Back in the action.

This past Sunday marked my return to the cycling scene, in a way... Normally I'd be racing, as I have been for most of the past 23 years, but this time I was behind the camera. I love mountain biking and it is a huge part of who I am, but right at this moment I'm having more fun taking photos of it than racing. The bike biz is something that I've made a living at for some time now and combined with racing or training on weekends, it is hard to find time away from. So I guess I'm giving myself a breather from being so serious about cycling. I love it but I have found there is more to life (for me any way...).

It was great to see familiar faces at our Everti Cobble Hill Classic mtb race, which is part of the Vancouver Island Cup race series. Everyone was having a great time and the course conditions were excellent. My brother, Kevin, has pretty much made this event his baby and really did a great job of pulling it together with help from a list of reliable volunteers from our cycling club who are there year, after year.

I was having fun in under the cover of huge cedar trees catching shots of riders as they flew past. For the most part, I was experimenting with and external, remote flash, which one needs in low light to freeze the action in sports shots (photo above).

Freezing the action is fine, as you get to see all the detail of the subject, but I usually like a bit (or a lot!) of motion blur to convey the sense of movement and speed (That's what the sport is all about!). To do this you forgo using a flash, set the camera shutter speed really low and either pan along with the subject (second photo from the top) and blur the background or you hold the camera steady and let the subject blur (photo above).

At any rate, I think it's good to be able to do everything as you never know when you might get a client who asks for a certain type of shot and you had better be able to do it! So practice everything...

Thanks to all my friends who came out to make this such a great event!