Today was the annual JP Morgan Round the Island Race, probably the biggest yacht race in the world with over 1,700 boats sailing the 50 mile course around the Island.

Never too old to take photos.

Last night I went out and shot some trials riding with Dave and Adam. Trials, for those who don’t know, is riding bikes over natural or man-made obstacles and requires precision, skill, and balance. Unlike other aspects of mountain biking there isn’t any really clear cut ‘moment’ in a lot of the moves that can tell you what is happening in the shot. Quite often there are lots of before and after setup moves that are missed out in the 1/200th or so that is captured, which I find makes trials quite challenging to photo, especially to a non-biking audience.

Possibly my favorite of the day, Dave riding up the edge of the slipway in the rain.

A nice ‘One Move’ shot. Adam, post to beach… (Should have been a touch to the right more… :-p)

Being a hayfeaver sufferer and a light sleeper, I often wake up at silly times of the morning unable to breath. Most of the time its a pain, but sometimes it can be rather nice…

4:54am

A couple from last nights session up woods.

My favourite from last night, Adam scrubbing a quickly made step up in the near pitch black. Can just about see some ambient coming in the back there.  1/5@f3.2, iso 200.

All kinds of blur going on here, and a somewhat questionable placement of my fill light,  One for the re-shoot list :-)

Random Facts…

• My camera bag weighs the same as my bike (26lbs)
• The red Ready light on flashes are useful for finding them in the dark
• The SB25 is a really tough flash
• Its surprisingly dark in the woods at 9.30pm