Utah Trip

[Photo-John]

Alow me to bore you with some mountain bike photos from my most recent trip. I spent a week in Las Vegas (yuck) for the annual Interbike tradeshow. Don't be thinking I'm out on the town in Vegas. I have no love for the nightlife. I hustle to get my work done so I can make the two hour trip to St. George, Utah as soon as the show is over. That's the payoff for for me.

Incidentally, the work I do at the show is tradeshow booth photography. I really like it. Tradeshows have to be the worst photography conditions possible. That makes for some really interesting photographic problem-solving. And not only are the conditions challenging, but I have a schedule and serious tiem constraints. So the problems need to be solved quickly. Shooting at tradeshows has made me a much, much better photographer. I've learned a lot of fast, dirty tricks to work around bad lighting. Here are some examples - a photo of pro downhill racer, Sam Hill, a shot of Dave Mirra's gold-plated BMX bike, and a shot of a, ummm, downhill fork

[Photo-John]

Enough of Vegas. On Friday, at the end of the show, I was out of there on on my way to Hurricane, Utah (pronounced her-cun). Hurricane is about 20 minutes north of St. George, on the way to Zion National Park. I've been making about 2 trips to Hurricane a year, for the past few years. The mountain biking and scenery are sooo worth the 10 hour drive from the Bay Area. I think the St. George/Zion area is my favorite in the whole world. It truly is God's country. At least - my God's ;)

On Saturday Paige and I went for a ride with my friend Doug, who lives right down the road. He brought a good portion of his family and his sons put on a good show for us.

[Photo-John]

Here's a photo of the family and a couple other members of our crew. Doug's a photographer, too. I was amused to see that he was carrying the exact same rig as me - an EOS 10D with Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 XR Di zoom lens. It's a good lens for riding, where weight and size are an issue.

[Photo-John]

The second day - Sunday - we went to the Church of the Desert. In other words, we went riding again.

This time Paige and I went alone on a big XC loop called the JEM trail. This ride is so beautiful. We started out on a dirt road and pedaled up through dry washes and skinny trail and eventually up on a plateau that looked north out over a valley with a clear view of Zion National Park to the east. The terrain is a mix high desert sage and scrub with some rock and it ends up on the edge of the Virgin River Canyon. Some of you may remember the photos I posted last November after I rode it by myself. Last year I had snow on the mountains in the background and bright yellow cottonwood trees. This year I had someone to model for me. Some day it will all come together at the same time. I'm just grateful I've had the chance to ride it a couple of times.

This photo makes me very, very happy. Do you see what I mean by Church of the Desert?

[Photo-John]

Just to ensure that you're completely sick of mountain bike photos, here are a few more. If you made it through all of them, thank you for humoring me ;)

[mtbbrian]

I'll humor you!
I like the ones of Paige the best.
I wished I could have hooked up with you and Doug, but as you know I had familar matters do deal with.
They really show what it's all about and give a great feel for the area.
I hope you get up to the other end, maybe you and Paige could dine with my wife and me.
Brian
Ride On!

[brianc]

I think you're going to have to try a LOT harder to make me sick of you MTB photo's. I don't think the consumer review family has enough bandwidth for that.

As Bri said the images of Paige are outstanding. It's hard for me to pick a fav. I like the shot of the Sunday too. My buddy is getting one this winter, the tragic thing about those bikes is their name sake. The best DH spot on the east coast (Sunday River, ME) that is no longer acessable to bikes.

My church this weekend was held on soggy greasy rocks and roots, that is Lynn Woods. Where I have a session ride set up just for photo's. I can't wait. hopefully the rain will stop before the rocks go back to the ocean.

[Old Timer]

Great pictures John! Looks like some really beautiful country and you had the perfect model to set it off. Good to see you get a little time to enjoy life.

[Liz]

More great images John. I'm glad you at least got to ride your bike and have a bit of fun in the midst of work.

I love the mountains......these photos bring everything to life. Awesome!

Liz

Just to ensure that you're completely sick of mountain bike photos, here are a few more. If you made it through all of them, thank you for humoring me ;)

[photophorous]

Hi John,

These are great pictures. The last group you posted are my favorites. Now I'm itching to go ride. I'm actually leaving tomorrow to go backpacking in Zion and then in Bryce Canyon. I won't be taking my bike, but I'm really excited about the photography opportunities. Hopefully I'll have something worth posting when I return.

Thanks for sharing. Let's see some more!

Paul

[OldSchool]

Are you shure that you are on the correct board here?
;^)
Tim

[ken1953]

All I can say here is that, I don't think any of us will ever get tired of looking at great photos. Your professionalism and dedication to your art and your "humor" are credits to yourself, PR and photography in general.
Ken

[Photo-John]

Are you shure that you are on the correct board here?

There was already a post on the Mtbr downhill board: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.ph...30796#poststop

And the Passion post is coming. I just thought it was more important to post here first. Plus, I was excited about the JEM trail photos more as a photographer than a mountain biker. It's interesting for me to note how and where I want to post my mountain bike photos. Depending on my mood and the content, I may lean towards Mtbr or here. But it definitely varies.

[OldSchool]

even though I was never prolific. I've been on there since 1998. I still race my mountain bike (Sport class) and train on a road bike. And I love my bikes, but I have to say that my passion is now learning how to shoot and process better pictures. I'd rather learn photography then keep up with the latest shock technology (until I break one).

Cheers,
Tim
(who doesn't have time to post on all his hobbies)

[brianc]

It's interesting ...to note how and where I want to post my mountain bike photos. Depending on my mood and the content.

I've definatly noticed that about you.