Minneapolis SX

[Chili]

Had a chance to shoot at the Minneapolis SX this past weekend, it was my first experience on the floor at a SX and it was certainly nothing like shooting at any National or AX I've ever attended.

It was an interesting night to say the least. When I arrived and picked up my vest I was also given a track map that clearly shows where you can and can not stand to shoot. It was shocking to see the four small areas that were available to shoot from after have virtually free reign at any other race I've shot in the past.

I can't say that I was thrilled with my results but we all have those kinds of days shooting where we aren't as sharp as we would have liked.

Without further rambling here is some of those results, as mentioned in a previous thread some of my stuff was used in Steve Matthes Observations column ( http://www.racerxcanada.com/news/4449/steve-matthes-observations-from-minneapolis/ ) as well as a Five minutes column with Canadian Tyler Medaglia who made his first main this weekend ( http://www.racerxcanada.com/news/4448/five-minutes-with-tyler-medaglia/ )

There will also be some wallpapers on Racer X Canada later this week and I'll post them when they go up.

 

[Chili]

Jake Moss

Nico Izzi

Kevin Windham

 

[Chili]

Jiri Dostal

Grant and Izzi

Tommy Hahn

 

[Chili]

Jacob Marsack

Ryan Morais

Andrew Short

 

[Chili]

Justin Sipes and Jimmy Albertson

Jeff Gibson

Tyler Medaglia

 

[Chili]

As always comments and critiques are appreciated. I'd especially like to hear some thoughts on the Gibson and Medaglia shots at the end. Not sure what it is about those shots but I like them, although that seems to be the minority opinion in this house due to the lights in the background.

 

[oldguy]

Doug great shots. As far as the last 2 they show the bike nice but there seems to be a bright flare in the light that pulls your eye away from the bike/rider. I guess in my mind I would give them a 7.5 out of 10
The shots of Izzi (1st one) and Windham are 9.7 out of 10 and the tight corner shots you can almost hear the rider thinking "dam I gotta jump that again?" from the eyes

As usual you got some great ones

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

They are all great! Except Jake Moss, that looks really cool how the glare from the frame matches on the tough block. Jiri Dostal, it is not about the crowds or the bike, its about the racer! Fantastic Chili!

 

[flynbryan]

My favorite is the one of Kevin Windham. They're all very good though. I really like how you were able to catch the riders eyes in the shot. It shows the feelings of the riders and the intensity. Well done.

 

[Chili]

Thanks for the comments guys, a few more shots used on Racer X Canada's raw numbers feature this week http://www.racerxcanada.com/news/4462/raw-numbers/

 

[Squid31]

Congrats Doug. Sure is different down there eh! So far this year I have noticed a huge reduction of green areas on the map. Daytona on the other hand was wide open. I even crossed the track while riders were on it. :yikes: As for the photos you posted I don't think I can point out anything wrong with any of them, but I like the Izzy shot the best and Medaglia is a close 2nd.

I'm surprised you only went to ISO 800. I find with the MkII all the way to 1600 is great.

 

[Chili]

I'm surprised you only went to ISO 800. I find with the MkII all the way to 1600 is great.

It was really a faux pas on my part, my mind was elsewhere with my Dad having health issues. I found a setting that worked and just kind of stayed there. In retrospect there was several things I wanted to try and never got around to them. If I was to do it again I likely would have shot a bunch more around ISO 1250 and dropped the shutter some and left the flash off. Because I didn't, I missed a few great peak action shots where my flash didn't recycle fast enough.

 

[IndyMX]

I also liked the Kevin Windham shot best.. I don't really see those sorts of shots much.

 

[crash32]

Nice work Doug!

 

[XR3J]

My favorite is the Shorty shot, framed between the supercross signs.

 

[Phil]

I like that shot of Kevin Windham.

 

[Squid31]

Sorry to hear about your dad having health troubles. Hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Chili]

Thanks Emile, everything seems to be going as well as can be expected.

Well Racer X Canada never got around to posting the images I selected for wallpapers so I figured someone might as well see them, hope you guys aren't sick of SX stuff yet.

 

[fatcat216]

hope you guys aren't sick of SX stuff yet.

yeah.... that'll happen. ... about the same time the guys get sick of pics of the 30 sec girls. ;)

NICE photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

That Preston shot is pretty awesome!

 

[Squid31]

Hey Doug, were you using off camera flash for this shot? I would think not looking at the exif. Just wondering how the shadows got there?

 

[Chili]

Emile, the exif I see shows both shots on manual flash, not sure what exif viewer you are using but it must not be showing all the details.

 

[Squid31]

I'm using the Firefox plug in that you suggested. I saw the manual flash in the exif, but the shadows in the photos look like off camera flash high from the right side. Could just be the lighting I guess.

 

[Chili]

Sorry, I misread your post and just saw flash. No I did not use an off camera flash. Since shooting was so limited it's possible one of the 13 other guys standing in the same turn flashed at the same time but would be pretty rare to catch it twice and both on shots I decided to use.

I'll have a look at some of the others from that turn tonight if I get a chance after getting the trailer and bikes ready for this weekend.

 

[trial_07]

I just caught up with this thread. Really nice pics Chili! :cool: