This photo was a huge hit in the Push It A Stop Flickr pool for obvious reasons. First off- that sunset is gorgeous. Those are the colors that everyone wants from a sky at dusk. So the timing with that (and the timing on the trick) could not have been much better. The bright green leaves pop amazingly against the sky without distracting from the action. Composition is on point with the landing of the previous set framed in the bottom left which guides your eye directly to the tire marks launching straight off that lip. Then boom, there’s the rider, lit so nicely, portraying a beautiful 360 table. He is framed perfectly in the sky between the dark tree line in the background and a small branch of lit leaves closer to us.
“Most of the time at Redbox I will ride, as it’s one of the few lines in Austin that I can make it through. Scott Glannan was throwing some awesome sauce on this last set, so I got out my camera just before the sun went away.
I set up an AB800 far right at ¼ power and a 285HV at ½ power, behind the landing in the foreground. I was using a Rebel T2i w/17-40L. I am currently looking for a new camera body but haven’t come upon the right deal for me yet (anyone selling a 5D MkII hit me up!)
I started with iso100 but changed it up to 200 as the natural light faded. I also cranked the 285HV to full power to get that tree lit up better. Final settings were 1/200th f4 with iso200. I was really stoked on how Scott folded himself in between the tree lines, a few people asked to see the photo on my LCD and I got some great feedback, much appreciated guys!
Thanks to Scott for giving me time to set up, and being an all around rad dude. Also, thanks to all the people I’ve been shooting with recently, you rule!
Gear used:
Rebel T2i w/17-40L @29mm
Alienbees B800 w/ vagabond
Vivitar 285HV
3 x Pocket wizard Plus X”
The third episode in Damian Racut‘s “Delayedit” series features a bunch of great street riding throughout Ohio with a focus on peg chinks, jibs, Jake Coulson and grimy spots, but really the most amazing clip doesn’t involve a bike and there’s no question that it deserved to be the ender. As crazy as that is, it could not have been any smoother.
This is a great example of what makes a photo of the week- the trick is a simple feeble grind on a small ledge but the way it’s shot makes it much more spectacular. The first thing I noticed was the composition- the rule-of-thirds is clearly adhered to and the way the sunlight is dividing the building almost makes a frame within a frame for the rider to be placed in. The subtle blue reflections in the windows really work with the red brick (also working with the rider’s outfit) and the even more subtle greens add a nice accent. The next thing I noticed was the strong rimlight (of course then I noticed the lightstand peeking out from under the rider’s left foot, but hey- that’s just me). That light pops him out amazingly from the dark brick background, in which he’s placed perfectly. The ratio of lighting (between fill and rim) is impeccable.
“The snow had just started melting here in Ontario, So me and some friends had been out riding most of the week testing some of my new flash equipment. It was mid day, the skatepark still had about a foot of snow so we went to find some street spots. This is a pretty well known ledge in Barrie’s downtown but it’s in an alley and on a fairly steep hill, so theres not a lot of footage or stills from the spot. Once we got to the spot I took a look around and picked my angle, I was feeling the half shade, half sun on the wall behind the ledge so I decided to shoot up the hill. Once I got my flashes setup, (yongnuo 500ex on 622c receivers) One behind facing toward the camera and one just right of Jordan on the ground just out of frame, Jordan did a few smiths that were cool but just weren’t working for the angle. As we were looking at the pictures a car came up behind us and I surely thought we were going to get kicked out, The man just rolled down his window and said “Oh sorry if I saw your flashes I would have gone the other way.” then happily carried on with his day. Which was a nice change from our usual meetings on private property, maybe it was the spring in the air. So I set my flash back up and Jordan and Landon started hitting the ledge again. I asked Jordan if he could try a feeble and it seemed to work good for the angle but my timing was a little off. It took a few tries to get the flash directly behind jordan as it kept being right between his legs, and we all know how shitty that looks. I moved my flash behind him a little bit to the right and he tried it again, and this was the outcome.
Rider – Jordan Gervais
Picture – Shot at ISO 100 1/500th f2.8 on a Canon 60D with a 50mm and Yongnuo flash setup.”
It sucks (for me) that it’s all written in Russian but Probmxmag #11 has some really, really good photos in it. Also an interview with Diogo Santos and one with some dude named Adam22…
I chose this photo mostly because of the precise composition, with the vertical columns pretty much exactly vertical and the amount of geometry in the frame. The vents that he is wallriding over mimic the lights on the inside of the building almost perfectly and the palm tree is a great balance for the edge of the car on the right side of the frame. The riders blue bike sticks out amazingly as it is the only object in the photo of that color.
“I shot this photo of Paul Horan in Daytona Beach, FL while on a spring break trip we took a few weeks back. I knew exactly how I wanted to shoot this when we pulled up to it but in order to get back far enough to frame the shot how I wanted I had to go down a hill a bit which then put a big ass hedge right in my way. I was getting all pissed off because I didn’t have my tripod or any type of ladder so my friend actually volunteered to be a human step stool. I wasn’t about to break my home boys back so I just stood my bike and framed it the best I could. It was an amazing trip and I was so happy with the way this one turned out.
Nikon D3100
Nikon 24-70 lens
1/200 @ f/6.3
ISO 800
1 Nikon SB-800 to the left (triggered by pocket wizard)
1 Nikon SB-24 to the right (triggered by pocket wizard)”
You might recognize the name as the winner of the Hop Photo Contest. Łukasz has a pretty impressive portfolio and this moody 180 caught my eye in the Flickr feed immediately. A cloudy day is a photographer’s dream because it’s so easy to create your own lighting when the sun isn’t there to interfere. Łukasz took full advantage of the conditions and created this dramatic 180 with just one borrowed flash.
“The photo was taken quite spontaneously. I bought my first professional camera in May 2013 and as soon as the weather got better, together with a few guys we visited one of our favorite spots – California Pool Bemowo, an old irrigation pool situated in a military-owned area. I brought with me a camera and a lamp that I borrowed from a fellow Slovenian photographer (Uros Rojc). After a few hours of riding, when I got tired, I decided to take some pictures, accompanied by Skater, who is always eager to participate in such projects. I set the lamp intuitively and we got down to the business. Skater made a turndown, a onefoot table and a 180 barspin. After one ore two attempts we were perfectly satisfied with the outcomes. Finally, I asked Skater to jump over an old tire that we’d found in a pile of trash. We dragged it all the way up to the slope, Skater made some bunny hops and said that he was able to make a 180. The first few attempts were quite painful – Skater injured his knee in a fall the previous day, so our shots were accompanied by great amounts of “FUCK, my kneeeeeeee”s. I thought that we were finished, since we didn’t want to risk any serious injury. But when I showed Skater the pictures I took, despite his condition, he decided to try once again. After only 3 more attempts I finally found what I had been looking for. I quickly returned home and for the first time decided to use Lightroom. After an hour or so I learned all the tools, made some adjustments and the photo was ready.
Rider: Łukasz „Skater” Wysokiński
Location: California Pool Bemowo, Warsaw, Poland
Time of day: Around 3PM
Gear: Nikon D600, Nikon 24-70mm 2.8, 1 x Nikon SB-900, Pixel King Trigger
Settings: 1/640s, f3,5, ISO 640
Titling a video with such an all-encompassing name like “The Michigan Video” is a pretty daring move, and I was unsure of what to think. To me, the name suggests that it is the sole video to come out of The Mitten State and therefore had some pretty big shoes to fill.
Although the intro sequence initially caught me off guard (even going so far as to making sure I had started the video from the beginning) after watching it a second time, it made sense. Cory Wiergowski is not a new name on the scene by any means, but his opening part definitely cemented his name as one of the burlier riders of our day. His second-to-last clip was all at once completely unexpected, mind-blowing and definitely something that is NBD to my eyes. His last clip is just ridiculous. Connor Keating comes through with some of the crazier crank arm grinds to date (super smoothly too, I might add). Up-and-comer Mikey Tyra (whose section went online not long after the release of the video) made quite a name for himself, with his first line as one of the cleanest I’ve ever seen. Tyler Fernengel, another one who needs no introduction, completely destroyed every gap and rail in sight, and just as the smoke cleared and I thought the video was over, Nick Bullen came out of left field, screaming loudly “NOPE! THIS AIN’T OVER!”. There’s a good reason that he just got put on Subrosa pro and his ender section proves it.
When it was all said and done, I felt like the name was justified and after talking a bit with Cory and Alex Burnside (filmer/editor) about the creation, it was apparent that they really had no other choice.
Where in Michigan is everyone from?
Cory: Every person in the video that has a full part claims Detroit but a few guys are from neighboring cities like Dearborn, Taylor and the Bullen brothers are from Lapeer.
Did all you guys grow up riding together?
Cory: Nick and I grew up riding together because we’re from northern michigan. Than we both moved down to Detroit area and met everyone down there about 5 years ago. Everyone else grew up together though like all the young dudes Connor, Mikey, Tyler, burnside etc. Than when they started to all grow up we kind of all became homies just from all of us riding transitions skatepark together on a daily basis. It’s crazy to see all of them grown up and killing it. I swear, it feels like just the other day I was giving Tyler pointers on tail whips now he’s like the best rider ever.
Alex: I grew up riding and filming with Connor Keating, but didn’t meet anyone else in the crew until maybe 3 years ago when I made indoor park videos at TRP. That was my first work with Cory, Nick, Govan, dudes like that.
“The Michigan Video” is a pretty bold name- Did you include riders/crews from all around the state?
Cory: Every weekend I’d just send a mass text message to the normal crew asking if they wanted to go to X city for the weekend and tell them how much it’ll cost each. Whoever replied saying they were down would be at my house Friday morning and we’d go. Just stay in cheap hotels and film good times every weekend all over the state of michigan hence the name “the Michigan video”. It was supposed to be more focused on the spots around michigan and film the dudes from the area riding them. Southeast michigan is easily the epicenter of the bmx scene here. There’s still a little scene in Lansing including Luke Swab, Brian Block and a bunch of other little shredders coming up. The Grand Rapids crew kind of fell apart but the dudes I link up with there are Alex Burgnon and Jordan Youngs, those dudes are rad. The west side of michigan holds it down with dudes like Tyler Ellis, Pat Ellis, Chance Garrison, Alex Elko, Kyle Line and the rest of the holland crew. They’ll usually travel together, they’re the only other “true crew” in michigan right now other than our crew that has been kind of dubbed the ” tmv crew” as of late. There was a good scene in traverse city, MI with Steven Ramos, Domke, Marcus, Mikey and a bunch of others but it kind if fell apart after there indoor park closed. As for not including people in the video, Alex and I would film everyone and anyone willing to ride in front of our lens.
How long did you film for? Were there any major setbacks/injuries?
Cory: We ended up filming for about 7 months we set out to get it done in one year because we didn’t really want to just sit on footage for a whole winter in order to film for 2 years. We def sat down a few months and all talked about filming for 2 years but we didn’t all want to stay in michigan as much this year and we had enough footage at the end of the year to make it happen, everyone killed it. There were only a couple set backs during filming, Tyler broke his foot trying that half cab in his intro. Which put him out for about 3 months. That was the only real injury the whole year other than rolled ankles and Nick got knocked out trying this big kinked rail in suttens bay. The last month or so of filming we only had one camera because one of our dvx’s broke and we didn’t care to get it fixed but even that wasn’t really a set back. We got lucky, everything kind of fell into place.
Was every single clip filmed in Michigan?
Cory: Yes.
What was the inspiration for the intro?
Alex: The inspiration for the intro actually came from Cory. We were sitting in my room one night trying to find a good song for the intro and he must have had an epiphany because it’s one of my favorite parts of the whole video. I really wanted to break some stereotypes people had for the video and we felt like a raw intro would fit well with our theme and also break the mold for what a ‘normal’ intro usually is.
Is there any one outstanding story behind a certain clip?
Cory: So many stories that I don’t know where to start. When we went on a trip to the upper peninsula for a week, I had prior knowledge of this reservoir spot that my friend Scott Wanhala took Tony Neyer to last year to shoot that primo advert. So while we were in Marquette (about 9 hours from Detroit) Scott hit me with a google earth location, little did we know the spot was at a federal water reservoir about 45 min deep into the woods with a mile long hike after you’re there. I don’t know I’ve never been to a spot with an adventure like that. It’s so rewarding in the end. There were multiple 2 or 3 hour trips we took just to film one trick on a certain set up. We drove to suttens bay about 5 hours north of Detroit to check out this big kinked rail that Nick wanted to check out that ended up knocking him out, that was the scariest thing ever to witness your friend lifeless at the bottom of a rail without a hospital in site.
What gear did you use?
Alex: We were pretty strict on filming and which cameras were used, we wanted to keep a similar feel and style throughout the entire video. We relied on two DVX100B’s for the entire course of filming. We fell in love with them, they’re built like tanks and have an awesome fisheye option. We used an Opteka fisheye rather than a Century mkII because of the cost and ease of replacement for inevitable lens hits.
How long did the video take to edit?
Alex: Editing only took about 2 months miraculously. I started editing early November and finished on December 22nd. We had to get the master copy out to our chosen distributor by the 23rd in order to have our copies ready by the 11th of January for the video premiere at TRP. We got the copies the day before the premiere, it was way too stressful.
What’s the deal with Nick Bullen’s last clip? It’s definitely a novel idea.
Alex: It was super windy that day and we all knew it needed to get done then as bad weather and winter were closing in on us. Nick grinded the rail a few times to get loosened up, then tried to get mentally ready for the clip. He went down the rail a few times feeling out the first part, then finally stuck one right off the end of the rail, couldn’t have been more perfect. Everyone tripped out and he ran back up the stairs, got lined up for the banger and a huge gust of wind hit him about 15 feet before the ledge. He was so mad and everyone was bummed. We were going to just take the rail trick and call it, but I pushed the issue a little farther and convinced him that the double banger would be so worth it in the end, and that I’d make it worth his effort. Once he got back up and pulled the clip seamless, I knew who would get the ender section. Nick is the dude and put in so much work and he totally deserved it.
Are you guys planning on making another video?
Alex: As of right now, we have no plans for another project as big as The Michigan Video. It was a miracle things came together as well as they did this year and I know that won’t be able to happen in the near future. Too many dudes in the crew have plans to move or get jobs or do things outside bmx so it’s hard to commit to a big project. But we’ll be filming, that’s for certain. The world will just have to wait and see what we come up with.
How did the “Project After Hours” video come about?
Alex: The After Hours video was super fun to make. Basically, Cory does some work for Ron Thomas, who owns the shop we filmed in. Ron has been working on some really cool projects based around his Xtreme Builders business and his work with AGA Nation and Rise Above BMX. Hopefully you’ll be able to see more of his work soon, I can assure you it’s pretty cool. So Ron was down to support us with the space and time to film a video. Putting Ron’s support together with Cory’s welding ability, we were able to get the project done in a few short weeks.
The Michigan video is available here for just ten bucks and I highly suggest you buy it. It’s still early in the year but I guarantee this one will make lists for 2014.
Troy talks with Focalpoint about the creation of his new DVD “That’s What’s Up” which I luckily saw over the weekend and FUCK it is great. Full review to come.
Push It A Stop 