Busy Bee...

What a load off my shoulders with the semester school year over. Since my last post I have been traveling, shooting, and working away. Never really having a break to do much. Since I have a little down time before I leave before Japan I thought I would share some of my work over the past few months.

Red Bull Final Decent Angel Fire



AT Showdown







Corn Bike Maze




UNM Football.....................




UNM Basketball









New Mexico Bowl








In My Life- Chris Boice


There is nothing more exciting to me than telling a story through images, whether it is a mountain bike race, contest, or hanging out with my friends. In My Life is a long-term photo documentary project to capture the life behind an extreme sports athlete. The life that few have seen and some have pondered.

The Journey starts here with Chris Boice of the Yeti National Support Team.

Chris Boice is a professional gravity racer for Yeti National Support Team, which is an extension of the Yeti / Fox Racing Shox Factory Team. To most in the world he is just a cyclist, but to some others he is a threat on the racetrack. Chris’ speed was on par and he was one of the fastest Americans in the United States until he suffered an unfortunate accident at the 2010 United States National Championships. Despite his injury, he was still able to complete the season and claim the Mountain States Cup Pro Overall for the 3rd straight year in a row.

With the racing season over, Chris is still working hard to stay in top physical shape for the up coming season. His goals are clear and he plans to work hard and race well. With his love for the sport Chris said, “ I want to able look back and know that I was able to leave a positive influence on this sport.”

In My Life- Chris Boice from Long Nguyen on Vimeo.

Red Bull Rampage

September 30th, Thursday morning, my alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. I load up the car and off I go to my second Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah. As anxious as I was, the 8-½ hour drive felt like it took forever. Finally, I roll in to Virgin, and I head straight towards the hill. Finally, I arrive to the event site and I remember it as it was last time, REALLY BIG.



Many of the features were the same from the previous Rampage, but there were definitely some new things. As you look at the riders work on their lines and get settled in, you know that these riders showed up to win and are going to push the limits.



Friday October 1st was for qualifying, and the ten qualifiers would advance to Sunday’s final. Riders rode difficult lines, with some riders making it down clean, and others going down hard. With qualifying a wrap, people know that the limits will have to be pushed even more for Sunday’s finals.



Saturday October 2nd was a practice day. It was really low key, with riders only practicing in the early morning and the late afternoon. Towards the afternoon a nasty storm started to roll in. It looked like desert storm with all the dust blowing around and no visibility. Luckily, I got to my car right when the storm came in. I headed back to St. George for some evening rest-up for Sunday’s final.

Sunday October 3rd my alarm went off at 7 a.m. I gathered my things and headed to the site early, because I knew the riders were going to show up early for some practice. Riders gathered at the bottom for the riders meeting, and shortly after, they picked up their bikes and started their long hike up to their starting gate for the 10 a.m. start time.







All us photographers set up in our spots, the chopper was in the air, and the count down began, “3,2,1 rider on course”. The Red Bull Rampage finals were under way. As the riders came down the hill, a storm was slowly creeping in. Again, the riders pushed their limits, with a few making it down clean, but others not having such good luck.



After a short break, riders headed up the mountain for round two. The winds picked up and the dark clouds started to fill the sky. Slowly, they sent the riders down. Some had some bad luck with the wind, and finally the riders refused to ride because the weather was getting too dangerous.

After a break in the weather, the riders headed back up the hill to finish round two. Man, the riders really threw down with Cameron Zinks spinning a 360 off the Oakley Icon Sender, and Darren Berrecloth rode the most difficult technical line.


In the end, Cameron Zink was crowned Champion, and Rampage goes down in history. My trip was great, and tiring. Rampage is a unique event, and as long as there is one, I will be there. I packed up my car and was soon home bound.



Cheers,

P.S. Just giving a thanks to Cam McRae at NSMB.com for letting me work for them, Nick Moore for putting me up, and also Bobby Jones, with Red Bull, for putting me up the last night.

You guys can check more images Here

Yeah.... Its been awhile

It’s been about 5 months since I have updated my blog. I do apologize. I have been doing a lot of traveling and shooting. And I still have more traveling and shooting coming up. Some news is that I sold an image to Dainese (for Interbike), I got a clothing sponsor from Division 26 Clothing, work for and represent F-Stop camera bags as a street team member, and that’s about everything in a nut shell.

I have attached some links below of events that I have captured with my camera and I hope you enjoy.

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/blog/Chilechallenge2010.html

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/blog/USNatChamps2010Day3.html

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/blog/USNatChamps2010Day4.html

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/blog/USNatChamps2010Day5.html

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/blog/MSC82010.html

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/blog/RedbullFinalDecentWP.html

Also here is a link to my Crankworx Colorado photos

http://pictureboy.pinkbike.com/album/Crankworx-Colorado-2010/

What I have next???

Red Bull Rampage. I actually leave in two days for Utah

Red Bull Final Decent. 12-Hr Downhill Race in Angel Fire, NM.

And Who knows what else.

Photos from SSA VII

I have been meaning to post images from Sports Shooter Academy but I was swamped last week with test and HW. Since things week is a little mellower I thought I would get my images up.

The images aren’t my best but the experience that I gathered from the camp was priceless. I was able to experience shooting sports that I have never shot before and how to work and interact with athletes. The portrait shots were fun because we had only about five minutes to work with them. So time was pressed. Hope you enjoy the images.

Thank You

As most people have herd the Coolest photography event of the year was this past week in Orange County. I didn’t know what to expect when I showed up for the workshop, but it turned out to be one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. I was able to learn and experience so much in such little time. Us learners were able to work with some of the best in the industry and what they had to teach us was priceless.

If anyone who has ever contemplated taking the class, I would say do it. It is worth every bit of money and time. What they can teach you in 4 days is more than what I would ever learn in a lifetime. And there is still more of knowledge to obtain.

What you put in to the academy is what you get out of it. Not only was I able to leave with loads of information, but also the best part was that I was able to leave with some new photography friends, Even one as far as England. I was also able to leave with new athlete friends from Long Beach State Track and Field team.

It has been a few days now since I have gotten back to Albuquerque and I still can’t stop think about SSA VII. I am still digesting everything from the four days but I wanted to say thank you to all the SSA staff for taking time out of their busy lives to help teach others. What they do is remarkable and I am privilege to be able to be part of SSA VII.

Thank you to:

- Matt Brown, Southern California-based freelance photographer

- Wally Skalij, Los Angeles Times

- Myung J. Chun, Los Angeles Times

- Michael Goulding, Orange County Register

- Rod Mar, Seattle-based freelance photographer (formerly of the Seattle Times)

- John McDonough, Sports Illustrated

- Sean Haffey, San Diego Union-Tribune

- Ronal Taniwaki, Nikon Professional Services

- Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

- Jordan Murph, Sports Illustrated

- Crystal Chatham, Palm Spring Desert Sun

- Shawn Cullen, Sports Illustrated

- Mike Corrado, NPS Manager-Product Marketing)
- William Pekala, Nikon Professional Services General Manager)

And Big Thank you to Nikon for their great support and even with the hard economic times they are able to help support students.

Cheers

Family

Sorry it has taken me a few days to post some images from Sports Shooter. It has be a crazy week being home with test, papers, and projects.

But the images below are a photo story of a 4x4 Relay team from Long Beach State. When I shot track and field, instead of looking at angles and what not, I walked up to all the teams’ tents and introduced myself. I wanted them to know who I was and didn’t want them to get nervous when I was around capturing the behind the scenes. I wanted them to feel comfortable with me; I believe that is when you are able to capture the moments.

Unfortunately they were DQ’ed because the last leg didn’t get the baton in time. But Thank you Nathan Alade, Richard Crawford, Nimrod Piggee and Samuel Jeter for letting me come in to their bubble and capture a story of brotherhood.