Lund: FInal Project

My final project reflected what I love to do, ride my bike in the mountains and photography. The problem with that typically is that I am always the one behind the lens creating the images. It is very rare for me to also be included in the pictures themselves. So for this project I set out to create photos of myself that I felt captured my love of mountain biking as well as some of the beautiful locations around here in Oregon. Lastly, and perhaps the most important reason that I chose this subject is because I’d really like to photograph mountain biking as a career. With the industry being so young and living in the PNW I am in the perfect area to photograph this sport. All of the photos are self-portraits that I took using an interval timer on my camera with a lot of trial and error. I submitted 9 photos that each incorporates a journey along the trail. Whither I am going up or down the trail, fast or slow, the only important thing is that you don't stop. The photographic elements incorporated in the images are time, the frame, and the thing itself. It is also to note that while there is a lot of detail in these images, the detail was not at all a focus of the project. I feel I achieved my goal of creating interesting and fun images that explain my love for riding. My favorite image on the entire project was the image of me going around a turn up in the Alsea Falls trail system. In this image I am wearing my red flannel jacket and I am facing the camera as I go around the turn. I love this image because my body position is interesting and the colors are very vibrant without going too overboard. Additionally, the moment itself was beautifully captured because of the sun flare that can be seen poking its way through the trees. This sun flare was not visible in any of the other sequences from this location. If I could choose one area to work on it would be in two major places. The first place is that my method of shooting was very inefficient; I would have liked to have some sort of device that would let me remotely trigger the camera. Secondly, I feel like my photos captured mountain biking very well, but I did not include nearly as much nature as I would have liked to. Perhaps traveling to more locations would have made the project as a whole more interesting. The images may seem like they do not have formal elements of photography, but that is reflected in the subject. Because mountain biking in less than 30 years old, there is no formality for riding, thus, no formal way to shoot it. All images were taken on a Nikon D600 DSLR with a 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.8, and 70-200mm f4 lens. They were printed on 8.5x11 luster paper with no border to make the viewer feel like the vastness of the landscapes extends far beyond what is visible.