Photo Project - From Concept to Completion With a Lot of Help

There was a day years ago when I pedaled my bike past an old water tower..paused for second and knew I needed to make a photo shoot happen there. As the years have gone by I’m sure my friends have blocked out the drone of my voice mumbling about the water tower. I’m sure I mentioned it every time we rode past it over the years. They knew it had been all talk and nothing had been put into action….until…it all came together in 2013.

One of the main reasons it hadn’t happened before was access to the location. It was too many miles behind a locked gate and getting gear back there wasn’t a realistic option. That all changed last year when my friend Travis spoke of another water tower. I’m 99% sure he was letting me know so that we could get this shot done and he wouldn’t have to hear about the tower anymore. Regardless of his motives, he had found a gem of a spot to shoot. It seemed we had the first step taken care of…an accessible location.


With the easy part completed, next came the real work as the location wasn’t exactly shoot ready. We needed to dig…Asking people to dig is about as fun as asking people to help you move. You ask….wait for that pause..then comes the point in time when even your most non creative friends come up with masterful excuses. Unlike helping me move, helping me dig might make you “famous”….assuming you are a rider who can also be a part of the final shot. Also assuming “famous” is getting a few looks on the internet.


The riders in these shots, Travis and Nick are also the two people who put a number of man hours into it with shovels, picks, and rakes. Again I’m guessing here…they were more than willing to dig to help stop that madness that was the water tower conversation. And while I typically show up to a location where the riders have spent hours and hours prepping a spot, only to show up with my fancy camera and shoot…say thanks…and vanish. This time I got dirty for a couple days of digging too. Of course now I think I have some sort of trail digging cred…I know better. I heard the whispers of “wow..he is finally out helping dig”

I was hoping for a sunny day where we could get a sunset shot, but we ended up with clouds. Beyond the clouds, it all went as planned. Two riders willing to guinea pig this new jump, my friend Chris willing to hold a strobe for an hour or so..not complaining as I continually asked..err..demanded he move the light every minute or so..

I’m happy with our results and it could not have happened with out a great group of guys helping me complete my concept. Now I just gotta make them famous..

Tech details:

Canon 7D
Lens: Tokina 12-24 f/4 Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
Light: Single Boling 600watt strobe fired via the PocketWizard MiniTT1 and Flex TT5

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