A few weeks ago, I tried a panoramic shot at the Saratoga Race Course (the “thoroughbred” track), and got a nice double image of some fast-galloping horses superimposed upon the panoramic home stretch. This photo, to be precise.
Trust me, this is good enough. But I can’t settle for “good enough.”
So back I go. This time, to the Saratoga Harness track, where I’ll have three good chances to snag a prime shot to recreate this image.
I packed my Pentacon Six TL camera with Kodak T-Max 400 film, and added a yellow filter to the Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 80mm f/2.8 lens. First comes the panoramic shot. From my vantage point, I can get the clubhouse turn, the homestretch, the scoreboard, the finish line AND the winner’s circle. And that would be an INCREDIBLE panorama.
Kinda looks something like this. Here’s one of the photos from the T-Max film.
Okay. Good. That yellow filter made the clouds pop. Just what yellow filters on B&W film should do.
Now we add a pack of Kodak Portra 800 film to the Pentacon, and crank up the shutter speed to 1/500 of a second. Oh yeah, and take the yellow filter off the lens. I don’t need all my color photos looking like a jaundice outbreak.
The race I photographed featured a horse named Virgin Honor, who won at nearly 3-1 odds. I captured the start of the race – where the horses line up with a moving starting gate. I then captured Virgin Honor as he crossed the finish line in front of me. And then, just for added luck, I caught Virgin Honor at the winner’s circle.
All shot at a Dutch angle with the Portra film.
Assembled … aligned … and I got this.
Wowie kazowie. This totally slaps.
I’m going to keep this photo in the short pile for Competition Season 2026. I just don’t know where it will go – there’s no panorama category for the New York State Fair or for the Big E – but I may have an idea of where it can land.
Yeah. I kinda like when things turn out like this.
Big time.
Chuck The Writer 
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