Serious Action

So this weekend I get invited to shoot the AMA Motorcycle race at a nearby track. The weather, which has been rainy all week long, instantly turns nice for Saturday, fluffy white clouds, mid 80s, sunny, perfect day for shooting.

I get an all access media pass, allowing me on the track, off the track, behind the scenes, everywhere. I've got my Nikon d2x, 80-200mm f/2.8 and a big handful of memory cards. At wide open, f/2.8, I've got 1/5000th of a second shutter speed. Perfect for capturing action. I set up at the corners and wait for the roar of the two stroke bikes. Despite the week's worth of rain, the track was dry and dusty, as you can see here.

At 100+ mph (I overheard 125 on the straights) it's very difficult to get shots in focus. Of the 1000 shots I took, 25 percent I missed the focus on. But of the shots where I nailed it, they came out great.

Here are some shots for your approval.

No order

There is no order to these posts from CrabTree falls. I was there from before the sun had reached the mountaintop, to well after noon, and several shots, such as this one, were in the shade.

Shiny

As you can see, as the clouds broke there was a wonderully blue sky behind, giving strong shadows, bright highlights and generally perfect pics.

Friend

Another Huntsman, also caught in the dying rays of the afternoon. It was interesting to watch him get up and move to where the light was. He would flatten out and absorb the heat from the leaf, and then when the light moved again, he would repeat the pattern. Just as the light broke through the trees and offered full sun, he stood up and reached out his legs toward the rays, as if to say "thank you", and that was when I captured this photograph.