Fort William MTB World Cup

schpleep

schpleep

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Name
Lee
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I'm finally through the first pass of my images from the weekend at Fort William. As usual it was a cracking weekend in the mountains watching the best riders in the world going as fast as humanly possible. Even the weather put in a good performance.

These shots are from the Saturday qualifying and that night's 4X racing. To be honest I shot way too much for the amount of keepers that I got from the 4X. This would probably be the main benefit of getting press/photo access to this event, all the corners with views up the track are taped off so face shots are much more limited here than at any other time over the weekend. I got some alright stuff but will be using this as a reminder to make inquiries for better access next year.

Access to the DH course is fantastic on the other hand and although I didn't shoot much in the trees this year the sunlight out on the open mountain side made for some fast shutter and wide aperture work. Spectators in the background/on the horizon can be a right pain though (for example; note the multi-coloured fluro laces nicely bokeh'd in #3 below :nono:)

Still that's all part of the fun/challenge of shooting racing I guess.

Hope you like'em

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The full set of images is over on Flickr

Lee
 
Good work. Loving the Sam Hill shot.

I watched this live on TV and the coverage was very poor.

Good set on flickr too - a busy weekend for the UK biking scene as down here I shot Bristol Bike Fest which was good fun but very very wet....

Pete.
 
Diego Garcia said:
Good work. Loving the Sam Hill shot.

Good set on flickr too - a busy weekend for the UK biking scene as down here I shot Bristol Bike Fest which was good fun but very very wet....

Pete.
Click to expand...

Actually that was a small mistake on my part, that's another Monster/Specialized rider; Brendan Fairclough. Sam Hill was dressed in a very distinctive "rhubarb and custard" race suit for both the qualifying and race.

Bristol is getting a reputation for being the extreme weather enduro. I did it a few years ago and it was crazy hot and dry!

Lee
 
Here're a few more from the finals on Sunday. After not getting enough keepers on the Saturday I settled into it a bit more and treated the previous day as the riders did: practice and qualifying. On Sunday I was much more focused on what I wanted, as a result I'm much happier with some of these.

*Previous comments about filmers and spectators still apply though and I'd like to add race tape and marking poles to the same "guaranteed-to-get-in-the-way-of-a-good-one" group ;o)

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Good again. I noted how the public where on a free for all view wise, which I suppose is good and bad in equal measure. People deserve a decent view, but it is a shame to clutter the backdrop.

I think I would have recced the route over and over until I found a sweet spot if it existed.
 
Nothing wrong with the shots, but there is just too much of that plastic tape in the world these days. Almost every shot you see of downhill is full of it. Spoils it. It's a shame.
 
Diego Garcia said:
I watched this live on TV and the coverage was very poor.
Click to expand...

Wasn't just me being ungrateful then. I think the wife was going up the wall with me ranting at the lack of course coverage.

Love the photo's makes me want to go ride, now, just hoping I can get my hernia healed up quick enough to go up and ride there this year myself.
 
really nice set of pic's.. going to get my self there next year....
 
Soem great ones there. favourite is no 2. Love the hoodie in 'E' checking his camcorder. I have been up there taking pictures and have asked a few people if they would not mind stepping a foot or two to either side of the shot, they were usually fine with doing this. Obviously thanking them very much for doing it.

Great pictures.
 
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