Tour of Utah – Stage One

Originally published August 20, 2013. Francisco Kjolseth and I covered the first two stages of the Tour of Utah through the mountains of southern Utah. For stage one my assignment was to shoot the start and then find a beautiful shot along the route to shoot as the riders passed. I found a killer spot with lots of angles. I had a long sideways shot of the approach and a few other angles as they passed. Also, there was a dead porcupine to keep me company. I was like, why are all those flies hovering around that plant? Oh, it ain’t a plant. dead porcupine Here’s my spot and where my cameras were… As soon as the race came into view, I’d be at position #1 on the photo above and follow this process: 1. Activate the GoPro, which was set to shoot 2 frames per second. 2. Run to the dead porcupine (#2) and shoot long shots of the race with the 600mm lens. 3. Activate a remote SLR, set to shoot five frames every other second. 4. Throw the 600mm lens on the ground and run with lens-less camera to position #3. 5. Put the 16-35mm lens on camera and power on Fuji X100. 6. Shoot the passing race with two cameras simultaneously. Here’s how it worked out, photo-wise… 1. The Approach – 600mm lens: Riders on SR-14 during stage one of the Tour of Utah at Brian Head Tuesday August 6, 2013. 2. Passing – 16-35mm lens @ 32mm: Riders on SR-14 during stage one of the Tour of Utah at Brian Head Tuesday August 6, 2013. 3. Passing, camera two – Fuji X100 @ 23mm (35mm equiv): Riders on SR-14 during stage one of the Tour of Utah at Brian Head Tuesday August 6, 2013. 4. Passing – Remote – 70-200mm lens at 70mm Riders on SR-14 during stage one of the Tour of Utah at Brian Head Tuesday August 6, 2013. 5. Leaving – GoPro @16mm equiv: Riders on SR-14 during stage one of the Tour of Utah at Brian Head Tuesday August 6, 2013.