The highlight for many was the ‘bump and thump’ drill at the end of practice.  Bump and thump is a handling skills game where the goal is to knock your fellow riders out of the ring or off balance without removing your hands from your bars, and without putting a foot on the ground.  Touch a foot to the ground – out.  Ride outside the coned ring – out.  Game – Fun!

The next practice is Thursday, September 2nd from 4:15pm to 6pm at the Elks Lodge in Boulder, Colorado.  If you missed the first day and are interested, please come by and we’ll get you squared away!

I will be the ‘Tier II’ coach for this season and also help out the ‘Tier I’ coach, Ann Trombley.  In addition to the Boulder Junior team, I’ll be racing for Boulder Cycle Sport on the cross scene with sponsors Ridley, SRAM, Dugast, and Ritchey.

Practice makes perfect and that’s exactly the thought behind a third lifestyle, catalog test shoot this past week.  That makes four test shoots in two weeks!  Solid.  This round we worked with Heather Grey and her stylist Meg to create images that you might find in a surf clothing catalog such as Roxy, Billabong, Quicksilver…all that good stuff.

My team consisted of Scott Tietzel as primary assistant and Chad Moore as secondary assistant, focusing on behind the scenes photo/video on his 5d Mark II.  Stay tuned for a behind the scenes video!  Also, thanks to Craig Randall for use of his pristine BMW 2002 – perfect for the Roxy/Billabong catalog sun-drenched catalog look we were going for.  Most of the images are low in contrast and a bit softer (resisting quoting Zoolander’s ‘Le tigre’ look…) than my usual style.

A selection of images from Gabrielle and Andrew’s wedding in Berthoud, Colorado on a bright and sunny summer day in May (…and yes, that all rhymes in one way or another!).  My assistant Kevin and I had a great time with everyone and congratulations once again Gabrielle and Andrew!  I’ll let the images do the talking to tell the story on this special day…

Well it’s about time I organized some active test shoots, seeing as I am based in one of the fittest places in the world: Boulder, Colorado.  Here are some images from a recent trail running shoot with Bobbi.  Still on the to do list are some mountain and road cycling, yoga, moto, climbing (probably just Bouldering, seeing as I’m not the most skilled ‘sender’ out there), and heck maybe even some slacklining for you Boulder free spirit types!  Definitely a lot of room for me to stretch out my shutter finger in the active department…more to come.

I used a three light setup here with an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra and a Hensel Porty 1200 strobe system.  No assistant on this shoot besides Cameron himself.  This shoot was great practice and I’ll definitely be doing more shooting with Cameron down the road, very stoked on how this turned out.

You can checkout Cameron’s site or follow him on twitter here.  Lastly, if you haven’t taken a look at the Hardcastle Photography Facebook page, it’s worth a visit and I can be found on twitter at Krughoff.

Take a look at our behind the scenes video below and get a little insight into the white haired man who’s probably winning a triathlon in a town near you very soon.

Behind the scenes video of a Hardcastle Photography photoshoot with professional triathlete Cameron Dye.

Equipment used includes:
-Nikon cameras and lenses
-Elinchrom Ranger Quadra strobe system
-Hensel Porty 1200 strobe system

Cameron Dye’s Sponsors:
-Breeze Bars: http://breezebars.com
-Kestrel
-Pearl Izumi
-Shimano
-Clif Shot

Hardcastle Photography Contact Info:

http://www.HardcastlePhotography.com

info@hardcastlephotography.com

Cameron Dye:

http://camdyetri.blogspot.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/camdyetri

A couple friends of mine happen to be the reigning mountain bike U.S. National Champions, and they happen to be married, they happen to live a few blocks away…and did I mention they happen to be stylish and attractive?  Sometimes it’s tough, I’m tellin’ ya.  They are Heather Irmiger and Jeremy Horgan Kobelski out of Boulder, Colorado.  I caught up with them between international trips to race world cups in places like Germany and South Africa for a casual lifestyle shoot.  They needed some new images for their blog http://www.jhkandheather.com/ and I needed some good looking, willing subjects.  We were all a little worn out on this afternoon so the shoot started with a stop at Vic’s Espresso on Broadway in Ideal Marketplace to get a caffeine bump and just went from there.  We’re already planning another more commercial, fashion-style shoot to come…

Such a fun couple to photograph!  Gabrielle and Andrew are engaged to be wed on May 22, 2010.  I’ve only become more excited to be their wedding photographer the more I’ve gotten to know them.  Andrew works at the Photographic Touch in Loveland, CO and many of the images I capture during the wedding will be used as print and product samples.  Exciting stuff, they put out some great work.  I was also recently contracted to be their photographer at the Northern Colorado Women’s Expo at the Hilton in Fort Collins, CO.

Brandon Dwight at Boulder Cycle Sport got in touch with me to capture some images of their shop in action on a typical morning.  We were looking for shots incorporating depth of field for subject separation and the use of existing elements in the shop for framing.  Great guys at this shop, definitely stop in if you have any cycling needs or just to say hello!  A handful of images from the day below…

Michael Mallory, the man behind this really cool new muscle therapy device called the the “RAD” Roller, needed product images for web and advertising of the roller itself and demonstrating it’s use. It’s designed to get into those knots in your neck and back better than your typical foam roller that many people are already familiar with.  A little challenge to get images that show exactly how it’s used, as you’re generally laying on top it when you put it to work.  However, our two models did a great job and Michael ended up with some images that should serve them well.