I was hired by Cannondale bikes again this year to photograph one of their professional rider's at a triathalon in Middlebury, CT. Many of the top triathletes in the world were competing in this race. Miranda Carfrae, the pro rider I was following, was the first female finisher by 6 minutes! She is ranked as the second best female triathlete in the world! It was an awesome event!
I have to throw a big thanks out to my buddy Craig for waking up early and helping me out; He drove me through the entire length of the bike course (56 miles) dodging and weaving bikers, cars, and film crews on motorcycles. I think he was loving the fact that we were flying through intersections, stop lights, and stop signs, with police at every one of them, and just because we had a little laminated peice of paper that said "Race Support Vehicle", It was Okay! Pretty hilarious! If it weren't for him I wouldn't have gotten half the shots I'll be sending over to Cannondale.
In many of the shots seen below, I used a technique called motion panning. I would close down the aperture or reduce the ISO in order to slow the shutter speed. I would slow the shutter speed enough to blur the subjects surroundings, but not too much, in order to keep Mirinda sharp, and sometimes only the bike sharp, and sometimes nothing sharp... which is a cool effect. This can only be done when you are moving in the same direction as your subject. Sometimes the bike was the only object that was sharp... this occurs because the bike was the only object that remained still relative to the camera while the shutter was open.
A photographer that I like to follow, Kevin Winzeler, has a great video about this technique:
http://www.kevinwinzeler.com/Video/Behind-The-Scenes/10014828_hXeBi#866953976_dHYJK-A-LB
Here are some of the shots I got from the Day:
