So, looking forward to warmer times (probably something to do with to the high-of-20-degree days we've been having around here lately), I decided to post up links to a few of the local favorite MTB races coming up this spring. I hope to shoot all of these, but I'm sure conflicts will arise.
Leesburg Bakers Dozen Saturday, April 19, 2008
Greenbrier Challenge Mountain Bike Race April 27, 2008
12 Hours of Lodi May 3-4, 2008
12 Hours of Cranky Monkey Saturday, June 28, 2008 Quantico Marine Corps Base
Cranky Monkey Series
* Race #1 - 7/27/08 - Wakefield Park - Annandale, VA
* Race #2 - 8/10/08 - Fountainhead Regional Park- Fairfax Station, VA
* Race #3 - 8/24/08 - Quantico Marine Corps Base - Quantico, VA
Wednesdays at Wakefield series (hopefully details coming soon). The nice woman who's now running the PVC website contacted me the other day asking to use some of my photos on the site. So look for some of my shots of PVC racers on display when the revamp is complete.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Blowing the dust off...
I know. Been mighty quiet around these parts, hasn't it?
Winter is light on MTB races, and heavy on cyclocross races. While 'cross racing seems like a fine sport, it isn't my favorite. I imagine shooting it would be cool enough, but it's much harder for me to motivate to get out to a 'cross race. Ergo no cross photos = no bike photos (not counting drunken personal road cycling outings with friends) = no bike-blog posts. Sorry racefans.
An email from the woman re-vamping the Potomac Velo web page prompted me to invest a little time in this dormant blog. Seems she's going to be revamping their site and asked to make use of a few of my 2007 race photos. Which is cool with me.
I revamped the list of photo galleries on the left side of this page. Listing all the races I've shot in reverse chronological order, instead of just pointing a single link over to my Pbase site and making you wade through the galleries yourselves.
Look for another post in the next day or two. After that...who knows? Spring can't come fast enough as far as I'm concerned.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Dirt Crit
Last Sunday saw the Dirt Crit edition of the Cranky Monkey race series. As usual, I was out there TooFatToRace stylie, sitting on my butt in the weeds, camera in hand, sweat oozing from... well, it was pretty hot.
For those who want to cut to the chase...the photos are here. Broken down by race start time. 8am, 10am and 12pm.
The nice thing about the Crit format is that the course is relatively short, so the riders do a bunch of laps. Therefore, I had lots of opportunities to shoot each rider.
Shooting race after race at the same park (this is the...um...4th one this season, I think) leads to a lot of similar looking photos. Trying to find a different angle, I spent a good deal of time under the cover of the trees this week. I was shooting at a fairly large log crossing. I strategically positioned myself so I'd be able to catch the hotdogs flying/jumping...
or running over it:
...and also get the more conservative riders who went around it
The results were pretty good (IMNSF*ingHO).
I was also using my new flash mod, with my homemade battery pack mated to my high-tech Sigma flash (as opposed to my old low-tech Vivitar flash). That worked out pretty well, but the Sigma flash did crash on me a few times. This has happened in the past and was supposedly remedied by me sending the unit back to Sigma for reconditioning. Apparently, it needs some re-reconditioning.
Here's one of the shots where my Sigma let me down. My buddy JoeP showing off his mad nose-wheelie skillz:
And here he is again on the next lap, when my flash was behaving itself (but the photographer couldn't keep the subject in the friggin' viewfinder). Apparently, that nose-wheelie thing is intentional:
To end on a photography note: I'm beginning to wonder if the Canon 24-70mm lens wouldn't be a wise investment. The Sigma 24-70mm lens that I use seems to take a couple of seconds before focus-locking on the target. The Canon lens has internal motors which should alleviate this. Maybe I'll just rent the Canon for a test-drive before dropping the cash on a purchase.
For those who want to cut to the chase...the photos are here. Broken down by race start time. 8am, 10am and 12pm.
The nice thing about the Crit format is that the course is relatively short, so the riders do a bunch of laps. Therefore, I had lots of opportunities to shoot each rider.
Shooting race after race at the same park (this is the...um...4th one this season, I think) leads to a lot of similar looking photos. Trying to find a different angle, I spent a good deal of time under the cover of the trees this week. I was shooting at a fairly large log crossing. I strategically positioned myself so I'd be able to catch the hotdogs flying/jumping...
or running over it:
...and also get the more conservative riders who went around it
The results were pretty good (IMNSF*ingHO).
I was also using my new flash mod, with my homemade battery pack mated to my high-tech Sigma flash (as opposed to my old low-tech Vivitar flash). That worked out pretty well, but the Sigma flash did crash on me a few times. This has happened in the past and was supposedly remedied by me sending the unit back to Sigma for reconditioning. Apparently, it needs some re-reconditioning.
Here's one of the shots where my Sigma let me down. My buddy JoeP showing off his mad nose-wheelie skillz:
And here he is again on the next lap, when my flash was behaving itself (but the photographer couldn't keep the subject in the friggin' viewfinder). Apparently, that nose-wheelie thing is intentional:
To end on a photography note: I'm beginning to wonder if the Canon 24-70mm lens wouldn't be a wise investment. The Sigma 24-70mm lens that I use seems to take a couple of seconds before focus-locking on the target. The Canon lens has internal motors which should alleviate this. Maybe I'll just rent the Canon for a test-drive before dropping the cash on a purchase.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pimping a friend
My buddy Ben has posted his photos from the third W@W race. See them in all their glory at his gallery. Cool stuff!
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