This annual Las Vegas cyclocross race is unusual in that the pro races take place after dark. This makes photographing the event an interesting challenge. I traveled out to the Interbike trade show with a very minimal gear kit, but I wanted to make sure to get some shots at the cross race that were unique. Of course I wanted to use off camera lighting to capture some dramatic images that differ from the throngs of on camera flash shots being captured by the hundreds of other photographers.

The above image has a similar lighting style to the photos from the US Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado this summer. But instead of a high powered Alien Bee and HSS Hack, I was able to use Nikon SB900s and regular sync speeds since there wasn’t much power needed at all.

I also used a lower shutter speed to add a little motion blur to impart the sense of speed. In fact, as the evening progressed, I played with using a longer and longer shutter to add some motion blur to the images. I love the color and the motion the blur, as well as the water spray frozen in mid air.

I didn’t feel like taking part in the scrum of all the photographers looking for that quintessential finish line shot, so I camped out around the corner. Lars van der Haar takes the win.

Third loser Rob Peeters shows the agony of defeat … but I’m sure he’s not losing any sleep about this loss after his silver medal at the World Championships yesterday.

The fall colors were at their peak last week, and I was determined to capture some magazine portfolio images before the snow started to fly. In the coming months I will be transforming this blog into a portfolio website for my travel, lifestyle and adventure sports photography. I will be specifically shooting images with a magazine cover format, like this image of Deanna Ardrey trail running with a view of Boulder Red Rocks in the background.

You might be saying, “Who is Deanna Ardrey?” Well, let me tell you. She could very well be the next big thing in US women’s running. She recently qualified for US Olympic Trials with a 2:43.12 at the Chicago marathon. This performance was 12th overall and 2nd American, which is impressive since Chicago is considered one of the five World Majors of marathon. The really exciting part is that she just started running two years ago, and was never truly serious about training until last year! So I was excited to do a running photo shoot with a genuine top athlete, and not just a model pretending to be a runner. So let’s all root for Deanna in January, when she makes the US Olympic Team with the run of her life at the Marathon Olympic Trials in Houston.

There is a new biking game in the town of Boulder, and it’s called Valmont Bike Park. This is a public park where riders of all ages and abilities can come out and play and work on their skills. I’m an old school BMX kid from the 80′s, and I’ve loved jumping bicycles ever since I got my first BMX bike way too many decades ago. At first sight, the big kid jumps at the park are pretty intimidating. But the allure of flying though the air and acting and feeling like a 14 year old again are too much for me to resist. So I bought a dirt jump bike and have been hitting the park. I have a few friends with similar BMX backgrounds from the Dark Ages, and together it makes a pretty nice afternoon to head out to the jumps for some air time.

Bobbie Turner of 5280 Fotos is my main accomplice and a photographer as well. This past Sunday we headed out to the park for our first photo session. I brought my usual high powered strobe setup and parked it on the first wood jump on the XL dirt jump line. I really like the strobed look, so we setup shots at one jump and one jump only for this session. Thanks Bobbie for tripping the shutter on the photos in the second half of this set. I was using a PocketWizard Mini/Flex triggers, which allowed me to sync at 1/1000 of a second to freeze the action.

First up, a random rider with a nice flat tabletop. This is I move I really want to work on.

I love the edgy lighting in this shot. Generally I like cross/rim light, but it’s tricky at this spot to not have the strobes in the background.

Eli is up, looking cool sailing over the iconic Flatirons of Boulder.

Lots of sun flare when using the 14-24 lens. Without any clouds in the sky I like using the sun as a compositional element.

This is a cool shot showing the strobe setup and an overall view of the jump.

Making ridiculous faces is a great way to get featured on the blog.

Here’s a shot of me captured by Bobbie. I call this look Blue Aluminum. (Zoolander reference)

I’m loving the composition of this one.

Fun shot of a young BMX kid launching into the stratosphere.

We used to call this a “helicopter” back in the day.

Eli in yo face!

Lastly we have my current Facebook profile pic.

You can check out a full gallery of Valmont Bike Park photos on my Facebook Page. This is surely the first session in what is going to certainly be an ongoing evolution. At some point we’ll set up a shoot with some real pros pulling off amazing acrobatic moves. But in the meantime, there’s a group of old farts having a ton of fun acting like kids.

I stopped in at Desert Sports for some trail info and to buy some Slime tubes. I was happy to find that they had 29er presta slime tubes for me! I didn’t have time for any flats from the innumerable thorns that I would find along the way. I was directed to the Lajitas Trail System, also called the Lajitas airport trails. It was only a couple miles from the shop, and right on the highway, so it sounded good to me.

The trails themselves were only moderately exciting. It was pretty cool to ride in new terrain, but I think I would get bored of these trails pretty quickly if I lived here. They are mostly flat, with some moderate technical bits. There are a few missing signs, which makes route finding difficult in a few places. I rode most of the singletrack of the trail system in under two hours with lots of photo breaks. It’s my understanding that you can link these trails into a nearly limitless ride … but you would likely need local knowledge for that.

I did find a couple cool discoveries along the way. The first was this cool old delivery truck. I must be the King Supreme Old Truck Manifester, because wherever I go I can always find old trucks to take pictures of. This day was no exception, apparently! I like the above shot … now you know why the truck was stranded here.

I climbed around on the inside of the truck. There were some pots and pans and some silverware, and it seems that the inside of the truck has provided shelter for some persons through the years.

I really like the thorns in this shot. I also like wide angles and f/22!

Eventually I made my way along the sandy, rocky singletrack.  I was just riding along, when I noticed the great texture of the cracked and broken mud.  As I was looking down, I caught a glimpse of my second found treasure of the afternoon.

This seashell is small, less than an inch long.  It was sitting perfectly in the middle of a cracked piece of mud.  It was perfectly clean, without any mud residue.  How did it get here? Did someone place it here? Did they hope for someone to find it to mess with their head? If they did; It worked!

Well that’s all for another mountain bike adventure in the far reaches of the country. Check back tomorrow when I check out the trails outside of El Paso.

There are many things in life that we wish that we could do, or that we could do better. I’ve always wanted to learn to ride a wheelie, ever since I was a little BMX punk in the 80s. Why didn’t I know how? Simple. I never took the time to learn! There are so many things that we could improve in our lives, if we took the time to dedicate, commit, and schedule the time to grow.  The best part about learning new things, is that once we learn them, it usually doesn’t take much time to maintain proficiency. Take the juggling photo that I posted yesterday for example. I learned when I was in high school, and I can still do it, even though I never practice.

Learning balance is also metaphoric in our lives. The scariest part of learning the wheelie is overcoming the fear that you are going to go over the back and wind up on your ass! So the key, is really to spend time in the uncomfortable zone, the place that is the scariest.  By spending time in areas that make us uncomfortable, we eventually adapt.  We learn that we can go over the edge, and recover, and that we can do so without injury. How do you know where the balance point is, if you never go past it?

In order to ride the wheelie, you really need to center your mind, and discard thoughts of negativity. Embracing a positive outlook, learning balance, and overcoming fear are all unexpected side effects that I’ve realized as a result of a simple attempt to learn a frivolous trick. The practice has become a meditation. Yes, there is the side bonus wheelies are a great way to get looks of confusion from your neighbors, and smiles from the neighborhood kids!

Happy 2011! I’m looking forward to a new year of learning and growth, love and gratitude, wheelies and whatever new adventures appear along the way. Thanks for reading and your support. I hope you continue to enjoy the images and the words.

**Addition to this post!**

I was riding down a paved bike path, and I was riding a particularly long wheelie. I could see a small group of riders coming around a small bend. So I’m riding along mid-wheelie, and lo and behold, THERE WAS ANOTHER RIDER RIDING MID-WHEELIE TOWARDS ME! I was absolutely shocked! We both rode by each other, and neither of us put the wheel down while we were in sight. All I had time to say was, “Well you don’t see that every day!”, as we passed.

I’ve been a bike fanatic almost my whole life, and I rarely (if ever) see a random person riding a long wheelie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in 10 years of living in Boulder, which is a bike-crazy town. But on New Years Day, 1-1-11, I simultaneously encountered another guy riding a wheelie at the exact same time as me. Right after I published a blog story about riding wheelies! I call that a very auspicious start to a New Year.

I believe in some crazy ideas about the world around us. Things that science nor religion nor conventional thinking can explain. I believe, that we can make things happen merely by thinking them. It’s called the Law of Attraction. The naysayers can say it can’t be proven, it’s a cult, The Secret was a crappy book . . . whatever. You could say that the wheelie thing is just a minor coincidence that doesn’t mean anything. But that would just be pessimism. Embrace the big picture. If you open your mind to the world around us, then you will start to see, our thoughts shape our lives in ways that we can’t even imagine. Some call these things miracles, some call them God, or Allah, or the Universe, or Magic, or Karma . . . but no matter what you call it . . . it’s really there.

I haven’t always been a positive dude. I was actually voted “most pessimistic” in high school! But that kind of thinking . . . has taught me something. It’s made me see how I’ve been holding myself back by thoughts of “it won’t work for me”, “you have to work hard for money”, “you have to pay your dues”, etc. have been holding me back. I know this. I know you need to think positive. Everyone does. But it’s really freakin’ hard to remember to keep that chin up when you are confronted with a seemingly tragic event. But you have to. Everything happens exactly as it’s supposed to. And sometimes things get hard to teach you a lesson. If you pay close attention, and learn the lesson . . . then you open yourself to the great things that can come your way . . . if you clear your mind of the negative chatter . . . and allow the space for the great things to come to you.

There is an entire world of possibility out there! There are incredible things happening all the time if you open your eyes to them! The images on the TV screen are not designed to expand your mind, they are designed to entice your ego into wanting more and into buying all the crap they are selling! Read more inspiring books! Eat good food! Get out there and learn to ride wheelies like you are 10 years old!!!

Let’s have 3 cheers for 2011! Here’s to positive thoughts, positive thinking, dreaming big, and making 2011 the biggest goal-reaching, joy-feeling, soul-finding year ever!

I’m always on the lookout for a cool photo of course. I came along the powerlines and immediately the idea for this photo popped into my head. It has nothing to do with the feel of the actual trails, but I love the striking composition nonetheless.

While it was possible to go down just on bare skin, random bumps and rocks in the field led to many bumps and bruises, as you can see me finding out right here.

Thermarests offered a much smoother ride.

Justin doing his crazy action redneck impression.

I had a 4 strobe setup that I was able to ride out to the farm with in a small backpack.  I never was really sure how the photo was going to come out, based upon how far down the run the sliders were.  Love how Billy is blacked out with water spray illuminated in his face in this shot.

Unfortunately, no ladies lost their bikini tops in the making of this photo.

Awesomeness^3

The giant tube was brought out near the end, but it didn’t offer quite the speed that we were looking for.

FACEPLANT!

Not to be outdone, I made a few attempts at surfing the Thermarest. This is the look of me being psyched that I’m actually staying up for 5 seconds.

As you can see, this was a pretty rockin’ way to spend a summer evening.  I’m sure we’ll be setting this up bigger and better in the future.  I think that a first slip n slide descent of the First Flatiron should be next on the list.

Chapter 1 – Sunrise Landscapes

Chapter 2 – Afternoon Planning

Chapter 3 – Dune Camping & Night Shots

Having checked out the appetizers, let’s dive into the main course; this is the one blog to rule them all; where we strap on the snowboard and find out what sandboarding is all about!

I awoke in the early pre-dawn light lying in a pile of sand.  We had camped the night out in the open dune field. I was a little chilly, and there was a slight breeze.  It was hard to tell exactly how long it would be until the sun came up, but I knew we had to get moving in order to catch the perfect light.

The plan was to descend Star Dune at first light.  While hiking, we quickly realized that we weren’t going to get to the top quite in time.  There is only a narrow window of time where the sun grated across the sand to reveal the immaculate textures of the sand.  So I pulled out my camera and started shooting some landscape shots where we happened to be.

Silky sexy smooth sand shapes show sunken shadows.

OK, enough goofing around with landscape photos. We still had some serious business to attend to. It was time for a sunrise descent of Star Dune, perfect light be damned.  By the way, Star Dune is the highest dune in North America, rising 750 feet above the valley floor. BTW, whenever possible, I like to have girls carry my gear for me.

Here we have Melissa gearing up for some serious sandboard shooting. Side note, when asked to put sunscreen on my back, she didn’t whine nearly as much as Carl did when I was in Mexico last December. True story.

Nearing the summit of Star Dune, I encountered more windswept textured sand, and a great view of the Sangre de Cristo Range.  Star Dune didn’t actually turn out to be the best spot for sand boarding, as it wasn’t the steepest slope.  Some of the best slopes were smaller, and had a steeper angle and a harder surface which allowed for more speed.

At this point in the journey, I had to relinquish my shooting duties and strap on the snowboard for some warm weather sand boarding.  Melissa has posted some of her sand boarding shots on the Melissa Welsh Photography Blog. Part of our team effort on the adventure involved sharing camera gear, photo ideas, and blog fodder.  With her permission, I’ve selected and edited a few photos that she took but did not publish on her blog to accompany my version of our sandboarding adventure.

Riding a snowboard down sand dunes is one of those things that sounds like more fun in theory than it really is in practice! First off, I was using a snowboard, which isn’t really designed for sand. This does not lend itself to high speeds.  So in order to ride the dunes with a snowboard, you have to find the steepest slopes you can find just to be able to go fast enough to make any turns.  The second part, is that when you turn, you really just sortof push sand down the hill. So you can’t really traverse too much.  However, when you get a good slope, you can build up some speed, then make 3 or 4 good turns before you hit the bottom.  Oh, then comes the hike back up!  At 8700 ft above sea level, there isn’t a ton of oxygen to assist you in the battle against sand and gravity.  While some parts of the dunes are easy to walk on, getting back up from the steep slopes usually involves getting back up some loose and steep pitches, where you take a step up then slide half a step down. Just think of excruciating post-holing and you get the idea.

While it’s not going to replace snow sliding any time soon, it’s still pretty addicting. I would get just enough of a run to experience the groove, but not enough to really satisfy my need for carving. So after every run I just kept wanting to go back for more and more!

Here I am contemplating High Dune, which is the second highest dune in the park.  Oh, and by the way, I don’t think that I’m ever going to get the sand out of my snowboard boots.

I had this idea for a really cool angle on a shot, where I come sweeping across the front of the camera, shooting up a rooster tail of sand.  Well, as I said, the sand doesn’t really perform like snow, and traversing was a real challenge.  We tried to get the shot over and over, and every time I had to climb back out while baking in the sun.  Finally the heat and exertion started to get to me, I caught a backside edge, and I suffered my only crash of the trip. Fortunately, Mel caught the whole thing for your entertainment.

But finally, we got a shot that was somewhat close to what I was thinking! Mel also posted this one in her set . . . but I had to include it here too, it’s the money shot!  Want more action and arty sandboarding dune shots? Go here!

Well that’s the end of my first sandboarding adventure. While we were there, I saw some people with boards that were designed to be ridden on sand. It sure would have made the adventure a lot easier if I had a lighter board with bindings that worked with regular boots or sneakers.  I’ve since found out that there are actual sandboards. There is even a Sandboarding World Championship! Who knew? I didn’t, until I checked Wikipedia!

Overall it was a great first dune experience. It’s a pretty cool adventure to head to the beach, strap on the board, get a great workout, all while working on your tan. I’m definitely looking forward to heading back sometime with someone else who has a board so that I can both ride the dunes and shoot some action shots. Maybe I’ll even get a real sandboard. Who’s in?

This was the third trail building day out of the year out at Betasso. There are many more days required before the trail will be open for riding. So do your part and gather your friends and come out for the next work days. As a bonus, there will be food and beverages and beers to be had at the end of the day. Check out BMA’s website for the latest schedule and calendar of events.

I did my first two rides in the high country this weekend! The trails are running sweet in Ned, with the exception of the higher stuff which is still clogged with snow.  I got turned around on School Bus by snow drifts.  But I did ride the new Re-Root section of Root Canal.  It’s pretty sweet and even has a couple rock features.

I was riding solo so I don’t have any action pics.  Just a couple tilt shift still life portraits of the Bianchi SS.

Here I am on the ski lift at Copper Mountain for Opening Day 2009! I think this is my first Colorado opening day, as I’m not usually a fan of battling the crowds on the Ribbon of Death! But, my friend Doug from Elevation Outdoors scored us some tickets, so I thought it would be fun to get some early season runs in. My legs have a longer way to go to get in shape this year after basically no biking all summer. Anyway, I took some pics with the G10 point and shoot. Here they is, in full straight out of the camera pore showing glory. 

This post is an oldie, but a goodie, so I’m going to recycle it!  I haven’t been posting any mountain bike pictures because I don’t have time to ride any more, so let’s just reminisce about the good old days of unemployment!

Back when I bought my first camera (a Canon 20d), I pulled it out of the box and went straight to Moab for the annual Ellsworth Owners Retreat.  I really didn’t know what I was doing at the time, but I got a pretty cool sequence anyway.  Yeah, I should have used a faster shutter speed!  Any way, this drop is really nuts!  It is way bigger looking when you are there, because the rider has to bomb down another 30+ vertical feet of steep runout past what you can see here.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8, 1/8000, f/4, 640 ISO :.

]]> http://www.steve-z.com/steves-first-day-of-work/feed/ 0 http://www.steve-z.com/west-ridge-colorado-trail-keystone/ http://www.steve-z.com/west-ridge-colorado-trail-keystone/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:55:11 +0000 stevez http://www.steve-z.com/?p=4782 It has been a hectic July for me workwise.  Sad to say, I haven’t done a single ride! But I’m rectifying that this weekend by doing some rides up in Keystone. Here is a shot from the Colorado Trail high above Keystone.  I lugged the tilt shift along and had a great day taking some trail and nature photos.  More posts to come in the coming days.