Red Bull Stomping Grounds wrapped up Saturday evening but if you were paying attention you may have noticed a few unlikely folks in attendance. Brandon Semenuk and Paul Basagoitia had made there way to the wet and windy city and the fine folks at Red Bull and Freeride Enertainment seemed to have one last trick up their proverbial sleeve. I had left a few voicemails to find out if I might be involved in this hush hush Sunday shoot but never heard anything so when I got the call to head back to the venue at 7:30 pm Sunday I was frazzled. Having just spent the day in the burbs relaxing with family, fantastic and copious amounts of food and a friendly mix of pink lemonade and vodka, jumping into work mode was a bit of a struggle.
As I arrived on site it was clear that the weather downtown was a bit wetter than out west and it wasn’t more than 10 minutes before another deluge whipped through the site. It was also clear that any fear I had about not having enough lights with me to shoot were completely absurd as the crew had seemingly found a way to turn night into day. Somewhere there must have been a stadium missing it’s lighting because this place was lit up stupid bright. 1/320 f/4 ISO 1000 was $ in the ambient light. If the dirt didn’t go to hell this was gonna be epic. Sadly the rain kept coming and the dirt got greasy, eventually turning to muck. A lot of standing around in the rain watching the course go to shit was done (along with some serious golf cart abuse). In the end it was just too wet and after each rider took one run the night was declared a bust. So close…
Semenuk tweetin in the rain
Pondering dirt vs mud
Good dirt was only an inch or so below the wet clay
Less good
Paul B given her…
One and done…tires = caked in glop
Semenuk has mad hand puppet skillz
He’s not bad on a bike either
So close…
Red Bull Stomping Grounds wrapped up Saturday evening but if you were paying attention you may have noticed a few unlikely folks in attendance. Brandon Semenuk and Paul Basagoitia had made there way to the wet and windy city and the fine folks at Red Bull and Freeride Enertainment seemed to have one last trick up their proverbial sleeve. I had left a few voicemails to find out if I might be involved in this hush hush Sunday shoot but never heard anything so when I got the call to head back to the venue at 7:30 pm Sunday I was frazzled. Having just spent the day in the burbs relaxing with family, fantastic and copious amounts of food and a friendly mix of pink lemonade and vodka, jumping into work mode was a bit of a struggle.
As I arrived on site it was clear that the weather downtown was a bit wetter than out west and it wasn’t more than 10 minutes before another deluge whipped through the site. It was also clear that any fear I had about not having enough lights with me to shoot were completely absurd as the crew had seemingly found a way to turn night into day. Somewhere there must have been a stadium missing it’s lighting because this place was lit up stupid bright. 1/320 f/4 ISO 1000 was $ in the ambient light. If the dirt didn’t go to hell this was gonna be epic. Sadly the rain kept coming and the dirt got greasy, eventually turning to muck. A lot of standing around in the rain watching the course go to shit was done (along with some serious golf cart abuse). In the end it was just too wet and after each rider took one run the night was declared a bust. So close…
Semenuk tweetin in the rain
Pondering dirt vs mud
Good dirt was only an inch or so below the wet clay
Less good
Paul B given her…
One and done…tires = caked in glop
Semenuk has mad hand puppet skillz
He’s not bad on a bike either