G Dan Mitchell Photography

Motorpacing the Women’s Keirin – American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The group drafts a motorcycle in the early laps of a women’s keirin event at the American Velodrome Challenge, Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California.

Just so people don’t start to think that I can only make blurry photographs of bicycle racing, here is a more straight-ahead bike racing shot from a preliminary round in the women’s keirin race at the American Velodrome Challenge. (I think this photo also demonstrates that the light does matter in sports photography, too – this was just just as the sun was about to drop below the horizon, so the light is golden and warm.) Here the group is being "motor-paces" by the fellow on the motorcycle for the first few laps as the riders remain in his draft and he gradually brings them up to speed. After a few paced laps the motorcycle pulls off and there is a very short, intense, and high speed finish.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bike, bicycle, racing, track, velodrome, national, professional, san jose, california, usa, rider, racer, competitor, women, hellyer, park, santa clara, county, keirin, motor, pace, motorcycle, draft, american, challenge, helmet, sunglasses, handlebars, wheel, proman, century, uscf, shadow, afternoon, evening, stock

G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.02.2009 :: Photographs: Sports :: 1 Comment » (Join the site to leave a comment.)

At the Front – American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two track riders at the front of the group and coming out of a turn in front of the stands – American Velodrome Challenge, Hellyer Park, San Jose, California.

I’m curious… there were quite a few other photographers at this event. Has anyone seen any other photographs from them yet?

This is yet another in the recent “motion blur photographs of bicycle track racing” series. To add one note to this series – it occurred to me today that these are a type of night photography. I do quite a bit of night photography, though it is usually the more typical tripod-based stuff. However, these images were made in lighting conditions not all that different from some of my urban night photo work.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bike, bicycle, racing, track, velodrome, national, professional, san jose, california, usa, two, rider, racer, competitor, sprint, bank, curve, turn, santa clara, county, hellyer, park, night, pack, group, peloton, american, challenge, stock

G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.01.2009 :: Photographs: Sports :: No Comments » (Join the site to leave a comment.)

At the Starting Line – American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Intense concentration on the faces of riders waiting at the starting line for their event to begin.

This is a close up shot of a group of riders at the starting line just seconds away from starting their qualifying heat in the keirin event at the American Velodrome Challenge. For those who aren’t familiar with bicycle track racing, in the keirin the first few laps feature the riders drafting behind a motorcycle. After the motorcycle brings the riders up to speed it drops away and a very intense sprint follows. In the photograph the riders can probably hear the motorcycle approaching from behind – as it passes they will take off.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bike, bicycle, racing, track, velodrome, national, professional, san jose, california, usa, start, starting, line, wait, concentration, intense, sun, glasses, arms, helmets, rider, competitor, cyclist, racer, event, keirin, hellyer, park, santa clara, county, qualifier, preliminary, event, stock

G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jun.30.2009 :: Photographs: Sports :: No Comments » (Join the site to leave a comment.)

Keirin Sprint- American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The group comes through a turn part way through the sprint portion of a keirin qualifying event at the American Velodrome Challenge, Hellyer Park, San Jose, California.

This is more of a “straight” bicycle racing photograph than the two I posted earlier and than the others that I will likely post soon. This was shot during a qualifying race in the keirin. This race begins the group drafting a pace motorcycle for the first few laps. After the motor gradually brings the croup up to speed it leaves the course about a lap and a half (on the Hellyer track) before the finishing line, leaving the cyclists to complete an extremely high speed all out sprint. Here the group is coming around a turn about half way through the final sprint portion with only two turns left to go.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jun.29.2009 :: Photographs: Sports :: No Comments » (Join the site to leave a comment.)

The 21MP full-frame Canon EOS 5D Mark II body is once again IN STOCK at B&H.

This is the camera I shoot with these days, and it has been a fine performer in every way. The camera goes in and out of stock quickly at B&H so if you have been waiting to purchase from a reliable vendor you might want to act now.

G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jun.28.2009 :: Commentary :: 1 Comment » (Join the site to leave a comment.)

In the Turn – American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The pack comes through the banked turn near the end of a night race at Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California.

Expect a whole series of motion-blurred photographs of night bicycle track racing over the next few days! I shot a few hundred frames at the Friday night American Velodrome Challenge races at the Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose, California as they ran keirin and miss-and-out races. Track bike racing, especially at the level of these races, provides some really great photographic opportunities. As I mentioned in a reply to a poster concerning a previous photograph in this series, there are few sports events where you have such close and continuous access to the competitors – while they race, while they prepare to race, and even in post-race settings. Bicycle racing can be very hard to photograph. While track racing doesn’t eliminate all of the complexities (heck, I shot these at night!, and the riders go by very, very quickly) at least it gives you many more opportunities to be close to the action than, say, professional road racing.

In this series I decided to forego straight photojournalistic style shots of racers. Been there, done that. I decided instead to push the capabilities of my gear and my technique (and my good luck!) a bit and shoot mostly without flash or, as in this shot, combine some fill flash with essentially natural light exposures. I shot at very slow – for such an event – shutter speeds, often working at between 1/50 second and down to 1/8 of a second or longer. Mostly I tried to shoot somewhat tightly framed images with a 70-200mm lens and pan with the riders as they approached and flew past. To be honest, you need to make a lot of exposures when shooting this way if you hope to get a few good ones – there are just far too many variables to be able to precisely control them in a predictable way. That said, there are some techniques that can increase the success rate. Some are obvious, such as practicing the panning motion required to track the riders. Others are less obvious, like learning to keep the riders framed properly at high speeds, or selecting focus points depending upon how you’ll try to compose the shot, and so forth.

For a guy who usually shoots from the tripod, doing this sort of work is a welcome contrast and it pushes me to think in ways that are quite different from my usual patterns.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bike, bicycle, racing, track, velodrome, national, professional, san jose, california, usa, santa clara, county, motion, speed, blur, rider, racer, cyclist, pack, peloton, sprint, sports, bissel, helmet, fixed gear, fixte, stock, action, speed, turn, subway

G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jun.28.2009 :: Photographs: Sports :: No Comments » (Join the site to leave a comment.)

The Sprint – American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The pack in the sprint at the night races of the American Velodrome Challenge at the Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California.

Here is something a bit different – nighttime elite-level bicycle track racing. On Friday I went to the evening events of the American Velodrome Challenge at Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose, California. I had a flash, but I decided that it would be more interesting to play with motion blur and shoot the pack close up at high ISO (up to 3200) and slow shutter speeds.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bike, bicycle, racing, track, velodrome, national, professional, san jose, california, usa, santa clara, county, motion, speed, blur, rider, racer, cyclist, pack, peloton, sprint, sports, bissel, helmet, fixed gear, fixte, stock, action, speed

G Dan Mitchell's photographs are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. Any use requires permission from G Dan Mitchell. Those reading the post via RSS may click the post title to view the original message and larger versions of most photographs.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jun.27.2009 :: Photographs: Sports :: No Comments » (Join the site to leave a comment.)