“I’ve been really fortunate to meet up with Ryan Lloyd, Luke Peeters and the crew at Gorge Road Trail in New Zealand during their very last hour of filming for the United video « Aesthetics »… Many thanks to Nathan (the Boss of this piece of paradise) to allow me to snap couple pics here…” –Vince Perraud
Tagged Gorge Road, Luke Peeters, New Zealand, Ryan Lloyd, United, Vince Perraud
Just a friendly reminder that you have a couple more weeks to get your entries in for the Long Lens Shot Contest. This entry comes from our own Nick Jones with a smooth panning zoom out and a nice Dutch tilt zoom-to-the-sky ending. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a ridiculous trick as well.
The rigid composition of this shot (and it’s monochromatic palette) reminded me of Thomas Struth’s older cityscape photos that I was really into when I was first learning about the structure of photography. The verticals are straight and the horizontals are (pretty much) flat. The subtle grind box in the foreground is a nice touch. Quite unusually, I think the shadows created by the flash add to the photo. The lighting is simple yet effective, the trick is good and nicely timed. The shadows aren’t very deep but I like flatness it creates. Last but not least, this is one of the skateparks from my childhood so it plucks a certain chord on my heartstrings.
“We won’t disclose the riders name, he’s an Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran, so we’re going to give him a new name. John seems fit.
This was another one of those photos that kind of just happened, we headed out to chenga for the 10$ Sunday session. I hadn’t rode with “John” in about 6 months, he himself didn’t ride for that long either. He’s an older guy, I don’t know his exact age but he isn’t 16 and he could possibly be a father to some of these triple whippin’ dew tour champions. Usually when we roll up to a park, its those same kids who are the first ones to say something about his old school 35 lb bike and 7 inch bars, but its tricks like these that usually shut those kids right up. John will be off a bike for months to years at a time, show up at a park and shut it down in 15 minutes before his first smoke break. This is a good example because his first 3 runs at this quarter (that he never rode before), he ice picked the sub rail, abubaca and then foot planted it.
I didn’t even bring my full camera bag, just my camera with the 40mm already on and a flash, no stands, no other lenses nothing. I asked John to foot plant it one more time for the camera. The session in this side of the park was quickly dying, so I literally turned my flash on to half power, laid it on the box jump to the right, focused some where in between the coping and the hitching post and told him to go for it. Within what seemed like 30 seconds we had set up and taken the photo, apparently we nailed it.
Settings:
550D 40mm 2.8
1/200
F 5.6
ISO 400
Yongnuo 560 II ( 1/2 power on the right)”
Check out more of Adam’s work here.
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Posted in Photo of the Week
Tagged Adam Cook, Canon, Chenga World, Thomas Struth, Yongnuo
For a new segment I call “Roll With”, I send a disposable camera to a rider and ask them to shoot around while they go about their daily business. A prime candidate for the first roll was the pro’s pro, Brian Kachinsky. He seems to always be on the move and willing to contribute to a project in a helping manner. For this roll, we follow him through a trip to Louisiana with a group of friends and then to Costa Rica with the Primo team.
“When I first started traveling many years ago I remember legendary pro Dave Freimuth giving me some wise words of advice: “take a lot of pictures” he said. Since then I have been all over the world and currently have over 12,000 pictures on my iPhone and even more hard drives filled up with pictures from my adventures both at home and abroad. When I first started traveling I didn’t have a digital camera. I only had a handful of disposable cameras to capture some of the best times of my life. When given a couple disposable cameras to bring on trips by Scott Marceau I couldn’t help but remember how much different it is from digital. Much like life itself, there’s no delete button or second tries. Here’s a few permanent snaps from a couple escapes from Chicago’s polar vortex of 2014. Enjoy!”
Posted in Roll With
Tagged Aaron Brenner, Baton Rouge, Brian Kachinsky, Costa Rica, Louisiana, New Orleans, Primo, Shawn Macintosh, Ty Morrow
George Marshall uploaded a gallery of photos from Round 1 of the Street Series that went down this past weekend in Cape Town, South Africa. Check it out on The Albion’s website.
Posted in Photo
Tagged Cape Town, George Marshall, South Africa, Street Series, The Albion
“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.
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Posted in BMX, Gear, Photo of the Week, Tech
Tagged Belgium, Brussels, Canon, Joey Torres, Neewer, Pocket Wizards, Spenser Lee
Check out this quick behind the scenes with Albert Mercado and Justin Kosman shooting on the back of his 1973 International Harvester Scout II.
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.”
Photos by Hadrien Picard interview by Chris Mortenson
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.
Posted in BMX, Interview, Uncategorized, Video
Tagged BMX, Hadrien Picard, Nokia Lumia, soul bmx, videography
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:
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.
How to enter:
Join the Vimeo group and upload your clips, titled “Long Lens Shots” into the “Long Lens Shot Contest” album.
For help with exporting/compression (for SD) go here.
Deadline is March 10th. Any questions or comments can be heard here.
Push It A Stop 