No Longer Shooting Race Photos

This has not been an easy decision. I have had a good run of taking photos at the Psycowpath mountain bike races. Thanks to feedback from some riders, I have improved my photo composition. There were good and bad shots – too many times I had the camera just set wrong. For other times, needed to refine my techniques. All-in-all, it has been an educational experience and a better photographer.

Many of you know I rediscovered the bicycle as rehab from a heart valve replacement. The first 5 years, my riding got stronger. But for the last couple years I have been plagued by 4 different cancers. That, arthritis in the left knee, and getting older (turning 68 later this year), I cannot get around to get the shots I used to get.

There have been another crop of photographers that can get the shot better than I can. Add in that most folks just want small photos for the social media pages, its not worth my time to send a day shooting photos, posting them up to the web site, and hope there are a couple of sales. One rider told me he just grabbed the photos he wanted from the web site (there were big enough for facebook). He was nice enough to tell me about it and gave me a donation for the photos.

The first 2 years, I just posted my photos. The rest of the years, I asked for $5 for a cleaned-up photo. When I was shooting 400-500 shots at a race, I was not going to process all of the for sales of 2-5 photos. When a customer ordered a photo file, I start from the camera RAW photo, touched up exposure, shadows and highlights, and sent them via e-mail.

I did not take a portion of sales as a donation to THOR. What I did was donate any photos that the THOR and Psycowpath folks wanted for their web site, facebook pages, and publicity.   I appreciate the support from my customers and race friends.  Its time to move on to a new chapter in my adventure called "life".
 

There may be more changes in the works. I am now at over 10 years from the stroke, open heart, and first cancer. In the next year or two, my cancers will pass the 5 year mark. I will be getting more information about moving SW for better riding weather and less humidity. Watch for updates.

Last year race photos are still posted on the win_photo.photoreflect.com web site. They, and the Tranquility races will remain on the site for a month or two.

Enjoy your racing.

Tranquility Tantrum Races

Sunday saw the Pyscowpath trail running and mountain bike races.  The races were originally scheduled for Saturday, but postponed due to weather and trail conditions.

Trail runners from GOATZ (Greater Omaha Area Trail Runnerz) took to the 9+ mile singletrack at Tranquility Park.  "Photo Finish" here as two runners sprint to the finish line to claim first and second places.

At Noon, the bicycles took to the trail.  First in the starting line were riders for the Marathon category.  These folks were making as many laps they can withing the 4 hours race time limit.  The second wave were the the Category 3 mountain bikers.  Finally, the Junior field were in the singletrack for a shortened lap.  The Junior field included a team from the Vikings of Omaha North High School.

Riders for the second group of starting times were scheduled for 2pm.  First of the starting line were the Category 1 rides.  Following were the Cat 2 riders. It heard there was a kids race, but I had enough fun for the time and left the park about 2:30PM.

Photos I took during the races are posted on my race and events web site:  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

Kanesville Krusher

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a race.  The venue was Lewis & Clark Historic Monument in the Loess Hills of Council Bluffs. This was the second race in the Psycowpath Mountain Bike series for 2014.  The singletrack at Lewis & Clark Monument is considered the most demanding course within a 3 hour drive of Omaha.

The day started at 8am with a trail runner race.  The race was followed with podium awards and photo ops,   At 10 am, the bicycles took to the trail.

First into the singletrack were the marathon racers.  These fold were pedaling up and down the hills of the Monument for over 4 hours.  Right behind them were the Category 3 racers followed by the junior racers.  These groups rode one lap of the 5 mile trail.

The Category 1 and Category 2 racers took to the trail about noon.  There were riding 4 and 2 laps of the course, respectively.  During the later race, I had had enough for the day and headed home.  Before packing up my cameras, I had a double cheeseburger cooked by the THOR "grillmaster".  Host for the race was Greenstreet Velo.

As usual, photos I took of the races are posted on my race and events web site:  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com.  Photo files can be purchased from the web site.  Photos posted on the web site are "proof" jpg's.  If you place an order, I will reprocess the file from the camera RAW.

Swanson Shootout

The 2014 Psycowpath racing season is underway!  The first race of the season was held yesterday at Swanson Park, Bellevue, Nebraska.

With below freezing temperatures, there was some 30 trail runners for their race.  Runners had a start time of 8am and ran 5+ miles over the Swanson Park trails..  I did not arrive until 9 (Was at ham radio breakfast before). Was there in time to shoot photos of the trail running podium.

Large field of bicycle racers.  I heard there were about 40 racing the 4 hour marathon.  Once the Juniors, Marathon, and Category 3 races were off, i headed into the woods for shots on the trail.  Found a vantage point not too far from the shelter.

Temperature were still under freezing.  Missed some of the riders when my fingers would stop working trying to actuate the shutter button.

Visited for a while between races.  Shot the start of the Category 1 and Category 2 races.  Ended up with the photos of the early bicycle race podiums.  By then, I had enough for the day.  Stopped by the bike shop and grocery store on the way home.

Thanks for the race promoters, the volunteers, and officials.  Great job by the THOR (TrailsHaveOurRespect.org) trail maintenance crew.  Special thanks to Edge Physical Therapy for grilling and providing burgers and hot dogs.

Bike Bash 2013

Last night, the Psycowpath Mountain Bike racing series held its awards banquet,  The event was at Plate River State Park near Louisville, NE. 

The banquet was proceeded with a bicycle rode on the trails of the park.

The kitchen volunteers cooked a spaghetti feed with 3 kinds of sauce,  Refreshments included soda and a pony of Fat Tire.  Food topped off with Mrs. Abbott's brownies, ice cream, and home made cookies brought by a race-group elf.

Two cups of Fat Tire, 2 helping of pasta, and desert, was too much.  That is, I ate too much!

Attendance was smaller than previous years.  Many were on the other side of Iowa racing in Jingle Cross Rock race.

The photo with this post shows the trophy winners that attended the bash,  Major sponsor the race series is the Nebraska Lottery.

All of the photos I took at Bike Bash 2013 are posted on my race and events web site:  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com.

Lewis & Clark Crusher

Saturday was the last race of the Psycowpath Series for the year.  The race was held at Lewis & Clark Monument trails, Council Bluffs.  This is a tough course.  Many riders succumbed so "Never Rest" hill near the end of the race lap.

My photos of the race are posted on my race & event web site:
http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

Calvin Crest Crankfest

Calvin Crest Crankfest was held yesterday near Fremont, NE.  Over the last couple years, THOR (Trails Have Our Respect) worked with Camp Calvin Crest, designing and constructing their singletrack trail.  Most of the time, the trail was available for riding by the general public 9closed when other functions at the camp).

Saturday was the inaugural race held at the trail.  It was a busy race weekend with two road races and the mountain bike race.  Race promoters reported about 100 racers at the event.

The photo here is of the "grillmasters" serving food for the racers and spectators.  Proceeds from the food went to the Camp Calvin Crest Scholarship Fund which helps those that do not have the money to attend camp.

Was a beautiful day for racing.  Temperatures were in the 70s at race time.  Skies were clear and with a light breeze.

My photos taken at the race are posted on my event and race web site:  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

Moorehead Mayhem

About 110 mountain bike racers traveled to Ida Grove, Iowa for Moorehead Mayhem cross country mountain bike race.  Was a cool, partly cloudy day, near perfect race weather.

Racers give it all they have for the during of the race - here's a photo of one exhauseted racer after the Category 3 race.

The photos I took during the event can me found on my event and race web site:   http://win-photo.photoreflect.com. 

Thanks to race promoter Jesse Bergman and his crew for great course preparation and race.  Also thanks to race host Lakeshore Cyclery and the other sponsors. 

First Race Shoot with the Canon 60D

Today I took the new Canon 60D with Tamron 18-200mm lens to Moorehead Mayhem mountain bike race in Ida Grove, Iowa.  Was the first time shooting a race with the new camera.

I knew I would have to crank up the ISO as I was in deep tree cover.  But, the location gave me a good view of the trail - and could catch riders 2 different directions at one place.  To have any chance of freezing rider movement, I shot in Tv mode and at 1/60 to 1/125 sec.  As such, had to use ISO 800 to ISO 1600.

During the first race, I took time to review some of the jpg images I have captured.  Finding dark images, I was going to add some exposure compensation and found that for some reason, it was almost 2EV dark!  Changed the compensation to 0, and that made a big different.

The upper photo is the jpg images as captured and saved by the camera.

Fortunately, I was also saving the files as camera RAW.  This means that I will be able to correct the exposure in Photoshop Elements.  The lower version of the photo is after converted in Adobe Camera Raw and touched up in Photoshop Elements 11.

The reason I purchased the lens was so that I could use one lens, rather than swapping from the 18-55mm zoom and the telephoto zoom while shooting.  The lens performed perfect for that.  Just what I need for shooting races on the trail.

And, the reason for the new camera body - the number of shots I could capture before the camera had to stop to write the files to the SD card.  With my Rebel T1i and srandard class 4 cards, I would only get 4-5 shots when the camera paused to write files,  I did not experience and problems today - the camera and and Promaster Performance SD kept up.

I have sorted the jpg "proof" copies and have then ready for posting to my race and events web site:  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com.  They should be posted tomorrow (Sunday) morning when I go to Panera Bread.

Tranquility Tire Tantrum

Saturday was (twice rescheduled) Tranquility Tire Tantrum mountain bike race.  The race is a part of the Psycowpath Mountain Bike Series and was held in Tranquility Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Was a beautiful day for a bike race, though the wind could have dialed down a bit.

The photo shows some of the participants checking out the all-important race results.

Photos taken during Tranquility Tire Tantrum are posted. Think I only missed 2 riders in the first race. Did not stay for the end of the second race as it was about all my body could handle.

As usual, these are proofs for viewing and ordering purposes. If you wish to order a file, I will reprocess the file from the camera raw and e-mail the file to you.

Photos are located at: http://win-photo.photoreflect.com/

Platte River Battle Royale

Racers are off with a Le Mans style start at Platte River Battle Royale and Nebraska State Mountain Bike Championship..  The race is a part of the Psycowpath Mountain Bike race series.

Race weather was near perfect with clear, sunny skies and temperature near 60 degrees.  A cool wind was blowing from the NW at up to 25 mph.  Thankfully, most of the course is in the woods which provided some shelter from the wind.

Today's photo is of the start of the Category 2 race.

Photos I have taken of the race are posted on my Race & Events photography web site.  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com.

Photos posted on the web site are proofs for ordering purposes.  When photo files are orders, I will process the original camera RAW file and touch-up in Photoshop Elements before sending the file to the customer.  Enjoy.

Swanson River City Shoot Out

A long weekend of mountain bike racing was capped off by Swanson River City Shootout.  The photo to the right is the first of the lead-out group of the day.- Marathon.  These racers rode laps over the course for more than 4 hours!

The weather started cool and threatening some rain.  By the start of the first race, it was comfortable for racing.  The sun cam out and the air warmed up causes me to shed my sweatshirt.  By the second race was lining up for the start, it was down-right balmy.  Thermometer in the car showed 77 when I headed home.  Back to the race...

The first race of the day was for the Marathon riders, Juniors, and Category 3.  Cat 3 and Juniors races one lap around the course.  I hope that I caught ever racer on the course for a photo.  I stayed for the first awards podium call.

Was down to the starting line for the second race of the day - Category 1 and Category 2.  At the short track race Saturday, I scoped out shooting places not too far from the start line.  That lowered my walking time.  Shot photos of all of the Cat 2 and Cat 1 racers as they raced their first lap.

By this time, my body had enough.  Sucked on a shot blok and slowly walked up to the registration area.  Said my good-bye's and headed home.  I knew I would miss the kids race and second podium call, but I just could not do any more.

A shout out for Nebraska Lottery for their support of the Psycowpath Mountain Bike Series.  Another shout out for Edge Physical Therapy for providing the food at the race. Race results will be available on the Psycowpath web site.

Now, for my shameless plug - my photos of Swanson River City Shoot Out are available on my race and events web site:  http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

Psycowpath Mountain Bike Series is Off with a Weekend of Racing

Saturday morning, the Psycowpath Mountain Bike Series started the 2013 season with Jewell Jam - a time trial helt at Jewell Park in Bellevue, NE.  Jewell Jam was the first race of a two stage race.  The second stage was the Swanson Short Track Race.

Swanson Short Track was held Saturday afternoon at Swanson Park, also in Bellevue, NE.  The course of the Short Track Race was reported to be 0.9 mile in length.  This made for a full day of racing!

The photo here, is of Junior (13-15) category racer Jack Ferguson of The Bike Way Racing Team.  Jack was the first racer on the course.

Race results are available on the Psycowpath web site.

I attempted to to catch a photo of each racer during both Jewell Jam and Swanson Short Track.  Race photos are available a http://win-photo.photoreflect.com.  As usual, photos posted on the web site are "proofs".  When a order comeoms if for a photo file, I will retrieve the original camera raw file for processing.  The processed files will be e-mails to the customer.

Screwed up the focus on many of the photos at Jewell.  I had the telephoto zoom lens set on "anual" focus to shoot Eagles at Lake Manawa.   Wondered why I was having problems getting a focus lock with the camera.  Realized the problem and corrected the error for Swanson Short Track.

Please note that I did NOT stay for the last race of the day - Category 1  Short Track.  It was just too much in one day.  As it was, I had to suck/chew on a Shot Blok on the walk up tp the start line to ward of a bonk.

Photos of today's Swanson River City Shootout should be posted tomorrow.