Major Taylors Skate Park

Chuck jumping a barrel. f/5, 1/400th of a second (not fast enough to prevent motion blur). Speedlite 580EXII on camera acting as a master unit controlling the Speedlite 430EXII camera right set at 1/2 power. 

On a Saturday about a month back I had spent the day scouting locations for the running shoot I published of two runners. After finding the suitable locations for the running shoot I had wanted to go back to Major Taylors Skate Park,  near Marian College in Indianapolis. I had photographed this skate park about a year and half before in the post titled, "Drive By Shooting", and I wanted to catch some more skaters in action.

I like to be an active person and I want my photographs to reflect that. I love shooting rock climbing and skiing because I'm an active member of those communities, but I just want to cover everything active. I am not a skate boarder, or a runner for that matter, but I definitely respect those communities.

f/5, 1/500th @ ISO 320

f/5, 1/500th @ ISO 320. Speedlite @ 1/2 power camera right. 

Making Art. f/5, 1/500th @ ISO 320. Speedlite @ 1/2 power camera right.

f/5, 1/500th @ ISO 320. Speedlite @ 1/2 power camera right.

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Miles Jones ripping it up. f/5, 1/320th @ ISO 320. Speedlite @ 1/2 power camera right. Lesson in motion: Catch the subject at the apex of the flight; here is when they are traveling the slowest. If they were purely going straight up then down then at the Apex velocity = 0.

f/5, 1/320th @ ISO 320.

f/5, 1/320th @ ISO 320. Speedlite @ 1/2 power camera left. 

Jordan Mouning inaugurating the new graffiti. f/5, 1/200th @ ISO 320. Speedlite @ 1/2 power camera left. Yongnou Speedlite YN-560 set on the ramp. Because this flash operates as an optical slave and will not high-speed sync, I had to lower my shutter speed to 1/200th. 

Rocktoberfest 2011

Jonathan Mitchell working through Paradise Lost, 5.13a, Purgatory, PMRP, Red River Gorge, Kentucky 

What's better than beer at Octoberfest? How about beer and rock climbing? Every year for the first weekend of October hundreds of climbers descend upon Red River Gorge, Kentucky to celebrate Rocktoberfest. Red River Gorge offers some of the best overhanging sport climbing in the country and climbers come from all over the world to climb here. I went down by myself to meet up with as many climbers as I could. The first day I wound up at Purgatory in the PMRP with a rag tag group of climbers from all over the country (and world). John Sites, of Louisville, worked his way up Dracula 5.13b, to hang my fixed rope. 

This was my first opportunity to try out my new Black Diamond Bosun's Chair! Ascending the fixed rope I test out the seat: 1000x more comfortable than my ten year old BD Harness. No longer am I losing circulation in my legs; I am sitting on a padded plank with a bit of a backrest. I attach another line to my harness and one of the climbers below ties it to a rock. This allows me to stabilize myself and keep myself from spinning freely. Otherwise I'm constantly twisting my body trying to stay in position to shoot as I spin like a top. I'm slowly figuring out what works best for these shoots. 

From this position I can see Lucifer 5.14c (which I shot Neal Sipahimalani on back in June), The Castle Has Fallen 5.13b, and Paradise Lost 5.13a. The climbers take turns attempting the right two routes,  Castle and Paradise.

 Jonathan Mitchell working through Paradise Lost, 5.13a, Purgatory, PMRP, Red River Gorge, 

Kentucky. I love how his body's shape mirrors the rocks he's on. 




Click Here for the rest of the photos and the story.

Broderick Running Shoot

For a while I have wanted to do a shoot with Broderick, and finally our schedules aligned. I had scouted out this location a while back and knew exactly what I wanted. Because the short notice of the shoot I wasn't able to get an assistant, but I was wanting to do a much more natural light looking shoot this time anyway. It always helps to have another set of hands though, but I'm used to working on my own. I guess sometimes when I have help I'm not the greatest at delegating tasks to others.

Click here to see more photos from the shoot!