It was a dog week. Out early, home late and just taking pictures in between. Lots of wind, cold water, often fog. The team, JP Morgan BAR, is new and competing here for the first time. Skipper Ben Ainslie has been the most successful dinghy sailor at the Olympic Games for a few weeks now, with one silver and four gold medals to his name. Endless publicity hype. Expectations are high, as is the pressure. You can tell, and not just on him. Pure stress and hectic. Hundreds of questions, hundreds of decisions and no time to think long and hard. Who goes on board, who goes in the dinghy? When can pictures be taken in the water? Who will look after guests and sponsors? On the final day, the famous American sprinter Michael Johnson is there. He's never been on a sailing boat before and is due to join Ainslie for a lap. Just for the cameras, of course.
After work is a foreign word. You sit in the media centre until long after midnight, sorting, editing and uploading images. Sleep is in short supply, the diet consists largely of junk food and coffee. And even a slight fever can't be allowed to get the better of you. Nevertheless, for Edney it's the greatest job, a mixture of creativity, adrenaline and the art of waiting for the right moment. No two days are the same, even if the nights in between are always too short. But everyone is in the same boat and the yacht photographer corps is very helpful. So it can't be the fault that there are so few women in this job. Miss Edney wants to change that. You can find more of her work on her website www.edneyap.com.
