Scanned-in color slide. Taken at my spot on the press box roof. Kentucky Oaks Day 1983/Photo by Rhonda Lane
In earlier posts in this series, we’ve talked about how I got my spot to watch the race and how the day up until The Big Event went.
Because I had to arrive at the track with the TV crew, I had already been at Churchill Downs 11 hours before the last race prior to the Derby crossed the finish line.
That was when it was time to go up to the press box roof, about 4 pm, to stake my claim to a spot on the rail – and not move until after I saw roses draped on a horse.
The photo at the left shows you where I stood. I took that photo on Oaks Day, the day before the Derby. That year, on Oaks Day, the sky was blue, the sun warm and the track fast.
To my left, you can see the camera position below me. Yes, at that moment, it was unattended. No one other than the crew could get up to the position due to security plus, back then, the undercard to the Oaks didn’t get any TV coverage.
The above photo doesn’t do the 35mm slide justice. I shot that with a Nikon FM with a, for this particular shot, a 35-85mm zoom lens on Kodachrome film.
Little did I know back then that I’d want to “scan” the slide into my computer’s memory so that I could insert the image onto a “weblog” that could be seen by anyone in the world. That would have been “crazy talk” back then.
BTW, if you know how to scan in slides, please let me know in the comments/reply section below because I’ve got a ka-jillion slides I’d like to use for this blog – but can’t.
You'll just have to take my word for it. Those round things are umbrellas down below the press box.
So, if you think the scanned in version of the sunny day slide looks awful, you should see what I took on Derby Day under a slate gray sky. (see right)
The day was so overcast that here’s a photo of the field of umbrellas below my little nest on top the press box. Keep in mind that the slide shows a red umbrella in there.
Yeah. Really. If you know how to scan in slides? Please. Leave a comment/reply below.
But no one is reading this story to hear about how lousy my photos scanned in <cough>ty-five years later. Or how showing up when I did was good because the crowd filled in around me, especially some staffers from a then-fledgling cable news network. What you want to read in this story is the good stuff.
Like this –
The roar of the crowd
When the Derby horses emerged from under the grandstand, the cheers from the 120,000+ in attendance sounded like the roar of a victorious beast. The volume didn’t just rise but swelled. The press box roof under my feet shook. Shivers raised gooseflesh up from my skin that came not from the chilly rain.
Supposedly, the Cheltenham roar is legendary, but I can’t imagine anything more primal and triumphant than that cheer from that Derby crowd who’d been waiting for that very moment all day long in a bone-chilling rain.
I’m not reaching for the low-hanging hyperbole when I say that I thought of the ancient Roman arena on Gladiator Day. Had I been a horse, a prey animal, I would have been afraid. As it is, I will never forget it.
I just wish I had a .wav file that would do it justice. But I know that Sensaround wouldn’t do it justice.
Anyway, to give you an idea of how the 1983 Derby went, turn down the air-conditioning to low or open your windows. Then, stand under the mist of your shower on “cold” for about ten minutes.
Now, watch this video (I included the link in case you can’t see the embedded version):
Here’s the order of finish for that day.
I took photos, but they turned out lousy, especially scanned from the original slide. (You’ll see.) Natural light, overcast day, fast-action, hand-held long lens (even braced on railing.) Ugh.
Yes, really. The 1983 Kentucky Derby Winner's Circle. See the white tower?
I stayed for the presentation and then went back down to the trucks to watch the soaked crowd leave.
Remember which horse I bet? Slew O’Gold, $5 to Win. He came in fourth. Betting him to Show wouldn’t have mattered.
I stayed upstairs until the crowd dispersed from the winner’s circle. after Sunny’s Halo (yes, he was the closest thing to “sun” we saw all day) had been led back to his stall.
Since I was part of the TV crew who tore down their equipment that day, we didn’t leave the track until 10 pm.
That’s right – we were there from 5 am to 10 pm. We didn’t leave to go to supper until most Derby spectators were home sleeping off their mint juleps.
Changes since then
This race was run before the turf track was added. Also, my vantage point at the top of the press box is gone, after the Churchill Downs renovations that opened in 2005.
Anyway, my plan is to get my Derby slides scanned in – because I was so certain that I could do it myself – then add them later.
So, what are you doing for Derby? 
Feel free to leave a comment or reply in the box form below.
As for me, I’ll be cozy with my screen TV this year.
In case you missed them, here are the other two posts in this series
Tags: 1983 Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby memories
April 30th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Never have seen the Derby except on TV. I did my basic training at Ft. Knox but never saw Churchill Downs. I really enjoyed hearing about your experience.
April 30th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I’m glad you enjoyed hearing about my big day.
Frankly, there’s a lot of good to be said for watching the race on TV. Thanks for stopping by.
May 1st, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Thanks for another great issue – I really look forward to your updates!
Re: scanning slides – in the verrryyy old days (ok maybe not so old, we were still doing this about 5 yrs. ago), prior to high res digital cameras, we used slides of our rides for printing our advertisements and other collateral material. We would take them to a local photo shop and have them converted onto disk in both a hi and low res version – so we could use them for print and also for web use.
FWIW, we would sit for hours (you know very well how many shots you take in order to get one good one!) hovering over the lightboard and selecting the ones we wanted. BUT, we ended up with superb shots some of which we still use.
I did see, however, that there are now machines you can buy (and they don’t seem too expensive) that allow you to convert your own. I’ll look to see if I saved any of their info and if so, I’ll pass it along.
Good luck.
Looking forward to your next email
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:13 am
Thanks, Stacy. I take pictures like that, too. Shoot and shoot and shoot – for at least one good one.
The “good news” in all this is that, of all the slides I took, I’ll only want to convert a few of them. Thanks for letting me know, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the posts. Thank you!
May 21st, 2010 at 10:13 am
Rhonda,
Thanks for taking me inside the Derby! I’ll admit it, growing up and even into college I thought many things about this event, none of them flattering. Pompous, outdated, for Southerners only, etc.
Since then I’ve moved to the south (and grown up considerably.) I’ve learned to look beneath the surface of things but equally important, I’ve begun to realize that if a lot of people like a certain thing, there’s probably some merit to it.
I’ve never been to the derby and like the previous commentor I’ve only seen it on TV, this year from Charleston with the world’s worst mint julep in hand. But now I realize that somethings need to be experienced to be understood. The Derby’s on my bucket list now!
May 21st, 2010 at 10:33 am
Isn’t it great when we learn to re-examine our perspectives? Let alone realizing that an image we’ve long-held might not be all that’s there.
When you do go to the Derby, Ted, you’ll have a Lifetime Experience, no matter the weather or what else happens on that day.
Or when you realize that CD uses cheap bourbon in their mint juleps and that the first one should taste better.
Keep tasting, though. I’ve heard that the taste improves with subsequent sips. And that the second one tastes wonderful.
Anyway, thank you for stopping by and commenting. Ya know … it’s not too soon to plan and/or save your money for Derby 2011. Or 2012.