I think this was the 8th or 9th time I've been to Sea Otter to shoot downhill. Instead of going for conservative shots and tack-sharp images, today I tried to think of it as a DHer would think about their race run.
At Sea Otter the racers takes risks with their bike setup because of the course, so I decided to go riskier than normal, too. I spent a lot of the day shooting slow shutter speeds and trying to find new angles.
As a result, I have many useless, blurry photos, but a handful really worked out and make me feel like the risk was well worth it today.
This photo of Kyle Strait is an example of a risky shot. It's 1/30th of a second and it's not tack-sharp by any means, but it may be my favorite from the day. The speed of the Sea Otter DH track (which is high) is captured, the colors are spring-like and Kyle is a natural on a bike...you can't really screw up a photo of Strait. He's also on a new feature of the course, which wasn't here in years past, so this photo was never really possible until this year's course tune-up by Momentum Trail Concepts.
Enjoy some risks, some failures and some successes, along with some "normal" shots.
For the camera nerds, every shot was pre-focused with the old Canon 5d that Sven sold me, my trusty and weathered 70-200 f4L lens and either Tv or Av settings (1/15, 1/30 or 1/60 for Tv and f5.0 or 5.6 for most Av shots). At the time of posting this gallery, I did not have access to plate numbers or results, so help out in the comments.
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