“Shapes! Colors! Lines! Patterns!” – My brain when I first saw this photo. Combine that with an amazingly framed, expertly composed trick (with great lighting too) and you have the photo of the week. I think that the orange of his hat placed against the blue sky (and the reflection of the blue sky in all those windows) really does wonders for this photograph. If I were to make a list of my favorite photos of the week since we started doing this segment, this photo would be very close to the top of that list.
“This photo is of Jose Manuel Torres doing a hop over double peg to back over in Brussels, Belgium. We shot this on our recent Europe trip that me, him and another friend took late last year. Joey did this first thing in the morning on our second day or so. I tried to keep my gear pretty simple for the trip because I was the only one with a camera and had to cover filming and shooting duties. So I shot this using my Canon 7D, two Neewer speedlites and Pocket Wizards. The alley was pretty dark so bumping up my ISO and only using two flashes worked out totally fine. After he landed it and we got the photo I had to switch my setup to film a fisheye angle with the same camera. So thank you Joey for being willing to do this twice!
ISO 640 f/11 1/250th”
Check out more of Spenser’s work here. See more of Joey’s riding here.
Join the Flickr group and keep your megapixels primed.
Agus from Buenos Aires emailed me the other day with a photograph and some tragic news to go with it. His friend German “Bob” Torre had passed away unexpectedly and this photograph was the last to be made of him.
“That was my first picture of 2014, and my last picture of him. The first time we thought of shooting that barspin, we were passing by the spot (on the way to local public park, were we go pretty much everytime we ride), but he was with a headache, so, we continued our way to the park, to meet our friends.
The next weekend, while passing again by the spot, we talked about doing it, but it was waaay too hot, like being out in the desert, and none of us was in a riding mood, and I did not want to push him to do it, so, we, again, continued our way to the park to meet our friends like every time we are out riding.
A few hours later that day, the sun was coming down, and we were all chilling and doing nothing at the park because of the heat, so at a moment, we felt like, lets do something, instead of nothing. I looked at him, and said ‘lets go, lets take it’, just one second after I finished talking, he started pedalling, so we begun our ride back to the spot. As soon as we got there, he was like ‘find the angle you want and let me know when you are ready’, I just said OK to him, but thought to myself ‘Hah, this guy is going to do a crazy barspin over a crete structure, with a decent bunnyhop height and all, and asks ME to let him know when I am ready’.
A moment later, after looking the lading spot from above the structure, he went back, started pedalling up the run, hopped, throw bars/catch bars, landing it perfectly.
The picture was taken exactly half way the rotation, perfect bars position, and his too, nothing of that careless leaned-back style most do, he was as precise as a swiss clock. as soon as I put my eyes on the LCD screen, I hear him say ‘Let me know if it wasn’t good I can do it again, no problem’. Things like that happened everytime I went out with the camera when riding.”
Hadrien Picard seems to be able to do it all. Transitioning between the role of photographer and videographer is no easy task, however he seems to do it effortlessly and beautifully. Recently he has been pushing the limits of filming by shooting all his films on Nokia Lumia phone. Filming things on a phone is not a new concept, but with camer/phone technology getting better and better they are starting to turn into a necessity for any filmer/photographers bag. I caught up with Hadrien to find out more about his filming process and what he thinks about this new territory camera phones.
Can you give us a small introduction about yourself?
I am Hadrien Picard. I’m 31 and live around Paris. I’ve been riding for 20 years but I’m still terrible on a bike. I’ve been shooting photos for 16 years & thank god I’m a little less terrible at that. I’ve started to film around 7-8 years ago. I never thought I’d say this but I have the chance to be a pro photographer and filmer.
How did you make the transition from photographer to videographer?
For me, video has always seemed like a close cousin of photography. It has always interested me.
I’m not sayin I did everything in photo, very far from that, every day I realize that, but it was less a challenge for me at that time. I had a DV camera for a couple of years but something changed when video mode start to be included in DSLR. I was totally amazed by the quality and; the feel of the images from the 1st DSLRs that could film like the D90 & 5DMKII. So I bought a 7d and started to play with it. I did a couple of vids here and there, then I won the Nike StandBy Barcelona which helped me to look like a « legit » filmer haha.
I still and; will always shoot photos. It’s honestly cool to do both, it’s hard but it’s really rewarding for yourself to think you have done both. Video is a lot more work than photo, so I’m really happy when I can shoot photos ONLY.
What’s your current filming set up like?
I still have my lovely JVC HM100 but the majority of clips I film are with a Nikon D800 and; a Sony FS700 that maybe, besides my flat, is the most expensive thing I have ever bought. I’m pretty happy with it!
How did you start filming with the Nokia camera/phone?
They contacted me because they were looking for someone who was good in photo and; video in our sports.
Nokia used to be involved in BMX years ago so they knew BMX, skate and; snowboard are really photogenic/videogenic. They wanted people to shoot with their Lumias to show their cameras capabilities. I think they also like the spirit of BMX, skate and; snowboard. We met in the end of 2012 and; we talked about what we can do and Nokia Pureviews, and a creative community based around shooting with their Lumia lines, was born.
What are some of the challenges with filming on a phone? and did you have any hesitation putting down a video camera for a camera phone?
Those things are really light, which is good for your back, but I also thought that it can be a problem for stability. You have to pay attention to even small shakings but it’s actually less than I thought. There is an optical stabilisator inside that does great job.
Obviously a smartphone is and; will never be a DSLR : the sensor is small (even if the 1020 has a pretty big one) and; you can’t change lens. Some actually can but what’s the use having a smartphone that is big like DSLR at the end?
For sure it’s not a FS700 but overall I think the images look pretty damn good. Some riders were a little stressed to send it in front of a smartphone but when they saw the images they were confident about the result.
Your films are all very well done. How much does editing and post come into play? and could you give a little insight into your editing process?
Thanks!
I think editing is at least as important as filming. Photography is very exigent at the moment : a photo is good or bad. Period. But you can actually make a good video from not so good clips. The real difficulty of filming compared to shooting photos is that, even if it’s at the minimal scale, it’s not a movie, you have to think a little to what kind of shots you need if you want to make an intro, show something particular etc…
A photo could be great by its own but a video is an addition of a lot of clips so you have to think a little before & after about how organising it!
Music is also a third of the clip. It’s super important. It’s funny how I’m not a specialist in music but I really like to follow the most I can so the clip at the end is a perfect mix between sound and image.
I didn’t do any film/photo class so my editing process may not be the best! I don’t rename anything, I drag and drop all the clips I have in the time line and; from there cut and; select them and then bit by bit make the edit.
With camera and phone technology getting better every year, how do you think this is going to change the way we make films?
It has already changed a lot of things! Thanks to DSLR we can achieve a look that was impossible before. Things will become more and more close to perfection and; cheaper and; cheaper. But at the end, even with a Red Epic, if you suck you suck. It will never change that.
Smartphone speaking, they have 3 huge strenghs that may cause some big trouble to camera manufacturers: The image they make is getting better and; better and; can be usable for a lot of projects. Another strengh of the smartphone is that you carry it EVERYWHERE. It does so many thing it’s obvisouly already in your pocket, so you can shoot very fast whatever happen in front of you. « The best camera is the on you have » Remember. And finally phones are connected. Really important for geeks like us haha. But it’s true that more and more cameras can be connected. I bought a small panasonic that’s so smart it can send the photos to a phone via a wifi networks it creates. Crazy!
Do you have any other big projects coming out this year?
I have some really, really good stuff coming this year with Nokia…
Do you have any advice for future filmers out there?
Go out and shoot! Don’t wait, don’t be shy. If you want to learn, it’s 1000 times easier now that before thanks to digital and internet. Look around you to understand how things works but always remember not to copy/paste what is fashion today. Create your own style.
If you’re like me, you got your first video camera but had no fisheye lens for a while. Not that fun, right? Then you finally got the fisheye and you might as well had glued it on, because from there on out, every shot was filmed fish. It’s just easier that way. It made stuff look big, it made slow seem fast. Plus it never took a steady hand- just hit record and aim.
But, there is essentially only one way to use a fisheye- getting in the action. Filming long, you have so much more freedom of angles, vantage points, dramatic zoom, dynamic elements, foreground framing… The list goes on.
For this contest, we’re ditching the fisheye. A long lens shot can be so much more powerful than a fisheye shot if done properly. What really inspired this whole contest was this shot of Trey Jones by Ryan Navazio @ 2:14 (check it out to see what it takes to win this contest.)
Why that shot would win:
The pan into Trey using his shadow is so dynamic. It leads your eye seamlessly into the actual rider. It also shows character in the spot.
The timing at which Trey enters the frame (exactly at flat bottom, about to hit the bank).
The slow and steady zoom in, while panning and tilting.
No portion of the rider is cut out of frame during the trick.
It’s crisp, in focus and has good colors.
Let’s see your greatest long lens shots. The winning filmer will receive a Push It A Stop prize package and the rider will get gear from TCU/OSS.
Guidelines:
HD or SD – Any video camera can be used (although traditional video cameras have an advantage over DSLR’s- mostly the ability to zoom smoothly).
Clip can have been filmed whenever (doesn’t have to be new).
You can enter three clips (put them all in one file or upload separately- without music).
Handheld / tripod / zoom / rolling shots are all good (although there will be tripod shot and rolling long shot contests in the future).
Include an appropriate amount of heads and tails (time before the trick and after the trick).
The difficulty of the riding will NOT be judged, only the filming.
The first thing I noticed about this photo was the way the vertical lines are perfectly vertical. This is something I always try to achieve in my photographs. It is never actually necessary to do so, but in some fields of photography (especially architectural) you always want the verticals (of a building) to be straight up and down. It just looks so, so clean. Besides that, I liked the way the overpass cuts off the upper-right corner, containing the entire frame and not letting a white sky spill onto the background. The lighting is simple yet effective. The two red signs in the background are a nice touch of accent.
“I shot this photo of Joe Bolden doing edger foot jams on a windy cold Saturday. We met up with Houston street rider Brian Peters who then took us to this amazing spot under a freeway in Houston, TX. Btw, if any out of town riders are rolling through Houston & looking for street spots to ride, Brian Peters is your man. Back to the photo, we originally were here to get video street clips which we did but soon after busted out the photo camera to get some photos as well. Joe Bolden handles his street weapons with skill and fury and possess the ability to hurl edger foot jammers into objects, impale them on sharp objects or throw them off ledges. Other than it being unbelievably windy this day and the strong wind knocking over one of my flashes and breaking it, we had no hassles by any one. Anytime you have a Saturday of bicycles, coffee and friends, its sure to be a great day.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO Speed: 200
Flash: Sunpak & Vivitar 28FD (courtesy of Zipps. I still have it dude!)”
I sat down with Anthony for an interview which you can see over on We Are Orange Juice. If you are unfamiliar with him or need a quick refresh give his most recent edit a watch then click here to learn a little more about him.
The first official Push It A Stop photo contest has come to an end, and with nearly one hundred entries from around the world, it was fairly difficult to judge. I narrowed it down to fifteen finalists then sent them out to Gutstains, Devin Feil, Nick Jones and Chris Mortenson to get the final tally. I have to say though, that as soon as the winning entry was submitted, I knew it would be the panel’s favorite. The winning photographer is receiving a prize package from Push It A Stop and the rider will get gear from TCU.
Thanks to everyone who participated. Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t make the list- there will be many more contests in the future! The next contest will be video based and announced at the beginning of next week.
Photographer Daniel Benson has a photo gallery and interview up on The Diggest. I grew up looking at Benson’s BMX work in all the UK magazines so it was refreshing to see some of his work outside of BMX as well. Check it out here.
Push It A Stop 