Photographer Sharon Green joins us on the SDYC Sailcast to talk about how she got started in photography, her path to success and adventures she’s been on for the perfect photos.
Sharon grew up sailing on Lake Ontario and admired photography in high school where she would work on black and white photos in the dark room, she explained. From there, she continued her photography at Banff Art School. She began taking photos of Evergreen, and talks about how the builders of the boar wanted to buy the poster - completing her first sale.
From there, Sharon explains how Lowell North asked her to process photos, and she goes into detail on her experiences with Evergreen, including the Canada’s Cup. After seeing success, she decided to start her own business.
Sharon explains to host Alli Bell her preferred weather and some of her favorite techniques before moving on to her schedule before Covid. Now, Sharon is going through old photos and trying to pull content from previous regattas including the 12-Metre Worlds, throw-back Thursdays and Transom Tuesdays.
She moves on to tell Alli about some of her best moments in her career, including the 12-Metre, America’s Cups, Kenwood Cup, Hawaii, Big Boat Series, Maxi Series, and “anything in Miami or Key West.”
“My colleagues used to call me the downwind photographer, or the chocolate box photographer, because I would go to San Francisco and shoot downwind with beautiful colored spinnakers.”
“It goes with lots of color in the sails, the color of the water, and big events,” she explains in her shooting preferences.
Sharon then talks about Transpac, telling stories of moments in helicopters, weather and snuggles in getting the perfect shot.
“Its one thing to get the boats at the start and follow the boats out…but the hard thing is intercepting the boats on the other end,” she explains. “You have to finish in the daylight if you want your photo taken,” she jokes.
She explains she does aerial, the team involved, the hours and work that goes into Transpac.
The episode finishes with Sharon giving advice for those who are looking to do similar things as she has.
The 2021 Sailing calendar is in production you can find it at ultimatesailing.com.