I've barely been out of the house, much less taken any photos for the past couple months. But the weather was supposed to be sunny today so I drove the 2 1/2 hours to Sea Otter this morning. However, by the time I hobbled from the parking lot, which was way out in the sticks, and all downhill to the mtbr booth, I realized I had made a mistake. The knees were killing me! It was good to see my old buddy UncleMTB and also Aussie Bob, neither of whom I'd seen in a long time. I had pretty much decided to call it quits, hobble back to my truck, and head home. However, the guys pointed out that the downhill races were way back up near my truck.

I'm pretty stubborn or perhaps just stupid, so I decided to hobble over just to see the DH course. I was amazed at how fast the folks were going and they were doing a lot of jumping. So the photographer in me took over and I stuck around. Although I brought my 70 - 300 mm lens, I barely took it out. Instead I stuck with the 17 - 85 mm since you could get literally inches from the racers on this course. I wish I had known that and I would have brought my flash. So sorry about the shadows. Before I knew it I had walked down the course quite a bit. Duhhh, I should have realized there would be a lot of difficult walking up and down a on downhill course!

I had always wanted to photograph one of those trick jumping contests. Although the knees were really hurting, I figured they couldn't get much worse, so I went all the way back down to the main venue. I'm glad I did. The photos do not do it justice, it is amazing! As some of the photos show, the jumpers have incredible concentration, in addition to amazing skills. I took several hundred photos and it will take me a good bit of time to sort though them. But below are a few that caught my eye. I did not alter the camera position in any way, those guys really are upside down.

After seeing some of the photos I'm glad I went. I got out of the house, which has been driving me nuts, and I got a nice ride through California on a beautiful day, with the hillsides and mountains all green. Eight more days until I see a new orthopedist. Today demonstrated that, contrary to what I thought, I have not improved at all in the past few months and it is time for some action.

<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/SeaOtter07/_mg_6148.jpg"><br>
Shiggy and UncleMTB
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6737.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6332.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6393.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6405.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6440.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6512.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6541.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6652.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6773.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6822.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6833.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6856.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6860.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6888.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6901.jpg" width="800" height="600"><br>
Yes, really upside down!
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6374.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6401.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6519.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6531.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6532.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6633.jpg" width="800" height="600"><br>
No camera tricks!
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6792.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6806.jpg" width="800" height="600"><br>
No camera tricks!
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6807.jpg" width="800" height="600">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6727.jpg" width="668" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6876.jpg" width="579" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6746.jpg" width="580" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6902.jpg" width="539" height="701">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6521.jpg" width="529" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6338.jpg" width="557" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6438.jpg" width="548" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6494.jpg" width="516" height="700">
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6300.jpg" width="491" height="700">

Nice shots!

Those pictures are absolutely awesome!! :D Hope everything goes well with the new doc. :thumbsup: Good luck!!

sweet pics@!

Wherewolf. Fantastic shots bro. Glad you could get out of the house and see some stuff that you love.... Hope it goes well at the new doctor and things can get sorted and get you back out on the trails. Miss your great pictures... Heal up and Be Well

Never had that kind of luck shooting sports. Any chance that you cropped some of those shots a bunch, and that the originals show some background-- thinking the big air competition shots? Curious about the athletes' relative positions to their jumps and the ground or rollouts.

Thanks, and again, Wow!
josh

Well, I certainly think it was worth your pain and suffering.... ;)

Excellent series and further proof that the EF-S 17-85 IS is no dog toy.

Thanks for sharing,
Jeff

Great pix! Thanks!

Awesome shots!!!!

Thanks for sharing!

Great shots!

Sitting way back with that big lense would of been sweet!

Excellent shots! And you picked the right day to come out (saturday was monsoon day). Wish the knees improve soon...

superb shots!! its just like the feeling of being there just by looking at the pics!

beautiful pics. too bad Saturday conditions suxd

Never had that kind of luck shooting sports. Any chance that you cropped some of those shots a bunch, and that the originals show some background-- thinking the big air competition shots? Curious about the athletes' relative positions to their jumps and the ground or rollouts.
Thanks, and again, Wow!
josh
Most of these are near full frame. Cropping far away shots doesn't give as much detail. I'll have more later that give more perspective, and I'm going to try to put a good sequence together. Anticipation, prefocusing and "pre-metering" make a difference. And once I got their patterns down it was much easier. Toward the end I switched from jpeg mode to raw. The 5 fps in jpeg was too fast, whereas in raw I only get 3 fps.

I'll have more later that give more perspective, and I'm going to try to put a good sequence together. Anticipation, prefocusing and "pre-metering" make a difference. And once I got their patterns down it was much easier. Toward the end I switched from jpeg mode to raw. The 5 fps in jpeg was too fast, whereas in raw I only get 3 fps.

shooting a 20D ;) :thumbsup:

Wolf, I almost got to meet you, I guess yuo just walked away moments before I found Unclemtb and was talking to him. But by your shots, I must have passed you a few dozen times on the DH course.

I love your pics. Sadly, my wife didnt let me take the good camera this weekend. Your amazing.

Anyone else notice what's about to happen here?


http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6888.jpg

Anyone else notice what's about to happen here?
Yep! The landing won't be so smooth!

Did anyone else see waylen smith(140) take some kid out just before the log jump in dh practice sunday morning?

Wow wherewolf... some serious skills on all the closeup shots... :)

Anyone else notice what's about to happen here?


http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6888.jpg


It is just an optical illusion. His rear tire is fine. ;)

Yep! The landing won't be so smooth!
Four frames later...., and he lands fine in the next frame.

<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6892.jpg" width="800" height="600">

This guy didn't make it.
<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6745.jpg" width="800" height="600">

<p align="center"><img border="4" src="http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/seaotter07/_mg_6750.jpg" width="800" height="600">

It is just an optical illusion. His rear tire is fine. ;)

Checking a rear tire mid-air? Those guys are talented! :)

Ali

Awesome shots.

Wherewolf - fantastic action pics!

Curious about the athletes' relative positions to their jumps and the ground or rollouts.

Francois posted links to both high res and low res videos of the friday jumping practice. That will give you a good idea. And they were only practicing. I highly recommend the high res version, it's only a bit under 9 meg. See: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=2958584#poststop