Tag Archives: Nikon

Photo of the Week: Timothy Burkhart

Posted on March 17, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Matthias-Dandois_Timothy-Burkhart

I chose this photo because of the simplicity- blue sky, white puffy clouds, a good balance of ground and water in the composition. The position of the riders arms resembles a bird taking flight and the wide open framing allows for a dramatic proportion between the world and its possibilities.

“Last year was a busy one for me in Chicago and I had the opportunity to shoot with some amazing riders through Brian Kachinsky and the Bakery. It was a bit surreal at times shooting photos with people from all over the world and it was definitely a new experience for me and something I wasn’t accustomed to. During the summer we had Matthias Dandois come to town for a whole week to film for his Bakery edit as well as just spend some time in Chicago.

One afternoon during Matthias’ visit the Bakery crew and friends all met up at the 31st street skatepark on the south side of the city to take a break from being cooped up inside filming. I remember it being a really hot and muggy Chicago summer day and not being too prime for riding. After cruising the park for around an hour everyone headed toward the lakefront to scope out some ledges, but no one was too motivated to ride em’ as the sun was a bit draining.

I noticed Matthias busting out some flatland moves while most of us were sitting around bullshitting and chugging sports drinks and eating slushies trying to stay cool. Just at that moment there were some big clouds that blocked out the sun and were lingering over the water. They provided this great blue hue over everything and the lighting on the water looked crazy from the reflection of the clouds. I thought it would be great to get an almost silhouetted photo of Matthias riding with the water as a backdrop, so I asked if he would do some links by the water. He just did his thing freely and I snapped some photos from a distance just waiting for everything to line up perfectly. He made me so nervous with how close he was getting to the edge of the walkway, but he has some insane bike control and probably didn’t think twice about almost falling in the water. It was just a super casual moment that turned into a great photo opportunity.

Nikon D800
Nikon 70-210 f/4 AF
Shot at 70mm
1/500
f/6.3
ISO 400
Post processing in Photoshop CS6”

See more of Timothy’s work here. More of Matthias’ riding can be seen here.

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Photo of the Week: Travis Mortz

Posted on February 3, 2014 by | Leave a comment

PAU_0271

I was immediately drawn to the colors of this photo- the way the red frame plays off the blue sky. I also really like the green in those plants. The rider is nicely framed between the two trees and the brick triangles in the wedge point to the action. The timing is pretty great for a downside whip. The sun to the rider’s back creates a beautiful highlight and the balance with the flash on the front of the rider is nearly perfect.

“This photo of Neal Richardson was shot in Loomis, CA at a small skate plaza. I originally planned on shooting a bar on this wedge and it just didnt work the way I wanted it to. Neal then suggested a downside whip and I was all for it. After moving to the opposite side of the skatepark I realized that the sun was extremely harsh on the bank and Neal’s entire face and body was shadowed from the sun at his back. so I grabbed a Qflash and set it to full power and had my friend hold it right underneath Neal just out of frame to fill the shadow on his face and chest without lighting the already bright wedge. This photo was shot using a Nikon D3 paired with a Nikon 105mm F2 DC lens. My settings were 1/250th @ F9 with a Quantum wirelessly triggered by a Pocket Wizard.”

Check out more of Travis’ work here.

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Photo of the Week: Rados Ruzic

Posted on January 20, 2014 by | Leave a comment

rados potw

Originally, Rados had uploaded a photo of the same trick in the same location with the same lighting, but without the rider framed in the lit rectangle. I thought it strange and commented on the photo, asking why he hadn’t done so. He replied that he actually had, and uploaded that image. That image is what you see before you now, the Photo of the Week.

“It was a hot summer day in Belgrade and around 37 degrees celsius. Bike Festival was held in city center. I got call from my friends to go there, so I packed my gear, took my bike and rushed to the festival. Half of the streets were closed because of a bike race and thats why route to the center wasnt complicated. Once I got there, there was a flatland demo session after which we went to ride, we found couple of places which would be impossible to ride if there wasnt bike festival. One of those places was this old building without windows and without roof, it was perfect place for shooting. The light was getting through opening of a window and thats what gave me idea for this photo. I asked one of my friend Miroslav Springelj aka Mire to throw some flat line on the spot where the light was, plan was to capture his shadow there. Setup was simple, only one Nikon SB24 flash (on the right side, behind the wall) triggered with wireless trigger. At the end of the day I finished with couple of great shots and one of them was this one.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 28-105mm f2.8
Iso: 100
Aperture: F7.1
Shutter: 1/200”

See more of Rados’ work here.

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Photo of the Week: Ryan Ogawa

Posted on January 6, 2014 by | Leave a comment

chad osburn by ryan ogawa

“February in a bike shop here in central California is typically a slow time of year. On this day in 2012 Chad Osburn and myself took an extended lunch to ride Chad’s Alma Matter. After shooting a few other shots digi around the school, we stumbled on these rails. I knew this would make for a good medium format shot, due to the ambiance and timeless, reckless, high school feel. What obviously added to the difficulty, was trying to avoid the snack bar counter, but he ended up sliding a few nice slow cranks across the cool blue rail. I shot this packed up and back to the shop we went.
As far as flash setup, my memories a little foggy, but I believe I used two flashes – Sunpak 555 in the far back right approx. 8ft. back, and a Nikon SB-28 to the camera’s left facing Chad.
Camera: Hasselblad 500c/m with the 80mm 2.8
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: f 5.6
Triggered with: Paul C. Buff’s Cybersync’s
Film: Kodak Ektar 100”

Check out more of Ryan’s work here. See more of Chad’s riding here.

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Photo of the Week: Alex Herzog

Posted on December 23, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Nolan Wallrdie 640 for Scott

“The only downside to the sport of BMX is that it is inherently illegal. Even if you ride in skateparks, most don’t allow bikes, so you are technically breaking the law by riding there. But it is especially hard for us street riders. This day, Nolan [Santana], Joe and I were pedaling around the sketchier parts of South San Francisco in search for new spots. While cruising down the street, I saw Nolan hit this little wallride and thought it would make a good photo, as the wall framed him quite well with his black t-shirt and jeans. However as I was setting up my camera, the tenant came out and started to yell at us to leave after he heard the ruckus. Nolan and I really wanted this photo so we asked if we could just get one more go, and he said in his most terrifying voice “No, now I’m going inside to get my gun, and when I come out, ya’ll better be gone.” We gave it one more go and got this shot, and proceeded to get as far away from this spot as possible. This photo was shot on a 35mm Nikon FTN with no external flashes. I had the camera set at f5.6 with a shuterspeed of 1/250th. In the darkroom I had the enlarger set on a higher filter of 4.5 to really get that contrast and make Nolan pop off that wall. I also did some burning on the tops of the buildings to seperate them from the blown out foggy sky.”

Check out more of Alex’s work here and follow him here.

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Photo of the Week: Nick Hayday

Posted on December 16, 2013 by | Leave a comment

jim-cool

This photo… What is there to say that can’t be said by simply looking at it? It’s cool, it’s great, it’s clean, it’s pleasing. It’s fun, it’s simple, it’s trails, it’s BMX.

“A not so typical Sunday at some trails in the darkest depths of Surrey, UK. I met Jimmy Rushmore (United, Bicycle Union, Volt BMX) and a couple of others at the trails, to find the locals had gone on a day trip somewhere else. After a bit of patching and some watering, Jimmy started jumping the “Cool Runnings” line, which runs counter to all the other lines. The jump he’s hitting is a big step down, and from this angle is hidden behind some trees and just makes me laugh every time I see someone hit it and appear in the clearing, so I thought I’d try to capture it, with the hope that the foreground lines would give the shot some context.

I usually shoot a 2 or 3 flash setup, but purposely only took one flash aiming to practice controlling the fall off of light on to the trees, fairly successfully on this shot. Photo was shot in early August around 7.00pm on a Nikon D7000 using a 35mm f1.8 lens at f2.2 1/160 , flash (a Nikon SB-26 at 1/4 +0.7) was placed below and to left of the rider.

Massive thanks to the locals for letting us ride and shoot at some amazing trails.”

Check out more of Nick’s work here.

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Photo of the Week: Dylan Alvarado

Posted on October 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Ray Coleman Invert

This week’s photo is a strange one, with on-camera flash usage and mysterious crystal-like orbs. I thought it was rain, but Dylan vehemently denies any precipitation… Could be dust? I don’t know. Whatever it is created an appealing effect. The colors of that skatepark are wonderful as well.

“Joyce Park’s skate park, also known as [JP], is my local skate park and I go there just about every day I can. Ray Coleman, a good friend of mine, is also a local there and seriously kills it every time he rides. He’s the guy that all the kids talk about and they always ask if I know him or if I’m as good as him which is usually followed by the typical little kid “Can you do a backflip” question.

The day I shot this picture was just like any other day at [JP]. Ray was shredding and boosting the park as usual and since I don’t take pictures nearly as much as I should, I decided to whip out the camera. The sun was starting to go down so it was getting darker and the only type of flash I have is the one built on top of the camera. I started to use it just messing around but started to get some decent shots. The only problem I was having was the arc shadow from the fisheye lens. So when I shot this picture of Ray boosting an invert on one of the quarters in the bowl, I made sure to aim the camera to where the arc shadow wouldn’t look as noticeable. The arc fit perfectly in the shot just at the bottom of the bowl with the quarters lit up from the flash, making this the result.

Nikon D5000
Rokinon 8mm f 3.5
1/160
ISO 500”

View more of Dylan’s work here.

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Photo of the Week: Devon Denham

Posted on August 26, 2013 by | Leave a comment

ddpotw

“I shot this photo about a year ago in Bellflower, CA while I was on a shoot for Redline. We were supposed to be at Woodward West shooting with the team while they were filming the annual “Week At Woodward” that happens every year. However, the team decided to venture back to civilization so we could shoot some street photos. I wanted to show Zack the oh-so-famous Bellflower Ditch so we ended up there mid-day.

The photo was pretty simple to setup with three flashes (2x Quantum Flashes 1x Einstein) bunched up to give one solid source of light to bring out Zack. All flashes were set at 1/4 power to prevent motion blur, but there probably wouldn’t be any cause it’s a stall type of trick. Also the flashes were all setting to the left of the frame, right on the edge. It can really help to bring all the flashes in any photo right to the edge to maximize your capability of getting a faster shutter, lower ISO, or smaller f-stop. I apply this to all of my photos. Basically bring all flashes to the edges of your frame but not in the photo. I shot the photo with some mid grade Nikon lens… 18-105mm at 70mm I think. Shot far enough away to get a compressed look from shooting 70mm but I wanted to get the rest of the ditch in the photo too. I really think a photo can make-it-or-break-it from using the rule of thirds so I placed Zack in the right third of the photo. Here’s a lasting thought though, I feel what makes a BMX photo most eye catching is a properly placed rider according to the background. In this photo I had a dark contrast between Zacks lit body and the overpass in the background. I also had a clean back drop for him on the gray wall. Ideally, I don’t like to have objects behind the rider like poles, trees, signs, etc. I always try and find a open spot in the trees for the sky as a back drop or a clean wall. It takes an eye but I can make your rider pop and become easier to see.

Shot on a Nikon D200
ISO 100
F 5,6
1/250″

Check out more of Devon’s work here.

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Photo of the Week: Timothy Burkhart

Posted on August 19, 2013 by | 1 comment

Ryan-Wayne-Wallride_Timothy-Burkhart

I chose this photo because of the alternate angle and the lighting. The fisheye from above accentuates the pipe as a potential danger in the situation and you can tell how close he actually came to hitting it. The lighting is optimal and was achieved using only two flashes. Sometimes the key to a successful photograph is just finding an unusual angle.

“This photo is of one of good friends from here in Chicago, Ryan Wayne, doing a tight wall ride in Joliet, IL Ryan is someone that I ride with probably more than anyone else here in Chicago and we have been friends for a bit; despite that it seems like we don’t really shoot too many photos together, but recently we have been trying to be a bit more productive with our sessions.

We shot this photo on a little late night street session in downtown Joliet, IL riding with Anthony Loconte and Chris Zidek. Joliet is about an hour southwest of Chicago and is pretty much only known for it’s county jail and also the casino that is in the center of the whole town. It has a bit of a industrial era small town feel and is fairly deserted at night, which lets you pretty much ride whatever you want. We found this tight little wallride set up almost right out of the car, it wasn’t a super crazy set up, but was fun enough to play on. It was in a parking garage with really low ceilings and to make matters worse, on this particular wall there was a huge pipe hanging from the ceiling. Wallriding was a bit of a squeeze to say the least.

I set up two speedlights for the shot; I’ve been trying to dial back flash shooting lately and be more creative with one or two flashes opposed to using all three that I own for everything. I tried to shoot this with a 50mm while positioned lower to the ground first and get a more formal non distorted flattened out image, but it just looked too bland on this set up and didn’t really accentuate the low ceilings and the pipe hanging down. I threw on my 16mm fisheye and tried to workout a different angle, and had the idea I wanted to be above Ryan. I grabbed a garbage can that we found in the garage to give me a more bird’s eye perspective of the set up and I was wedged up against the ceiling while shooting. I positioned one flash at 1/2 power just out of frame on the bottom left of the image laying on the ground angled up at Ryan..pretty much right under him, then I had another on a tripod to the top left of the frame at full power to light the rest of the scene. It took a few attempts to get Ryan under the pipe without clipping his head, but after that we got a shot that we were both psyched on.

Nikon D800
Zenitar 16mm f/2.8
1/250
f/8
ISO 800
Nikon sb-28
Nikon sb-800
2 Godox Propac PB820 Battery Packs
AlienBees Cyber Syncs
Post processing done in Photoshop CS6”

See more of Timothy’s work here.

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Photo of the Week: Nathan Beddows

Posted on July 22, 2013 by | 2 comments

Jason_overtoothpick_aberdeen_web_1

This week’s photo captures a moment akin to the Normandy landings on D-Day in 1944. Maybe not as serious, but for some reason when looking at this photograph, D-Day comes to mind. Almost as important in this shot as the rider are the passersby walking under the obstacle, giving a sense of scale and place. I am a fan of the shapes in this composition, from the small rectangular posts in the water to the circle cutout in that wall. Although this is a digital crop/de-saturate, Nathan did it properly, including everything that needs to be included and creating a beautiful scale of tones from highlights to shadows.

“This photo of Jason Phelan doing an overtooth in Aberdeen was shot during the 2010 Mongoose Ride To Glory trip. Jason had come along to film the trip.

The XMP on the photo says it was shot with a Nikon D3, a 50mm f1.4, at 1/1000 f5.6 iso 800. I can’t remember much from that exact day but it was pretty grim weather-wise and that people were walking past not noticing us ride the roof. We waited till people were in the frame each time before doing the shot. I think the photo that got used in the Ride To Glory issue had a jogger running past with Jason doing an overice stall. Nothing else interesting happened there apart from the trick and the photo.

I haven’t seen Jason much since he was extradited from England but we had travelled a lot together and shot a lot of photos. This is probably just one from several hundred. Kinda interesting that this was shot on a Ride To Glory trip, as both me and Jason were joint longest running participants (every year since its inception) until this year (its sixth) when neither of us went on it. I think the last photo I shot with Jason was him doing a backflip with a guy in a wheelchair called “Wheelz” at Corby Skatepark last year.”

Check out more of Nathan’s work here.

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