Since this year is coming to a close, I thought I’d share with you what I think are some of the better photos from 2010. This year I shot the usual desert and short course races, along with King of the Hammers, some mountain biking, and the NHRA finals thrown in towards the end of the year. In total I went to about 28 events, and took around 40,000 photos. So be patient! Its a pretty long blog but hopefully worth the wait!

Before I begin I’d just like to thank my wife Jamie for putting up with another busy year of photography. I’m usually gone a few times a month which leaves all the responsibility of running a household on her while I’m gone. She is incredibly supportive and unselfish to let me do what I love and enjoy, and she is the backbone of our family.

First off I’d thought I’d show some of my favorite photos from mountain bike races I went to. I shot one endurance race called The Vision Quest / Counting Coup, and also covered a local series out in Irvine called Over The Hump Series. I started riding bikes myself the past few years and I’ve grown to really love the sport. Its man versus nature at the basic level, and the time you spend on the bike can be very relaxing.

The Counting Coup runs through the Santa Ana Mountains, and gives some great backgrounds and also some really good light in the morning.

The Over The Hump Race is held at Irvine Lake and also gives you some great backgrounds to chose from. OTH is a local series with great support from the community, and is a lot of fun to shoot. Its held every Tuesday for about 2 months so you get a lot of opportunities to play around with different angles.

The races are held during the end of the day so you get some nice lighting to work with.

Among short course racing, Crandon Offroad Raceway is the grandfather of all tracks. Its where the traditions and backbone of the sport started. Crandon is a great track with its wide open speeds, great scenery, and even better people. Here are a few from this years Labor Day race that I liked.

Here are a few of my favorites from this years LOORRS season. At the Surprise, AZ course one turn I like to shoot at is this photo below. Its a wide sweeping turn and during the race the sun is behind the corner so it gives the light a cool look to it.

Robby Woods flies through the air and into the sunset.

A course worker flags down the field silhouetted by the sun.

Ricky Johnson has the Santa Ana Mountains in the background has he hits a jump at Glen Helen Raceway.

Sean Geiser goes for a ride in his Prolite Truck.

Here is one shot from the King of the Hammers, this was taken at one of the more popular spectator spots called Sledgehammer.

At a few races this year I was able to mess around with remote flashes and cameras during the race, and was able to get a few interesting shots. At the SCORE Laughlin Leap I set up my Canon 550ex flash to the right of the trucks and walked farther down the landing area to get a nice head on shot.

At a LOORRS race this year Kyle Leduc let me put my flash inside his truck, so that I could fire it from the track. My goal was to get some interesting shots with the background and truck dark with the cab and him all lit up. You can see my blog about it here.

Here are two shots that I liked the best from the series.

That same weekend I also mounted a Canon 20D on the back of Kyle Leducs truck. Here is a blog about that as well.

I also had the opportunity in 2010 to help out a friend who runs the company Dirtbagz with some product photography. It was my first time doing product shots and I enjoyed it a lot and hope to do more in 2011.

Shooting desert racing is my first love. Its not just going to a track and shooting photos, its the adventure of racing from spot to spot to beat your client. Its prerunning before hand to find the best spots along the course, and the logistics of putting it all together with a game plan for race day. The course is constantly changing as more vehicles carve into the dirt. At a Nascar race you can go to the media center for lunch, in Baja you live off the local taco stand and Doritos.

I’d say overall one of the best desert races of 2010 for photos was the SNORE Mint 400. The course is rough with a lot of great spots, but the qualifying session the day before the race was a photographers candy jar. One spot along the qualifying loop was a jump at the bottom of a long downhill and the racers put on a great show, both intentionally and unintentionally. Here are three photos, one of Cameron Steele crashing his Trophy Truck after landing in a deep hole after the jump, and Roger Norman launching his truck in the air, and a Class 1 car who surprisingly saved it and just ended up breaking his front a-arm.

Here are some more of my favorite shots from the 2010 desert racing season.

Another photo from the Mint 400 where Zorba Racing blows their front bumper into the silt.

Overlooking contingency at the SCORE San Felipe 250 race.

Wilson Motorsports races down the town of Ensenada at the Baja 500.

Mastercraft’s Robbie Pierce and COPS Racing blast through a silt bed in San Felipe.

KING Shock using a Macro Lens.

BJ Baldwin launches off a jump at the BITD Vegas 2 Reno race.

Andy McMillin during qualifying for the BITD Parker 425.

Well thats it for the best of 2010, thank you for taking the time to look over my blog and photos for the past year. I enjoy showing my work to all of you and hope you enjoy checking them out. 2011 looks to be an even busier year then the last so make sure to keep checking back for updates! Thanks again and see you at the track/desert/mountains/dragstrip/rocks and more!

Jason Zindroski
HighRev Photography

The week prior they added a steep hike-a-bike section so I wanted to photograph that, thinking I’d get some good shots of people grinding up the hill feeling the pain! However this week it was an option so I decided to skip it since I may miss a lot of people.

Rather then jumping around between the east and west side of the course this time around, I decided to play it safe and stay on only the east side, so that I’d get more photos of everyone. I like to move around a lot to mix things up, but sometimes you pay the price of missing a lot of the racers.

The first spot I went to was in the beginning of the course after a short single track session before heading back towards the lake.

Monster Energy’s Casey Curie entered this race and now plans on racing the rest.

After everyone went by I got on my bike and headed over to a small short uphill where some of the riders will catch air (only because there is a camera on them ) just a little farther up the course.

This is the eventual winner of the race, Sid Taberlay, who on his second lap already had a huge gap between himself and the rest of the Pro/Experts.

Next up I headed to the top portion of the course where there was a long straight away before they made a sharp left up another hill. This section is where a lot of people can either make up or lose a lot of time. For my race on August 31st I plan on bringing a rope and tying it to someone’s seat post.

By this time most of the Beginner and Sport racers had gone by on their last lap, so I headed back to the staging area stopping one last time to catch the lead group.

Sid Taberlay on his way to winning the Pro class by 3+ minutes.

That’s all for this week, we’ll see everyone out there August 17th! All my photos are up on my site so check them out!

http://highrevphoto.com/photos/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=2073

This past Tuesday marked the beginning of a great local mountain bike series based out of Irvine Lake, CA. Its called Over The Hump Race Series, and its designed to be a fun environment where everyone from beginners to pros can come out and race, and share the experience with the friends and family. What makes it better is that they are held on Tuesday’s at 6pm so it doesn’t interfere with other weekend races, and anyone can come after work and check it out.

Last year OTH had two races and they were big hits with the local mountain bike community, so this year they stepped it up and there will be a total of 12 events. Since one of my goals at the beginning of the year was to get out and shoot more mountain bike races, I was excited to photograph as many of the races as I could. I like the fact that they are every week, because it will give me the opportunity to shoot at a lot of different places and try new things

I got to the event about two hours early so that I could check out the course. Because of the water levels the loop was a little different from last year, so I wanted to ride it once to check out potential photo spots. The course was a lot of fun with a nice mix of small climbs, wide open sprint areas, and some technical single tracks.

The first thing you notice when you get to the event site, is a large water bridge that was incorporated into the course, so I wanted to make sure I got shots of racers going across it. Its a unique thing to have be part of a race so I thought a lot of the racers would want to see themselves going across it, here are a few shots from the first lap of the race standing at the base of the bridge.

On my way to the second spot I’d be shooting at it gave me a nice high view of the bridge, so I made sure to photograph the leaders coming through. Here is the winner of the race Brandon Gritters crossing the bridge.

The next spot I went to was just a short hike from the base of the bridge, and was a short little downhill into a left hand turn.

I shot there for about a half a lap and began walking up course to a spot towards the end of the lap that was covered in foilage. My goal was to shoot one spot where I could get some photos with my remote flash. Along the way I made sure to snap some photos along the way to get some more angles for the racers.

A little distance away the racers were right next to a nice green background.

In the same spot I could turn around and get another angle of the water bridge but from further away.

Christopher “Ceedubb” Williams killing it on his single speed.

After a short (long walk in the bushes avoiding the racers) walk I got to the spot where I wanted to shoot everyone’s last lap. Again it was a nice little area covered in foliage so I’d have a decent background, and dark enough where I could use my Canon 550ex flash to light up the racers.

You can get some cool shots using the remote flash, but it can also be challenging since you have to time it just right. Shoot too soon and the rider won’t be lit up enough, shoot too late and everything is all dark. Because I wanted to make sure I got shots of as many riders as I could, I decided to stop using the flash for a bit and then move on.

On my walk back to the main area, there was a lone rider on the course finishing their lap so I snapped a photo from across the lake.

The race ended right at sunset and added a special feeling to the event. OTH put on a great event and I’m really looking forward to shooting more this year as they are a great group of people who put the event on for the riders. Everyone who raced had a smile on their face, and hopefully OTH can continue to grow each week.

For next race hopefully they have security on site, somehow Chris Hanson was able to get on the course and cheer people on. We don’t need your positivity and inspirational cheers buddy! Move along!

All our photos are up on our site, so check them out!

Over The Hump Race Series 5/25/10

See everyone next week!!

After shooting the Counting Coup race earlier this year, I made it a personal goal to cover more mountain bike races this year.  Due to my schedule covering other events, and more recently my wife and I having our first child, I haven’t been able to shoot any races.  Fortunately a new up and coming race series based out of Irvine Lake has their events during the week, so I was able to make it out and cover their second race.

Over The Hump Series put on their second race on September 15th, and over 350 racers came out to participate at this event.  The course is a 3.75 mile loop around Irvine Lake, and thanks to Matt @ OTH I was able to do a quick lap before the start of the race to scope out potential photo spots.  If you know me you know that I hate going to a race without knowing where I’m going to shoot, which means I often get there way too early.  Better to be early and prepared, then late and scrounging for places to shoot.

For the first lap I found an area on the course that had a lot of greenery around it.  A lot of the course has dead brush around it so I wanted to find something with a little more color and depth.

Richard Khachadoorian rides his grandmothers bike during the race.

Chris Hanson - Finished 12th in Sport 1 with a 55:39.4

CeeDubb killing it in Sport 2, finished 6th with a 51:35.1

This was on of my favorite shots from that part of the course. I like how the rider is framed in the shot, and how it looks like he’s surrounded by all the greenery.

After everyone went by I walked a little up course to try a different angle. With the course only being 3.75 miles long, it wasn’t too long that the leaders were already coming through. For this area I threw on my Canon 550ex flash and hand held it to try and light up the riders. The sun was getting low in the sky, and the area I was shooting I’d be shooting right into the sun.

I really like this shot because of the contrast the flash gave it, and also the riders expression tells the moment. Just ignore the fact that I cut off some of his body.

Chris Hanson

Wanting to keep pace with the leaders and catch them on their 3rd lap, I packed up and rode towards the end of the course. On the way there I was able to snap a cool photograph of a section across the lake where the course loops around itself.

The next area I went to also had some nice backgrounds behind it, so I set up to shoot the racers from the side to give a different angle from the head on shot I got before. Here you can see Manny Prado and Sid Taberlay setting the pace on their 3rd lap.

Lead pack battles through their 3rd lap

For my last spot I walked a little down course where there was a quick downhill left hand turn. I again shot with my flash hand held. Now that the sun was starting to go behind the mountains I wanted to hit the riders with the flash while keeping the background dark and get a little motion blur.

Here is the race winner Sid Taberlay. He would finish with a time of 56:23.4 (4 laps) and finished first overall in the series.

Sid Taberlay

This is called, “My flash didn’t go off, but it looks cool with the silhouette so luckily I can still use the shot. I mean I did it on purpose.”

After the racers made the left hand turn, they rode away from me along the green brush I previously shot at.

It started getting dark and the race was coming to an end so I packed up and headed towards the finish line. On my way there I saw a straggler riding along the lake so took a quick shot to have in silhouetted (on purpose this time) in front of the lake.

So that ended my date covering the Over The Hump race out in Irvine Lake. I had a lot of fun covering it and plan on covering the full schedule next year. May even attempt a race or two (in beginner class of course ) Thanks to Matt Wenger for letting me come out early and see the course, and congrats to all those who participated!