SSWC09 Race Day portraits

Race day was finally here. I had been working with with Jon, Chad the crew with several photo projects leading up to the race. The race had been billed as a gnarly, ass-kicking affair and people were psyched. I've been shooting bike races for a long time and knew that shooting the course would put me in one cool spot or I'd be running all over the place trying to capture the action. Since I'm way more into portraits these days, I decided to setup a mini studio in Buckley park were the starting line festivities and capture people before the race. It was my desire to show the broad spectrum of characters that came to Durango for the SSWC09.

My vision for this project was to use it as a rear light source to create shadowless, ring flash-like portraits. Since I was illuminating my subjects from behind I knew my contrast was going to be flat out of the camera. I then ramped up my contrast and converted to B&W to give the photos a little more pop. That was theory anyway.

I'd long been desiring a new 7' Octobox for my strobes. I was eager to utilize it for my architectural work as well as portrait shoots. This event gave me an excuse to pull the trigger and buy one. I set up the strobe and box behind me.  SSWC09 wasn't an sophisticated affair so I decided to reflect that with a crude backdrop, a black sheet clamped to a cross bar. You can see a seam that goes right through the middle and some tear holes. My strobe was powered with a generator. Below was a subject's perspective of me.

Since there hundreds of riders, I basically just started pulling people in and working quick. I let people pose themselves and do what they wanted. Here are some shots from the day.