Drought Breaker
Winter isn’t my best season for photography. The relentless rains, dark days and chilly temperatures do little to inspire me. With the tardy arrival of Spring this year I’ve been grabbing my cameras and making loads of images.
Last December I upgraded my main camera to the Sony A7R5. The new camera’s uncanny autofocus abilities are more than enough to justify the expense. I’ve also added the Sony 200-600mm lens to my kit, bringing some serious telephoto reach. The combination has been my muse for the past couple of weeks and put a smile on my face enough to help me forget the winter creativity doldrums.
Below are some of the 8,000 images I shot in the past two weeks:
The One Moto motorcycle show this past weekend was a great opportunity for me to flex the A7R5 and 200-600’s muscles. Here is one of my favorites from the rider performances. This massive and incredibly loud Harley Davidson motorcycle is racing toward me as I was zoomed in to 600mm to maximize the impact of this awesome machine’s burnout. The autofocus nailed it and since I shot the image with a wide-open aperture of f/6.3 the depth of field is really shallow, which adds to the impact of the shot.
I’ve started bringing my big 200-600 lens and the Sony A7R5 to my son Cooper’s soccer practices. Nearby at the park is a field where high school lacrosse players have been holding matches. I have never shot lacrosse before and found it incredibly dynamic and fun. Again, the camera’s AI-powered autofocus is really great at locking onto players’ eyes, making wide-open shooting much easier.
My son’s soccer team is made up of great kids and I enjoy photographing their games and offering up my images for the parents to enjoy and share. Here one of Cooper’s teammates intercepts the ball. Once again, the new 200-600mm lens is great for these cross-field shots and the AF is so crazy good.
Back to the One Moto show and the daring riders of the Icon team. Here one of the riders pulls a wild wheelie with his 6 year-old daughter along for the ride. The 200-600mm lens is wonderful for isolating the rider against the busy background.
I’ve got other lenses even though the new long zoom has been in my hands most often. At the One Moto show I used my trusty Sony 14mm lens to snatch this frame of a young enthusiast and his father.
The One Moto Show was packed with amazing motorcycles on display. I spent an hour wandering the event looking for interesting shapes and lighting.
At the show, one of the rider performances was by the awesome Seattle Cossacks motorcycle team. These guys use classic motorcycles in a daring acrobatic routine packed with stunts like this one.
The Seattle Cossacks do things with motorcycles that boggle the mind. This rolling pyramid was incredible.
One of my favorite stunts in the Seattle Cossacks show was this one where one of the riders was jammed between the two moving cycles with a partner balanced in a headstand on his back.
The Seattle Cossacks call this one the 747, and I couldn’t help but wonder about the strength of the rider’s neck muscles.
The One Moto Show’s demos by the Icon team featured a lot of incredible wheelies.
The Icon team riders were amazing. Here one of them transitions from a burnout to riding with his legs draped over the handlebars. Fun stuff.
Back with the big Harley and the Icon team. Anytime I can get headlight glare I enjoy it.
When you have a long telephoto lens, you can reach in and grab compositions like this. The Icon team wrapped their routine with a tire-shredding burnout that left a carpet of smoking rubber on the ground.
One final shot from my busy week. This shot from the high school lacrosse match once again demonstrates the 600mm lens’ ability to isolate action and leave the distracting background nicely blurry.
I hope you enjoyed these shots. I’ll be back with another post soon where I will share a selection of images from a lengthy portrait shoot with an incredible dancer. Stay tuned!