that side of the
sport.
So really, thanks goes to Chrisfor covering that side of the
sport.
Well, I've got some greatinterviews I have conducted at
the Columbia Cup and Seafair.
I've got some great interviewsfor months to come.
(44:11):
Some new episodes will becoming out soon on our same time
on every Tuesday, but untilthen, check us out online at our
website, roostertaltalkcom.
As well on social media, we'reon Facebook and Instagram, and
if you haven't checked outRooster Tail Talk Plus yet, you
still have a chance to become amember and get one of the
(44:33):
collectible trading card sets.
You can see a link in the biobelow, or it's on our website at
bruchertiltalkcom as well.
Well, listeners, I guess that'sall I have today, so until next
time.
I hope to see you at the races.
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