Race photography comes at us these days with such hyper-real clarity, and amazing color that, at times, it can be a little overwhelming.  And this is coming from a photographer that LOVES to make life look hyper-real.  Long gone is the simplicity of the black and white image in bike racing.  The colors jump off the page and the rider’s eyes burn holes through the screen with fierce intensity rarely seen.  These images work.  They are beautiful and portray the venues beautifully.

But, there is still something to be said for a solid black and white image.  It has no color…only tonal range.  In reality, this is the way the image is first seen.  Either on film or through a digital processor, the camera sees only tonal ranges.  The range of light runs the gamut from intense white to absolute black.  Within each extreme there is no detail, no information.  But, if a photographer can create and image that spans the entire length of the tonal histogram (from absolute white to absolute black) and catch all of the tones in between a beautiful picture can be had.

This last weekend, I shot a race on the eastern plains of Colorado.  It started in a town famous for the world’s first rodeo.  Realistically not much has probably happened there since.  Granted, they do have a great rodeo every year.  In any case, the race started in Deer Trail  Colorado and ventured into the plains to the east of town.  The race flyer warned of high winds and high heat.  Not a great combo.  Mix those two elements in with rolling hills, no trees and a bunch of fallow wheat fields and the photography turns to be fairly monochromatic.  What a great opportunity to shoot in black and white.  In reality it was a relief.  Normally I am shooting with mounds of extra light.  I will remotely trigger one or even two speedlights and drop the exposure of the back ground down a bit.  But this day was different.  Nothing but me and my camera.  Just the landscape and a mind that was thinking in terms of tones instead of color.

Life becomes very simple when a photographer thinks this way.  Color is washed out.  All that remains are shades of gray, and values of light and dark.  Contrast creates the drama in the photo.  There are no blue skies to stare into. No green trees to contrast with the blue sky. No colorful kit of the road cyclist.  Instead you get dark eyes crying out in pain and sun bleached faces that contort from extreme effort.  Roads revert back to “black top” and cloudless blue skies go white.  What a wonderful way to view the world.

I had my day of shooting, and it was glorious.  No frills, no strobes, no fancy techniques….it was me, my long lens and the world.  When I got home and looked at the images I thought to myself  ”are they as cool as those Tour de France images?”  The answer?  NO way in hell.  But it was a ton of fun and it shows what racing in Deer Trail Colorado is like.

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I remember seeing Dead Dog Classic T-shirts  almost 15 years ago.  Back then, not nearly as many people showed up for the race. It held a mystique that not many other races possessed.  It was known to be a tough race. Three disciplines coved over two days. And the first day ascended one of the toughest climbs in the west, make this race exciting to watch.

This year saw record numbers.  Teams from all over the west battled it out on the slopes of the Snowy Range mountains and screamed through town, fighting to win the overall.  As usual the winds reeked havoc with the riders and the pace of the leaders shattered the peloton.

At the summit of the climb (which toped out around 10,000 feet above sea level) riders huffed their way to the turnaround in small groups or singles. Each racer working through their own hell, knowing that a 60mph descent lingered just ahead.  But, beyond that, they faced a 30 mph headwind finish on a 12% uphill grade.  This is not a race for the meek.

The second day of the race brought record setting time trial rides and amazing wins in the crits.  Each category seemed to have a few blessed riders.  From the gun, many of them gutted out a gap and buried themselves for a solid hour to take the win.  It was a day for of breakaways to succeed.

Even now when I see a cyclist wearing a Dead Dog Classic T-shirt, I have to go up and ask how they did.  I know the fibers of the shirt hold a story.  Possibly it’s one of triumph.  More probably it’s one of pain and struggle.  But, whether it is pain or prestige, there is always a great tale to be told from the Dead Dog Classic.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I try to create images that represent what I WANT to see.

In cycling photography this is especially true.  Photography stops the action. It puts a hold on time.  It carves out a second or fraction of a second that will forever be still.  So, with something as dynamic as cycling and racing, how does one go about capturing the action and the speed associated with the sport?

Blur.  BBBBBBBLLLLLLUUUUUURRRRRRR.

I jump at the chance to use a good amount of blurr.  The action lives longer when the image streaks across the screen.  When riders throw themselves into corners, charging through at 30 and 4o mph, the action is anything but still.  Colors blend together, noise becomes a howl and the rush of the peloton mimics the summer wind.

Corners are the absolute best place to get this type of motion.  The riders look as though they will careen straight through the lens. And their eye are locked into the turn, riveted to the tarmac just behind.

Another “can’t-do-without-it” is flash. Every time I’m snapping off images in the corners I’m also pounding the subject with flash.  It helps to fill the dark shadows under the helmet and it also darkens the sky behind the rider.  There is one other key element that the flash provides.  Focus.  Without the flash the entire image will be blurry and critical focus is lost.  Most of the time I have the flash set on full power.  This allows for a slow shutter of around 160 or even 125 and greatly effects the amount of blur.

The trickiest part of the shot is combining all of the elements to get exactly what you want.  It is all in panning, framing, shooting and repeating….until you get an image you like.

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One of the racers I met was a Rio Grande rider who snapped a shifter half way through the race.  At the time, he was in the lead group with two teammates. . . looking for a win.  Chris Winn was poised for the podium but it would have to wait.  For the rest of the afternoon, Chris rode around with me as I shot images of the other categories.  We chatted about his home country of Australia and his desire to sign with an international pro team.  Just a couple of months later he won the best young rider Jersey at the Nature Valley Race.  The stars are lining up for him, so keep and eye out for this awesome rider from Down Under.

1. With what team do you ride? This year I’m racing with the Fort Collins based Team Rio Grande.  First year on the squad and I’m happy they’ve allowed a foreigner to invade their program.  Great bunch of blokes and can’t be happier how everything is going in 2010.
2. How long have you been racing? I first zip tied a number to my handlebars at the age of 14, spending the next 9 years picking dirt out of my teeth as a cross country mountain biker.  At the end of 2007 I flipped the switch and turned to the dark side….I mean became a roadie.
3. How did you get started racing? Like most things growing up I followed my older brother into the sport.  At the time I was a tennis player but as soon as the cycling bug bit, it turned into a nasty rash that I still haven’t been able to get rid of yet.
4. What is your all-time favorite race? The race to the fridge post training ride.  Especially when there is decent left over’s from the night before so preparation time before consumption is kept to a minimum.  I do enjoy watching the classics with a soft spot for Flanders.  The one’s I’ve personally tackled in the USA would be Nature Valle Grand Prix and the Tour of Utah as favorites.
5. What is your strongest discipline? I tend to do better on the hillier stuff, one day and stage races that sort of thing.  Being a smaller guy I don’t have too much in the sprint department, so big game crits aren’t usually where you’ll find me at the pointy end of things.
6. What part of bike racing do you absolutely loathe? The safety pinning of numbers onto your jersey.  Coming from a mountain bike background it was a couple of zip ties for a plate on the handlebars and you were away.  Recently I got back from a stage race where for the first 4 days the number placement changed on the jersey each day and it was cracking me big time.
7. Tell me a little about your bikes and gear.  What are they, what cool little gizmos do you use to train, what is your favorite piece of equipment? I really like my set up this year. I am riding on an Orbea Opal decked out with SRAM and rolling on some Reynolds 46mm tubulars on race day.  The bike is super stiff and stable at high speeds which is perfect for our stage race schedule.  For training I have an SRM which works a treat and is nice to collect some data while racing being the nerd kid that I am.  As for my favorite piece of equipment I’d have to say my white SRAM hoods make things look pretty trick and tie the graphics of the bike together.
8. Do you have any superstitions about racing or any pre-race rituals? What are they and how did they start? Being an Aussie the pre race meal is always a lightly roasted platypus smothered in Vegemite.  Anything less and the legs just don’t turn.  No, to be honest I don’t have any superstitions outside of just trying to be organized before racing and therefore stress free.  Actually, you’ll never see me with those shorty ankle socks……bad news right there.  And the sunglasses always go on the outside of the helmet straps….and they have to be spotless…….hmmm so maybe I do have a few then!
9. If money was absolutely no object, what bike would you ride and how would it be painted? You know I’m pretty happy with my Orbea right now, and I just saw the 2011 Orbea Orca released so I’d love to throw my leg over one of those.  Deck it out with SRAM Red parts and a green and gold paint job and I’d be happy as a clam.  Does it come with a mechanic to keep it clean???
10. If you could race with any pro, from any time in history who would it be? Good question there. It would have been cool to race alongside Phil Anderson in the 80′s.  Phil was one of our many Aussie cycling pioneers to break into the European scene and put us on the map.  Plus at that time I could get away with a worse hair cut than I do now.
11. You are granted a riding session with one current pro team.  This session includes as many hours of riding as you would like, lunch at any location you choose and the ability to ride any place in the world.  How do you fulfill this dream?  Please be specific with details about lunch conversations with riders and any pertinent gossip that is applicable. I would say a long (6hr +) blue sky day in the mountains of Northern Italy with Saxo Bank would be perfect.  Throw in the Gavia, Mortirolo and the Stelvio passes and that should take care of the climbing aspect alongside some sweet descending action.  Lunch would be burritos at a random Chipotle found midway through the ride, and consequently all conversations and gossip would be about how on earth this Mexican chain restaurant ended up in a small village in Italy.  Needless to say I’d think Spartacus would enjoy a steak fajita though.
12. Who would you absolutely love to beat by the end of this year, and why? Any current professional….the more the better!  It’s no secret my aim is to gain a contract for 2011 so the further up the results sheet I can ride the better.

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Even though it wasn’t the exact lighting I was hoping for, the light was beautiful and wrapped serenely around the landscape.  With time to kill, I pulled out the I phone took a shot, tweaked it with Tilt Shift and sent it off to FaceBook with the caption, “not sure the photo shoot is going to happen.”

Within minutes a response was posted from my good friend Dug Gordin.  That is not his name of course, I had to change it to protect his innocence. So, Doug (oops,) Dug posted a quick little response that said… and I quote “A real photog would find a way…”   so true.

Seconds later, the client pulled up completely excited about the shoot.  ”These clouds are perfect” he said, “they totally fit the theme”.  With that we were off.

15 minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the highest trail head around.  By now the clouds sat even lower but the drizzle had eased up.  The shoot was to take place on a rock outcropping that rested 100 yards down a drainage.  I loaded up the light stands, got the extra batteries and heaved my 50 pound pack onto my back.  I was ready to descend.

It only took a couple of minutes to get to our secret location and it was well worth the scramble.  The model edged out onto the giant boulders that hung 500ft off the ground.  This was going to be tricky.  Everything around was slick with the fresh rain.  Every boulder was glossy and the light bounced off the granite like kaleidoscope of colors.

Working with the fading sun, we noticed two things had changed.  First of all, the rain was back. Second was the LIGHTNING.  The low hanging clouds randomly exploded. On and off they went with increased frequency.  But, in the words of my buddy Dug, “A real photog would find a way…”.  So we kept shooting.

Within minutes the conditions deteriorated.  Water was pouring off the rocks, the sun had almost completely set and suddenly the lighting was lower and firing off every couple of seconds.  Without any warning, (that’s the way lightning works you know) my entire head started to tingle and a burst of light thundered just feet above.  But with Dug’s words of wisdom “A real photog would find a way…”, we pressed on.

Soon it was too dark to shoot and time to begin the now treacherous hike back up the the ravine.  I wish I had some harrowing tale of near death, but that is not the case.  Soon, we were at the car and headed back to town.

In the end, Doug (oops) I mean Dug had great advise “A real photog would find a way…”

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I remember driving through the vast empty space between Green River and Laramie, lost in thought. Pondering what life must be like on a rig.  After all, the derrik ran 24 hours a day, rain or shine, in extreme heat and extreme cold.  At times the only lights in the world during the dark windy winter months would be the luminous glow from a distant drilling rig. That was part of the allure of the drilling rig.

A month ago, I was commissioned by a wellhead company to document the work of installing wellheads, BOPs and the maintenance needed to keep it all running.  Before I knew it, I found myself sitting on a 12 passenger turbo-prop headed to the distant plains for North Dakota.  The Bakken Oil field is one of the largest and most active formations in the lower 48 states.  The discovery of oil in North Dakota has turned sleepy cow towns into busting oil stations.

Watford, North Dakota is such a town.  Just recently it was written up in the New York times.  The author discussed the challenges the city faces and the struggle with housing the men working the Bakken field.  This town would be my home for the next 5 days.  For 14 hours a day, I followed a group of men around to the various rigs while they installed BOPs, lubed  wellheads and performed general up keep.  Finally I got to see the inside, or rather all around the mystical drilling rig.

The men that work these rigs are made of movie stuff.  They have their own language. They have their own hand signals.  They even have their own names for the specific jobs on the derrik, and unless you have proven yourself, they have their own name for you.  These men are hard.  Working 12-14 hour shifts in the dead of winter, exposed to the elements with some of the most dangerous equipment in the world, makes a person tough.  The work is wet and thick with muddy oil that bubbles form the hole.  The tools are enormous and one misstep or a slip in attention and life becomes very serious very quickly.

As I was shooting pictures of the men installing a BOP, one of the guys said to me, “hey, don’t step there.”  I looked at him with my usual “yea, no shit” look since he was pointing to a large pool of watery mud, that had the consistency of thick chocolate milk.  What did he think, I would just step in a pool of water with my camera strapped to me?  So, I looked at him, with that same look and said, “yea, ok”.   Then he looked back and said it again; I must have been getting closer to the pool.  With the same look I said, “So, it isn’t just a pool of water?”  ”Nope,” he said ” ya step in there and we’ll never see y’again.  That goes down 150 feet and there is no way to get ya out.”  Needless to say, I didn’t get any closer to the hole.

In the end, I got some great shots for the company.  But the shots that truly stand out in my mind are the images of the men on the rig.  One of my favorite photographers did an entire series on oil rig workers.  Richard Avedon, in the mid 1980′s produced the most vivid and striking images I have ever seen.  My images are not the same in any stretch of the imagination, but they do capture what the work is like.  Oh, and for the record, the guy with the sledge hammer is the one who told me where NOT to step.

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Over the course of four days, the women of the camp were treated to six amazing rides, an afternoon lecture series from industry pros, wine tasting, jet tubs and some of the best food in Colorado.  The week started off with a fun ride through the vineyards just minutes from our hotel, the ever classy, Colorado Wine Country Inn.

Later that afternoon, Todd Carver with Retül bike fit technology,  was busy making sure that every woman at the camp had a bike that fit them perfectly.  Todd wasn’t the only one running the women through their paces.  Corey was in another room testing each woman for their Lactate Threshold (LT).  I am glad I was only taking pictures, because this test looked to be a doozy.

The evening ended up with a great presentation by visiting pros Tina Pic and Kimberly Baldwin.  They told of their racing adventures and answered questions as wine from the region flowed freely.  As the night wore on, it was clear that everyone was having a great time and couldn’t wait to get rolling in the morning.

Early the next day the Trek Women’s Demo program was ready to loan out some of the hottest bikes on the market.  The Madone 6 series seemed to be the bike of choice with it’s electronic dura ace shifting and killer carbon frame.  Every woman that tried one raved about the performance and decided to use it for the remainder of the week.

Each day brought nicer weather and the 70˚ temps were a delicious reprieve from the snow that plagued Denver. All of the days worked out well.  In short, this camp had everything any woman cyclist could want.  Wine, women pros to ride with, great food, amazing long rides and information from professionals that coach and train some of the best athletes in the world.

The most exciting part of my week was the ability to capture the expressions and joy that each woman expressed.  At times I was on my bike, riding along and taking pictures in the group.  Other times I was in the car, attempting to catch the action of a 40 mph descent through the Colorado National Monument.  What ever the situation, it presented amazing shots.  Why?  Because the women were having a blast.

Where else can you have four full days or riding your bike with international pros, glean information form trainers and bike fit pros that have worked with Lance Armstrong, drink award winning wine, and finish the day in the company of amazing women while eating hand-crafted meals?  And just think, all I had to do was take pictures.

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Most of the time, the videos don’t have the look of a classically composed “stop motion” movie.  Instead they are shot with the camera set to high-speed shutter and shooting images between 2-8 frames a second with low res. jpegs.  The look of the video can vary greatly. This is what makes this type of shooting so much fun.  All of the same techniques used in a still shot can be employed when shooting at multiple frames a second.  Blur can become very effective. Short depth of field often brings with it a mystical quality and all of the cool special processing techniques just add a little extra boost to the final product.

This video was created with the intent of using it during the grand opening for an advertising company in Denver called Amélie Company.  They are a specialty firm that produces some great work for international companies.  We shot early in the morning, trying to capture the feeling of coming into work.  The milling around, getting coffee, checking emails, all became the focus of the shoot.  Along with the morning activity I tried to give the viewer a sense of the building.  I wanted them to see the work space and the great character of the office.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bike racing is always a challenging sport to shoot.  It’s not like you can simply stand in front of the competitors and ask “hey can you hold that pose for just a second longer?”  No way, most of the time these athletes scream by at mach 3, totally oblivious to the world.  Their heart rates are through the roof and every thing goes black except for the person they are following.  My job is to catch the essence of the moment.  What is it like to slam your bike into a corner at 25 mph? How does it feel to be in “the drops” pedaling as fast as possible down an 8% grade on 1/2 inch tires wearing only lycra.

This night a good buddy of mine, Jerry Olson, and I ventured into the world of track cycling.  We headed out of town for the bubble of Boulder in search of some fast paced track action.  Half an hour later, we landed at the hub of all Boulder track racing. . . Boulder Indoor Cycling.  On any given night, cyclists clip into the pedals to warp around this 142 m. oval.  The 45˚ corners hold each racer in place and drop them into incredible angles that make great pictures.

On this particular eveningt a group of locals had gathered to train.  Chris, Ingrid and Erika were  great sports.  They rocked some new Tiemeyer bikes and buzzed me every every chance they got. Each time I asked if they would “go again”, they were absolutely in. They  hammered around the oval time after time so that I could get a couple of shots.

My favorite aspect of cycling is the speed.  It doesn’t matter if it is uphill, downhill, on the flats or around a banked corner; I love the speed.  And, I try to show this through my imagery.  Motion blur is one way to show the great velocity that these athletes carry.  Tonight crafting that “blur” was my goal.

It really isn’t very tough to shoot a static cycling shot. Modern digital cameras have an amazing ISO range and current lens technology can stop the fastest moving object.  So tonight I was looking to combine the use of flash with a slower shutter to generate the feeling of the velodrome .  Every 8-10 seconds a rider blew through my view, focussed on the black line.  This focus and speed is hard to explain to someone who isn’t there at that instant.  The wood against carbon wheels creates that muted thunder, and heightens the rush of the race.  This isn’t a stagnant moment, it is intense as well as instantaneous.  What better way to capture the feelings of rider and spectator than blur?  Warp that image.  Make it scream.  Show the intense concentration, the sweat…the pain.  Show the speed.  Enjoy.

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Most recently I found my self plunging back through a week I spent at the Marine Recruit Depot (MCRD) in SanDiego California.  For an entire week I was part of a group that was granted an insider’s view of the recruiting process and basic training.  Each year the Marines ask various groups to visit the depots with the intent of dispelling any myths the general public might have about this particular branch of our military.  During the week, I was exposed to some of the basic training techniques the Marines use, shown around the entire base including a great trip to Miramar (famed TopGun School) and shown what life is like for recruits as they proceed through the grueling steps of basic training.

As I said before, letting my eyes pour over older photos always brings back memories but it also allows me to have a fresh perspective on the shots I took.  I find that with some images, I am much more critical and don’t like the composition or processing.  But with others, a new appreciation comes from a second glance.  Looking at photos after an extended time away freshens the eye and removes some of the emotional attachment that once may have lingered.  This “fresh” look drives a new creativity and re-energizes the need to create distinctive images.

The series below is the second kind of image.  At first glance I wasn’t crazy about them.  Today, they capture the hard work, the exhaustion and the sleep-derpived blur these soldiers must have endured.  This is the final day or their basic training.  Today, they will be called Marines for the first time.  They are no longer recruits.  For the last three days they have been functioning on 2-4 hours of sleep coupled with endless physical, mental and tactical challenges.  These shots were taken just as they hiked back into base from running the Gauntlet.

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