Photographer Loren Morrissey is looking forward to the final races of the Key West World Championship in Florida on Sunday for good reason.

The Bermudian will be among the aerial camera team on one of the helicopters hovering just above the powerboats as they skip across the water at high speed, and he is grateful to have the wonderful opportunity to perform his duties at this level.

“I am glad I had the opportunity to do something like this,” Morrissey told The Royal Gazette.

“When you're up in the helicopter you get to follow the boats and see the racing from a different perspective. It’s amazing and lots of fun.”

The 61-year-old said capturing images of the high-speed boats while moving just as fast is no easy feat.

“You have to remember when you're in a helicopter that you're always moving, whereas on land you're trying to make sure you're on firm ground and holding the camera as still as you can so you don’t get any motion shake,” he said.

“Just by me putting the camera outside the door you have the wind, so when I first started I had to get used to that because the wind blowing the lens started to adjust my grip. Once I was able to get that technique down I was able to take some pretty good pictures.

“Sometimes I like to show a little motion in the picture whereas you can see the glare of the subject if it’s moving, so I don't like to shoot at a real high speed. But sometimes I like to try to get as much motion as possible, which helps to define the picture a little bit. It's all about positioning my body and just trying to get the best that I can.”

“Sometimes we're flying maybe 15 to 20 feet off the water and obviously you can't be too close to the boat because of the prop wash from the rotor of the helicopter.

“You don’t want that to interfere with the boat as the wind could affect the handling of the boat, so sometimes we’re maybe 40-50ft beside the boats and flying 20ft above the water.

“Sometimes the guys have given me the thumbs up and I'm shooting through the windshield taking pictures of them.”

Morrissey is fortunate to have avoided being involved in a crash in a helicopter he had been assigned to in 2019.

“We were going to do a photoshoot for one of the powerboat manufacturers and I was in this helicopter for three days taking pictures. I was supposed to be on it the day when it went down,” he said.

“It was flying just above the water when it went down and luckily everyone survived.”

Morrissey’s work has taken him around the globe at events in North America and the Middle East.

“I've done quite a few Key West races and travelled to New York, New Jersey, Florida, Cocoa Beach, Miami, Clearwater, Qatar and Dubai,” he said.

“I was also invited to go to Qatar to take pictures for the Prince of Qatar. They put on a race there around 2015 and then the next year I was invited to do a race in Dubai.”

Morrissey has also provided his services for racing teams such as Geico and even had the opportunity to experience being in a boat travelling along at breathtaking speed.

“Luckily I’ve had the chance of running in a boat over 170mph, which was an experience to run that speed,” he said.

“At that speed you’re going almost a football field per second and everything comes to you so fast.

“I have been around boats from a very young age and even when I'm back home if I hear a boat out in the Great Sound I run outside just to see who it is.

“Boats are just in my blood and I've had the chance to really enjoy myself in boating.”