Wet!

I spent an enjoyable morning, with some other photographers from our club, at the Lea Valley White Water Centre - home of the London 2012 Olympics canoe slaloms.

I have seen many photographs taken here, but it is the first time I have visited myself (daft considering how close it is to my home). I found it a very impressive facility, and the ability to visit free of charge to watch whatever activities are going on is quite a bonus.

Those on the water today appeared to be mainly relative beginners - or at least far from Olympic standard. The photograph I have chosen to blip today shows one such lad, who was practising paddling across the (considerable) flow of water. I'm not sure that shutting his eyes would help him if he was trying to navigate the gates.

I was keen to try and get photographs which excluded the concrete walls of the water channel. I have seen these in so many pictures of paddlers at this location, and I have always found them an unattractive background. However, as I discovered, if you are near to water level - which generally gives the best angle from which to photograph - they are difficult to avoid. But I did manage to exclude them in this shot.

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