Bontrager 24/12

July 27th, 2008 § 0

Not only did it not rain at this year’s Bontrager 24/12,  the event actually saw the kind of intense heat and dust that I’d normally associate with somewhere like the sponsor’s home of California, and probably had more than a few riders praying for just a little rain to cool them off and damp down the course a little. Kudos to Martyn Salt and his team for organising another hugely successful event at Newnham Park; the challenging eight mile course was praised by every rider I met and the race site had a friendly, positive atmosphere even in the middle of the night, when there was a DJ set-up in the woods and a jazz band providing the entertainment elsewhere. Image above: unknown rider on course at the 2008 Bontrager 24/12 almost 23 hours after the start of the race. 

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Keith Bontrager – 24/12

July 25th, 2008 § 0

As part of my coverage of this weekend’s Bontrager 24/12 2008 mountain bike event I arranged a portrait this evening with Keith Bontrager himself who will be competing in the solo 12 hour category (my own personal favourite from my take above). The late evening sun was shining on the race site and with the forecast looking good for the weekend we could see the first dry 24/12 in its three year history in the UK. I’ll be on-site for the entire event from first thing tomorrow morning and will post an update here when it’s all over…

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Nicolas Vouilloz

July 24th, 2008 § 0

This is one of the selects from a portrait sitting I did with ten-time world downhill mountain bike champion Nicolas Vouilloz when he was briefly in the area earlier this year with bike sponsor Lapierre. Vouilloz still competes in the occasional mountain bike race but now concentrates on his new career as a professional rally car driver and is currently leading the overall standings in the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge. If you require images of Nicolas Vouilloz for editorial or commercial use please contact me to discuss licensing options and to view further images from the shoot.

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Endurance Life

July 17th, 2008 § 0

I shot an assignment recently for the adventure racing event organiser Endurance Life which included photographing each team as they left the overnight camp at Princetown on Dartmoor to head out into the night on an orienteering portion of the Coast2Coast 2008. This was a last minute booking and due to prior commitments I could only arrive at the location 30 minutes before the 10:00pm start, and with the ambient light pretty much gone from the sky at this point it was obvious that I’d need to set-up some off-camera strobes to provide the lighting. It was pretty tight but needless to say I got the lighting gear set up, fired off a few test frames to check the exposure and flash ratios and was ready to start shooting by the time the competitors started to line up. The image above is of one of the teams waiting at the start (they were set-off in 30-second intervals), checking their lights and maps before heading out onto the moors.

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Corporate Portrait – Mike Jones – Plymouth Drake Circus Mall Manager

July 16th, 2008 § 0

Mike Jones Drake Circus Mall Manager

This is a corporate portrait I shot recently of Plymouth Drake Circus Mall Manager Mike Jones; my simple, creative approach to lighting allows me to be extremely flexible when working with busy clients who need to be photographed on location and between appointments, while still delivering studio quality images. I specialise in location portraits and this sitting was actually done in a small conference room within the Mall Management Suite, and the entire shoot was carried out inside of 30 minutes including set-up and strip-down time; the actual time spent with the subject can be as little as just a few minutes if their schedule dictates it. If you require a commercial photographer in the Plymouth area (I’m also available to work nationally if required) to produce corporate or commercial portraits for your business please contact me to discuss your requirements.

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You are currently viewing the archives for July, 2008 at Simon Keitch Photography Blog.