Crossfit Shoot: Behind the Scenes

A couple weeks back I did a Crossfit photo shoot at a gym here in Seattle. This shoot was a personal shoot I produced for myself rather than for a client. Every once in a while I like to put together projects where I have complete creative freedom and can shoot whatever style I 'm feeling like.

Not only is it nice to be able to have creative freedom in the styling, but it also allows me to experiment with new techniques, styles or concepts. On top of that, it gives me the chance to tailor my portfolio to the kind of shooting I want to be doing in the future.

Check out the behind the scenes video of the shoot above. And I've attached a couple of my favorite shots here on the blog. But be sure to visit our main website www.iancoble.com to see more.

 

Portait Assignment for Ski Magazine: Tim Petrick: CEO of K2

Last week I got a last minute assignment from Ski Magazine to go and shoot the CEO of K2 skis, Tim Petrick.

With minimal time to accomplish this, I showed up a little before I was supposed to meet Tim,  to scout the office and set up lights. Not wanting to waste a lot of Tim's time, I tried to keep the portrait session under 15 minutes between three different locations within the building.

All said and done, the portraits turned out great and you'll be able to see the finished product in the September Issue of the magazine. Until then, here are a couple of out-takes from the shoot.

Brooks Running : Track Shoot

Just finished a quick one day shoot for Brooks Running earlier this week. The shoot was aimed at capturing images of their track and cross country shoes and outerwear for their 2014 catalog.

A large crew of producers, art directors, stylists, assistants, digital techs and models comprised our group. Fortunately, everyone in the group was awesome! All the moving pieces coordinated well and our shot list was easy to achieve in our one day of allotted time.

As the catalog is still under wraps, I can't yet share any of the images from the day, but above is a shot of the crew reviewing pics on the iPad. This recent addition of gear/ technology to our arsenal is priceless in it's ability to wirelessly push images to an iPad for easy review by art directors and clients. So much nicer than having four or five people crowd around the back of the small LCD screen on camera. In the shot above, the iPad is coupled with a sun shade from sunhoods.com

Behind the Scenes Video : Powder Magazine & Pocket Wizard Interviews

I just recently took part in a behind the scenes video interview that just went live online today. Local athlete, Tyler Ceccanti and his filmer, Chris King have been producing their web series, Snow Chasers for two years now. Earlier in the season they approached me to see if I'd be interested in working with them on a behind the scenes look at what goes into shooting skiing.

Check out the resulting video above. If you'd like to see the write up on the video by Powder Magazine, you can check it out HERE .

Also got some additional love for the video from the good people at Pocket Wizard radio transmitters. Their interview about the piece can be found HERE .

Atlas Snowshoes Shoot

Just started the first day of our snowshoe work for Atlas Snowshoes this year. Always love shooting for Atlas as they're a great group of guys and their shoots always take us to some cool places.

Last week's shoot took place up at Snoqualmie Summit, just outside Seattle.

We've got two more days of shooting to plan and execute in the coming weeks. Will keep you posted as those days occur.

New Snow in the Mountains!

A quick post here. We've been getting LOTS of new snow in the Pacific Northwest. I was up in the mountains yesterday doing some shooting in all the new snow. Below is a self portrait of yours truly, ME! Just thought I'd share a new pic that showcases some of the new angles we've been experimenting with this winter. Enjoy!

Fly Low Gear Lifestyle Photo Shoot

We just wrapped up a shoot this past weekend for Fly Low Outerwear. This lifestyle shoot was done to showcase the 2014 line of gear. A moderate sized crew of myself, one assistant and 5 models made for quick travel time between locations... which was a good thing as the weather was horrible.

But all in all, everything went great. Super happy with how the shots turned out. Here's a preview of some of the work.

And a behind the scenes shot courtesy of model/ athlete Brian Hopper.

 

Thanks to all involved for making the shoot a success. Cheers!

MSR Trekking Pole Ads

Last summer I got to do an ad shoot for MSR (a division of Cascade Designs) for their newest line of trekking poles. Those ads just got released earlier this past week and I can finally share them with you.

The TR-3 (Trigger Release) is designed to be used in rocky, uneven terrain. The focus of the shots for this campaign were to showcase the poles in rocky environments, where quote, "Slipping is not and option".

For the shoot we headed into the remote backcountry of the Cascades for our location backdrop. A lot of hiking and hauling gear, but the day couldn't have been better.

Red Bull : Third Shift at Snoqualmie Summit

Last week I got called up by Red Bull to shoot their upcoming ski and snowboard event, Red Bull Third Shift. Held at Summit at Snoqualmie, the event is a slopestyle competition that is held on a custom designed park built specifically for the event.

The venue looks a lot like an abandoned ghost town from the old west, that's been dropped onto a ski slope.

Events are always tough to shoot, as the photographer has little to no coordination with the athletes. Instead a more editorial/ documentary style of shooting comes into play. However, as the event was held at night, we had to resort to utilizing strobes to light the venue. Not an easy task given the size of the space.

On top of that, mother nature decided to throw us a curve ball, and dropped a full fledged blizzard on us during the event. It made for some great photos, despite the tough working conditions though.

All in all, the event went off perfectly. Tons of spectators braved the weather to watch the event. (It probably didn't hurt that there was a full bar built into the venue to help draw a crowd). I always like working with Red Bull... I never know what they're going to ask me to shoot next.

Ski Tuning Shoot for Patagonia

About a week ago I met up with local skier, business owner and close friend, Bryce Phillips, to do a ski tuning shoot for Patagonia.

 

Bryce, who is not only a badass skier for Patagonia, is also the owner of Seattle's uber popular store Evo, a sporting goods store in Fremont. As a result of his ties to the shop, we were able to use the ski tuning room as our location for this shoot. Score!

As Bryce was nursing a sore knee for a few days, and the weather locally was dry as dirt, we turned our attention the more lifestyle oriented shots we could achieve off the snow. 

Troy Lee Designs Shoot

Back in December of last year, I got called by Troy Lee Designs (one of the leading brands in bike and motocross helmets and apparel) to shoot their newest product, the A1 Helmet.

 

As the release of the helmet was a big secret, I haven't been able to talk about the shoot, until now... as the helmet was just announced to the public on the 23rd.

 

When originally called, I was asked to shoot the helmet in the mossy, green forests of the Pacific Northwest. I teamed up with local shredder, Lars Sternberg and we spent a day roaming around the overgrown, rain soaked forests just outside Bellingham.

 

Super stoked with how the photos came out.

NY Times Article : Snow Fall - The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek

As 2012 wound to a close, the New York Times released an article, Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek. An incredibly well written multi-media presentation detailing the tragic avalanche that occurred just outside the boundaries of Stevens Pass, Washington.

To say that this article hit close to home is a gross understatement. Stevens Pass is one of my home mountains and many of the skiers that were involved in the incident are close personal friends. To top it off, one of the skiers that perished in the avalanche, Chris Rudolph, was my best friend.

Almost a year later, and I still haven't been able to write about his passing. However, the article written by John Branch really captured the event that unfolded last February 19th. I'm honored that the NY Times turned to me to help with some of the photos for this story.

 

If you'd like to read the full article, there's a link to it HERE. Check out all the interviews, slideshows, maps and videos that are embedded. It's a long read (I think it took me 3 1/2 hours to get through), but it's well worth it.

Last Week in the PNW

The last week in the Pacific Northwest was pretty incredible. I just got back from an amazing day shooting up at Crystal Mountain, after they'd received 18" of new snow in one night.

 

A pretty incredible day. Looking forward to many more like it this season!

National Geographic Extreme Photo of the Week

For the second time in the past year, I was awarded National Geographic's Extreme Photo of the Week! Incredibly honored to be selected for this again. Thanks!

To see the write up on what went in to getting this shot, click on the LINK to National Geographic.

Ski Canada Cover

Just opened up my mailbox yesterday to see one of my images on the cover of Ski Canada Magazine. I don't care how many covers a photographer might land during their career... it's always an honor to see your work as the face of a publication... that feeling never gets old.

Thanks to everyone involved for making this happen!

Behind the Scenes: Street Basketball Shoot

Just got done shooting some new work for my portfolio. Here's a quick look at the "behind the scenes" of our recent basketball shoot in downtown Seattle.

To see the rest of the shots from this shoot as well as some of our other recent shoots, check out our updated website under the "Sport" tab. Here's the LINK

ESPN.com 2012 Winter in Review Feature Story

I just got asked to work with ESPN.com to give a retrospective look back on my Winter of 2012. Check out the full gallery and story HERE. I'm incredibly honored to have my work profiled in such a manner, especially as we get ready for another Winter. Enjoy!

MSR Shoot

Just got back from an awesome shoot for MSR a couple weeks ago. Amazing locations for the shoot. While I can't yet share the photos from the campaign, I can share a couple shots from where we were to give you an idea. Enjoy!

Click on the images if you'd like to see them larger for more detail

Shooting Action with Strobes Using Hyper-Synch

Lars Sternberg at Stevens Pass. Shot at 1/3200th of a second

This post is going to be super heavy on camera nerdy tech jargon.  If you're not a dorky photographer, this might not make a lot of sense... but please keep reading and enjoy!

That disclaimer aside, I started working with Pocket Wizards to trigger my off camera strobes roughly 5 years ago. Last year, I was fortunate enough to get contacted by them to help in the Beta testing of their Flex TT5 and Mini TT1 units. I was super excited to start testing these as they promised the new ability to synch strobes above the normal 1/250th of a second shutter speed. For action shooters, this is a dream come true. The previous limitations of technology prevented photographers from shooting above 1/250th of a second. Instead, we had to rely on the flash duration of our strobes to freeze the action. Beyond just the ability to freeze action, it also prevented you from under exposing a scene to achieve a heavy dramatic look.



Although I've been working with the Flex and Mini units for over a year now, I was still having trouble achieving a proper hyper-synch. Occasionally they would work at speeds over 1/250th, but it wasn't always reliable. Fast forward though to last week and the game changed. With the release of Firmware Version 3.110, any issues I had previously had with the units disappeared. (There are some adjustments that need to be made in the Pocketwizard Utility in order to achieve accurate hyper synch. Below is a screen shot of how mine are set up for use with Elinchrom Ranger RX's).

I went out and shot with pro mountain biker, Lars Sternberg last week to put the Flex and Mini units to the test. The results were astounding! Shooting with a Nikon D800 and two Elinchrom Ranger RX packs (utilizing the S heads, NOT the A heads), I was able to get full synch at 1/1250th. A HUGE jump from 1/250th.

However, I was able to continue pushing synch speed higher with hardly any clipping. At 1/1600th I had very slight clipping at the base of the frame... and I mean hardly noticeable. As shutter speed was pushed higher, the clipping gradually grew, but very minimally. Even at 1/8000th of a second, the clipping was still very minimal (see reference files below).



I know some will look at the above and say that there is a bit of darkness at the tops of the frames that could be construed as shutter lag. However, it's affect is so minimal compared to normal shutter lag, that it can easily be compensated for by increasing the strobe's power or camera's f-stop by +1/2 a stop.

Additionally, with the huge file sizes being output by the D800 (36.2MP), the tiny clipping seen even at the fastest shutter speeds can easily be cropped out without losing the detail or size of the file.

A big thanks to the people at Pocket Wizard for working with me on the beta testing of these units. I'm excited to see the new possibilities that this will open for action shooters utilizing strobes. Hope this article helps some of you. Good luck and happy shooting.

1/3200th with no cropping of shutter lag at bottom of frame

Mountain Biking

Just dusted off the mountain bike after a long winter of rusting in the garage. Great to be back on the trails again. Here's a few shots from last weekend's ride over in Leavenworth, Wa.

We've got plans to a lot more bike shooting over the summer, so keep checking the blog to the latest work. Thanks for looking!