May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Risk the fall to feel how to fly—motocross expression
One of my bucket list cameras is the Olympus E-M1X. I got to play with one at a press event several years ago when I made this featured image and afterwards when I wrote a magazine review about the camera. With its built-in battery grip, it’s big and clunky for a Micro Four-thirds cameras but I whether it was shooting under low light or photographing motorcycle racing. I was able to make some images that I was never able to do before, When the camera was launched in 2019, it cost $2,999 and now nice cameras are selling for less than $800, so just maybe…
Weather Proof Design
Olympus made a big deal about the M-1X’s weather resistant design and this came in handy when I was shooting motorcyclists at a supercross facility in Florida. For motorcycle racing, the camera’s Intelligent Subject Detective AF selected the rider’s helmet and capturing sharp images worked as well as your talent and experience brings to the session.
The weather began as a shower and ended up as a downpour as these daring motocrossers went through their paces and jumps. Wearing a skimpy plastic rain poncho, I had minimal protection from the elements while the E-M1X and the racers had nothing but their weather sealing and protective gear. I shot hundreds of images during several hours in the pouring rain and some of them were even good. The camera never hiccuped once. OK, maybe one time when I accidentally got raindrops in the viewfinder and the camera thought my eye was in place and wouldn’t let me chimp on the LCD screen. A puff of air cleared it and all was well. Tip: I’m guessing snow might do that too; don’t make that same mistake I did when shooting in inclement weather.
How I Made this Photograph: The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting random typewriter keys for an infinite period of time will type the complete works of William Shakespeare. That theorem perfectly describes my attempts to photograph motocross riders in the rain. Here, this brave rider is airborne flying above my head and I managed, with the help of the E-1MX’s Intelligent Subject Detective AF settings, to catch him mid-flight. The lens used was the M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm f/2.8 with MC-14 1.4X teleconverter (at a nominal 112mm). Exposure was 1/500 sec at f/4 and ISO 200.
Shooting motocrossers in the rain is a lot like photographing hummingbirds with a macro lens; you’re really close to a fast moving subject. While I might complain about shooting motocross riders in the rain, the riders had it much harder. They were going fast, flying through the air with mud and rain-splattered helmet visors making visibility difficult. This took an obvious physical and mental toll on them and I salute their bravery and talent.
Barry Staver and Joe Farace are co-authors of Better Available Light Digital Photography that may be an oldie but, I think anyway, that it’s a goodie. New copies are $21.50 with used copies starting around twelve bucks from Amazon.