Cleaning up the studio (getting ready for the move) has unearthed some forgotten mementos. Hidden in a stack of memories was the October, 1997, issue of Mountain Biker Magazine.

In this issue was an article I wrote and photographed at the Newsweek 24 Hours of Canaan (West Virginia) mountain bike race. At the time, 24-hour mountain bike races were relatively young and most often contested by teams of four or five riders, relay style, riding around the clock. After a rider completed a lap they would hand a baton to a teammate to carry for the following lap, repeating the process through day and night.

These types of races are grueling (I know, I’ve given it a try), especially on a course like this filled with rocks, roots, hills, mud and ghostly visions appearing in the foggy West Virginia night. Now imagine riding this race solo, being pounded around on a skinny cycling saddle for 24 hours straight, picking yourself up crash after crash, pushing through exhausted delirium. That’s just what ultra-marathon cyclist John Stamstad did and I was there to cover it.

John was the pioneer of what has since become a regularly scheduled solo class in 24 hour racing. He was the first to do it, against the wishes of the race promoter. After entering himself as a team (under four variants of his own name: J. Stamstad, Johnathan Stamstad, etc.), well, the promoter finally relented.

On a remote West Virginia hillside I watched as the 24 race hours ticked by. Every lap John would quickly stop and give a quote or two. Blisters and cuts appeared. He ate and drank whatever necessary to fuel a body requiring massive calories. Muscles tightened and reflexes slowed a bit, yet he managed to pass more and more of the multi-rider teams. John, alone and unaided, would finish in the middle of the pack all by himself.

Here’s how I wrote about the finish of the race in the original story:

Rounding the final turn in the pits, it’s infectious to root for Stamstad. He springs from his bike after 24 hours of competition and rushes over to speak with organizer Knight over the P.A. system.

Stamstad puts on his latest sponsor’s jersey (Chevy Trucks) just minutes after the checkered flag and begins the journey to his pit. One racer offers congratulations as he passes while another invites him to an after-race party. Stamstad politely declines the offer and says, “That’s what really sucks about it. You’re usually in so much pain that you don’t want to do anything. You don’t want to see anybody; you just want to crawl into a hole and die”.

We stood alone as he said this, each of us at the end our respective assignments. My job was done here, except for a final portrait of the racer. Spent as he was, I hated to ask: “John, may I take a portrait”?

“Sure”, he said.

I lifted my Nikon FM2 as he leaned, exhausted, against a deck rail in the harsh midday sun, looking directly into the camera. I snapped just one frame of Tri-X film with the 105mm Nikkor lens and told him, “thank  you and congratulations”.

It wasn’t until the film was processed and printed that I realized this portrait had captured the summation of the man. His face was visibly beaten and covered in dirt but his eyes still glowed with the same fire and intensity displayed at the start of the race. I look back now and still see in his eyes the determination of a champion, a resolve that looks like it could have taken him even further that day, despite a body pushed to the brink.

So, to me, this photo is worth more than a thousand words…it’s worth an entire 24 hours, all summed up in one frame.

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Some further thoughts and link to the gallery:

View the gallery of final images from the shoot here.

No two photographers have the exact same approach to photographing people (or any subject, for that matter). Here’s how I like to approach portraits:

1. For casual portraits I like to “build” the photo. There’s no pressure on any of us to get things right on the first exposure. I like to take a photo, check exposure, take another, check poses, and continue to warm up the subjects so they’re comfortable, talking with them and letting them know there’s no pressure. ***Business portraits are the exception to this rule. If someone is in a hurry I concentrate on making the first shot as perfect as possible.
2. A tendency is to concentrate on the baby right off the bat, trying to get a good expression. I prefer to get the adults composed and settled before asking anything of the little ones. We don’t want to wear the little ones out before the basic pose is sorted out.
3. Take breaks every once in awhile. If you’re going to be distracted for a moment let your subjects know it’s okay to relax for a bit. Even if you’re not behind the camera, some subjects stay focused on it.
4. I use my hands a lot to point out what direction I would like the subject to turn or how to pose. Many times I jump into the picture and show someone exactly how I would like them to stand or sit. This helps them see what I’m talking about and it also helps me make sure that what I have in mind is not too uncomfortable or difficult to do.
5. As I’ve mentioned before, I first like to see how people naturally stand and then try to guide them. It’s important to remember that, in family photos like these, we’re working with real people and not models. It’s okay to mold and bend models into your personal vision of a photograph, but in family portraits something of the person should be retained. Make sure they’re happy and comfortable with how the shoot is proceeding and with what you’re asking them to do. Unlike supermodels, if they’re not comfortable it will show through.

Hey, that’s it for this outdoor portrait video series! I want to give a huge “thank you” to my friends Kelly K., Bob S., Jason P. and Melodie J. for helping put it together, it wouldn’t have been possible without them.

And thank you for tuning in. If you’ve enjoyed watching the videos and they’ve been a help, I hope you’ll consider shopping at Calumet Photographic for your future photo needs, large or small. Not only do they have a great selection, prices and service, it also helps out prophotolife when you link through us to Shop Calumet Photographic – It’s Where the Pros Go.
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The gallery of images may be found here.

Today’s video is a direct continuation of last week’s video episode 25, outdoor portrait photography tips #1. In this video we look a bit more at the approach to portraits and attention to details.

These images were shot wide open at f4 on the relatively affordable Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM Lens with the 5D. Shutter speed was around 1/80 of a sec at ISO 100 so a tripod was called in to duty.

White balance was set to daylight and I planned to do an overall RAW batch color correction in post, bringing up shadows and warming things up a bit. The very final image (using the white reflector to bounce back light from the gold reflector) was nice and warm, right where I wanted it, so these images are left uncorrected so you can see the difference in the progression. The legs on the reflector set allow it to be set up horizontally, also, as you can see in the video (once again, the Calumet 42×78″ Aluminum Frame with Translucent Fabric and Leg Set).

Some photographers may want to shoot a gray card in this setting and use it to balance overall color in post-production. That’s perfectly fine and on a commercial shoot where clothing color might be critical I would do that. For portraits I’m aiming for color that is aesthetically pleasing (warmer than neutral), not perfectly color-accurate, so I didn’t bring out the gray card.

Next week: outdoor portrait photography tips #3…

For the next three weeks we’ll be looking at outdoor portrait photography tips. Hopefully this episode will help out if you’re interested in ideas on how to photograph a senior portrait. It’s pretty timely, too, since DIYPhotography.net is running their Portrait Professional 8 Giveaway at the same time. If you’re looking for portrait photography inspiration, check out all the entries so far in the DIYPhotography.net flickr pool.

The day of video shooting was perfect in most all respects except for one challenge we hadn’t encountered before: swarms of deafening locusts! If we were just shooting photos I could have blocked it out, but there was Bob, headphones on, shaking his head and laughing for a number of takes when the locusts would really kick it up. Sometimes ya just gotta plow on through. In the end it all worked out great but the things you learn along the way…

Notes:

The sun was low in the sky for these backlit images (it was mid-morning) and we shot around f5.6 – f8 with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM Lens on our Canon 5D. With the lens around 100mm and the background way in the distance, we achieved a very out of focus background. I’ll mention that the floor below the subject was red in color and reflected a lot of red into the image, most of which was pulled out when the RAW files were processed. In next week’s video I mention how photographing around trees and bushes reflects a lot of green, so be aware of your surroundings in regards to the color and direction of the light.

The gallery of still images from this shoot may be viewed here. You’ll recognize the photo equipment used in this video from video episode 24, location lighting gear (laptop stand, reflector frame, battery powered strobe). I’m becoming addicted to the aluminum frame reflectors and will use two of them in the next video for some really cool results. Having messed with the plastic ones “back in the day” these are a great leap forward.

You can find the affordable aluminum frames and all of the other gear used in this video at Calumet Photographic.

The most obvious purpose of this video is to further explain portrait and glamour photography lighting. I hope, though, that the video also helps increase your awareness of how light affects a subject, whether you’re shooting with natural light or lighting you’ve created yourself. Once you understand the principles of lighting they can be applied to many different situations.

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As for equipment shown, the “flip reflector” (slang) I referred to is officially called the 42″ (107cm) Translucent White ZipDisc with Cover. And once again, the lighting was built around the Genesis 200 1-Light Kit, only this time multiplied.

And it’s hard for me to believe, but I was just reminded that this is the 15th original video posted here on prophotolife.com. Even though we’re talking about using three lights today the exact same principles apply as in the very first stick-in-a-can video…light is light, no matter where it comes from. All of the videos (from day one) are easily referenced in the video library, so if there’s something here on the site that can help a fellow photographer, I hope you won’t hesitate to let them know about prophotolife.com.

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View the still images from the shoot (along with EXIF data in this photo gallery:

Many thanks to our friends at Heyman Talent for providing the wonderful talent!

See you on Monday…