Behind the cover shoot: How Connect captured the Intrepid rowers

Saturday 08 July 2023

On a drizzly Friday afternoon in mid-June, photographer Dave Ferguson and I head down to the RNLI station at Albert Pier.

The photo shoot for the cover feature of July's edition of Connect has been in jeopardy all day due to island weather – namely, those clouds which linger and linger on the horizon without ever quite breaking up – but at 15:00, we get the thumbs-up.

We've already pushed back the shoot several times this week due to persistent northerly winds, so it's now or never.

At the dock, we meet our trusty drone photographer Marc Le Cornu of BAM Perspectives, and of course, Intrepid232 themselves – Julie Brady, Helene Monpetit, Alison Smithurst and Rosemary Satchwell, some of whom are fresh from their full-time jobs, kitted and ready for a row.

In December this year, this incredible crew of four Jersey mums will be taking on 'The World's Toughest Row': a 3,000-mile marathon across the Atlantic from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua.

With two-and-a-half years of preparation behind them, they're now in the final stages of clocking training hours in their ocean rowing boat and securing funding to get them to that start line.

The photo shoot, naturally, doubles for a bit of extra training.

We can see the boat floating on the pontoon – the Rannoch RX45 – which Rosemary says looks like a "toy boat". It's tough to believe that it will take them across the Atlantic, where they'll tackle 30ft waves.

Meanwhile, Dave is prepping for the shoot and getting his equipment in order.

Pictured: Photographer Dave Ferguson with camera in water housing, towel, wet suit, en route to the dock.

What equipment does he use?

"I use a Nikon D5 with a Nikon 24-70 mm F 2.8 zoom and a Nikon 70-200mm F 2.8E zoom for the dry shots on the boat," he explained. "Then, a Nikon D 810 coupled with a Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 inside a custom-built SPL water housing (built in San Diego)."

There's a bit of fiddling around with the water housing, and Dave has to improvise with rubber bands, but eventually it's set.

Dave says: "There's no real challenges with the shoot, as it's best to be prepared before going to sea with expensive equipment. Conditions are good, with no significant swell."

The only slight concern is the threat of lightning, he adds.

"It's handy to keep up to date on the weather radar" – which we do, and there are a fair few splotches of rain on their way toward us.

Marc has fired up the drone by now, as we realise there's no time to waste.

Pictured: Marc Le Cornu of BAM Perspectives gets the drone fired up while Inrepid232 gets sorted in the background.

Marc says: "To capture the aerial shots, I use the DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone, my newest drone with a great zoom capability which helps get a few different perspectives."

As we get the all clear, with lifejackets on and Intrepid232 beginning their strokes, we head out of the harbour into the calm water behind Elizabeth Castle.

Pictured: Dave gets the first shots as we head out of the harbour.

The radar tells us that we're due a shower within the next few minutes – a shower that will last for the next hour, and from the look of those clouds, I can believe it.

"The main challenge with this shoot is the weather!" Marc says.

The intermittent drizzle means that he can't make use of all the available time and therefore he's limited to the dry spells between the showers.

"The drone is not waterproof and water can enter the electronics of the drone, so I won't operate my drones in wet weather."

Pictured: It's all up in the air as the drone gets going, with rain incoming.

But being the intrepid islanders we are, the odd spot of drizzle fails to put us off getting some spectacular shots and we become rather remarkable drizzle-dodgers – Marc especially.

We had a few breaks in the rain which enable him to fly and capture the imagery needed.

Marc explains how he managed to get them: "With drone shots, it is often difficult to fully plan them beforehand as you don't see all the angles until the drone is in the air and your subject is in position.

"I generally have a plan for the type of shots that I am looking for, but I will always see additional shots and angles that are only visible once the drone is operating.

"The zoom function on this drone really helps to give a nice compressed look to some of the shots and the background is really important for these type of shots."

Pictured: Dave pushes the limits to get 'The Shot'.

With some fairly good cover achieved by now, it's time for Dave to suit up and get in the water – wetsuit, flippers, and camera in its custom-built water housing, we dump him somewhere in the middle of St. Aubin's Bay.

The only difficulty of the whole shoot, Dave said, "was to get the rowers to row over me without them hitting me".

Pictured: Dave in the water, trying to avoid getting hit by oars.

After fishing Dave out of the water, we decide that we've got enough to head home and dry off.

The drone is still mid-air though, so now for Marc's party trick: "The additional challenges are taking off and landing from the boat. Hand launching and catching the drone from a small boat in choppy water can be a challenge, but thankfully I have developed a few techniques over the years to ensure the process is as smooth as possible."

Video: Marc catches his drone.

"I love jobs that challenge me both practically and creatively," Marc adds.

"Operating drones from boats and capturing high-speed action, whether that be sports events or individuals in action are always great fun and I always get excited to view the images once safely back on shore!"

Dave is similarly enthusiastic: "To be a photojournalist you constantly have to push yourself, sometimes to the extreme, in order to get 'The Shot'. Experience goes a long way, and I'm quite used to operating in all types of weather conditions and environments."

"As a surfer, my happiest place is in the sea, and past assignments have taken me to the Communist breakdown in Eastern Europe during the early 90s, Tiger Shark tagging in Hawaii, Ethiopia covering the famine, and more recently the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan/Lebanon and the Ukranian refugee crisis at the outbreak of Russia's invasion on Ukraine. There's never a dull moment."

Pictured: "To be a photojournalist you constantly have to push yourself, sometimes to the extreme, in order to get 'The Shot'."

Our afternoon was certainly not dull.

Despite the weather – and perhaps because of that gloomy backdrop – Dave and Marc achieve the stunning cover shot for July's edition of Connect, plus the spreads inside.

And Intrepid232 have clocked another two hours of training, which gets them closer to that 150-hour target they have to hit by December...

READ MORE...

The full interview and pictures can be found in this month's edition of Connect...