Turn 5 at Laguna Seca

Does anyone else find the strange look on the riders face distracting? I mean, the visor draws all my attention because I am trying to figure out what's going on with the guys face.

 

my .02

Yes this is a well taken photo, but not a great sport`s shot. You say look at the tyres yes they are slightly blurred,but when you look at the brake disc it is almost in focus , for a corner shot your shutter speed was to fast had this been Mick Doohan on board then yes it would have been fine, but not joe public i would say 1/250 would be fine (light permitting). still a good shot.

Samuel, here's a TT600 for you, shot yesterday at Thunderhill Raceway.

So, you've come up with a Triumph. Now, can you please Ellis (where are you, Ellis?) with a photo of a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (the RT version, naturally)?

Sharp, ok composition, but really no more than the ordinary punter's everyday roundabout leanover. Lacks drama and real bike racing insight. Check out Gold & Goose - they seem to get the action right most of the time.

I like it, I really do. But your 'titanium knees' shot brings home the danger and intensity of the moment. Had it been combined with the close, brilliant clarity and sunlit splash of the POW, even I (a total non speed sport fan) would part with money for it! Very good work. --Mickey

Now that's more like it! The pic of the Triumph is 10 times the original photo (and I don't have any particular bias for brands.)

 

Anyway, for those who keep bringing it up -- the rider is using a highly tinted visor, pretty standard on a bright sunny day, particularly with the sun as low as it appears to be. The blue tape is because you can't bring bikes on the track without covering the glass and plastic.

As several people have pointed out, your photos show a considerable amount of technical prowess, but are fairly pedestrian on the basis of more elusive aesthetic criteria. For starters, given how your subjects seem to have great difficulty colour-coordinating their helmets to outfit and bike, perhaps a black and white approach can undo that damage. I also think a bit of darkroom practice would allow you to elevate several photos to higher levels (see attachment for one hastily contrived possibility). The punters may not be so keen, but I'd think twice before relying on the artistic judgment of motorbike racers or body builders ;-)

As pointed out above, a print of this image would be far easier to make a judgment about, so most of my comments refer to the composition and subject.

Due to the tight cropping and angle of the shot to the turn, there is a loss of continuity in the corner which robs the image of greater meaning. Had the shot been taken at the apex, a greater sense of the action would have been conveyed.

The sense of direction of the motorcycle is only conveyed by the alignment of the wheels, and the image loses some of this alignment due to the large are of shadow (with little detail) near the front wheel and fender. The front wheel appears to be tucking under because its left edge is indistinct halfway up the tyre.

The long lens has compressed the image unfavourably (3/4 shots tend to do this) - the ducktail, slider and silver portion of the fairing give an unnatural look to the right side of the bike.

The indistinct trackside furniture (curbing and what appears to be a witches hat) crowd out the left side of the bike, esp. with the compression of the image, and this steals emphasis from the left knee. The knee nearest the tarmac is always a key focus of road-racing action.

There is no real central focus (tight cropping, no standout feature) so the viewer's eye casually wanders over the bike, noticing the lack of sharpness and flat colour rendition.

The rider looks slow, like he is on a sighting lap or cool down lap - he is very stiff on the bike, his right knee slider looks unused, and he has so much ground clearance the bike looks pedestrian. The rider's 'sit up and beg' riding style does nothing to help the image.

The large dude in the old black leathers on the Triumph (Failure?) is at least a tryer but appears to have a real short torso - and he just has to get that knee down even if the bike has a lean angle of only 30 degrees...

I'm sure the photos are an ego hit for the riders concerned, but the lack of dynamism and context is probably the reason some non-motorcyclists have been a little harsh in their comments. I appreciate it though, this is an exacting niche of photography, so thanks.

I have to agree with Paul Ashton's opinion that this is not the most dynamic image in Darron's folder. While it is a good, sharp image which his customer will love, the aesthetics are lacking some real impact. Its merit as a piece of photographic art (oops, that word!) is surely why it is being discussed here, and his customer's satisfaction is not a very strong defence.

 

Motorcycle racing photography is a terribly difficult subject to get right. I've been trying for a while (some examples here), and the number of images which are technically good but lacking real interest is high. The top guys put a huge amount of effort into it, as well as buying/hiring frighteningly expensive lenses. 80 rolls per weekend, over 3 days, is average for a two Superbike photographer. So I'm not saying Darron is a poor photographer, just that this is not necessarily a great PoW.

Well done but I think cut and dry sports and animal portraits ought not to be PoWs unless there's something special about them. PoWs should involve a little more originality and composition IMO.

Say Vuk,

Give Darron the props for a great photo. Do you have anything which matches? While I feel this is not the greatest photo in his folder but gotta give him credit for being able to master racing photography. He's not a guy sitting in turn three with a Canon Sure Shot Owl trying to get snapshots from far away which most likely not be well exposed.

 

Darron has put time in his work and does well. I'm not the world's greatest photographer but if I were out to heavily critique someone's work, I'd better have something, at least, comparable or better to back up such words. Otherwise, I'd stay quiet and admire.

how about changing the Photo Of The Week to be Photo for Discussion for the Week.... then the image might be 'judged' on it's merits.. just a thought!

Steven.

I'm not sure pointing to a photo of mine I think is better (or equivalent) would be of much use, given that I don't really have anything remotely close in subject matter (and I've only been doing this for a few months now). For that reason, I figured it would be more constructive to show what I mean by manipulating one of Darron's to illustrate my point--which is that he has taken fairly good pictures, but that the next steps, those involving processing (and that includes "film" choice, since this is digital) are not of the same high standard. I also tried to express, though admittedly with tongue-in-cheek, that I understand the constraints placed on him by his clientele. Still, it is possible to sneak in a few artistic shots for one's own sake, right? Even in the commercial realm, however, things like the blue tape and helmets that clash with the bike and/or rest of the outfit take away from the slick and clean look that seems to be the aim.

BTW--I have been through your stuff before and, if it means anything, I'd hang your '48 Buick (http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=137749) shot on my wall well ahead of what we have seen as POW for the past 3 weeks.

Thanks, Vuk.

I agree. Not expecting to be picked for POW, but still proud of what I have done.The Buick photo is one of my favorites too. :-)

 

Some of the POW shots picked, I wonder what the editors are thinking at times. Can't figure out the choice Joe Hall's pic from 2 wks ago. The rest of the portfolio seemed kinda bland. Action shots such as this one and the baseball pic from a few weeks earlier, I can understand.

This is a nice demonstration of technical capabilities of modern SLR. Colorful, crisp and dynamic - it will sell, I am sure. My 10 years old nephew would love to have it on poster. But aesthetically there is not much to discuss. Just a professionally recorded motorcycle rider passing curve at high speed.

I seemed to have pissed the photographer off with my previous comment. Hope his blood pressure is ok, don't want a brain haemmorage on my conscience. However, the shot's still mediocre minus, whether taken on a race court or in the local roundabout.

"...I'd think twice before relying on the artistic judgment of motorbike racers or body builders"

Vuk Vuksanovic

As a motorcyclist, bodybuilder, photographer, and the probable target of your quip, I am highly offended!

If you decided to buy a bike tomorrow and go into your local gym to use the free-weights room, why would that have any effect on your artistic judgement? Some people refuse to conform to the norm, and I admit Im proud that I am one of them. If I enjoy getting such a pump that I cant bend my arm enough to reach the back of my neck in the shower after a workout, or if I like the smell of high-grade petrol and burning Dunlops, can I not also enjoy and recognize aesthetically pleasing design? The fact that you mentioned this, even in jest, is evidence that this sort of mentality is at large amongst artists, and is more disturbing to me than any amount of wannabe artists breaking rules for the sake of breaking rules in some perverted attempt to create something original.

Samuel,

Before becoming obsessed with photography (over the past few months), I used to spend hours on an internet forum discussing high-end audio. Over there, we would classify your reaction as a severe "sense of humour failure" (SOHF). Part of your message suggests you spotted the smiley I'd attached, but then chose to omit it from the bit quoted--almost as if you wanted to construct a scenario in which to react with a sophmoric lecture about the evils of stereotyping.

Of course I was taking a little dig at you, after (to my surprise) coming across a couple of your body building self-disclosures earlier in the day. I don't like to brag about athleticism, but let's just say that I don't fit the artsy mold very well either (although photography is far less at odds with a macho image than my taste for opera). That said, I'll stand by my (humorous) remark about Darron's clientele not being the best population within which to seek advice about artistic photography. This is not a sweeping or all-encompassing verdict, but a straightforward reflection of enormous statistical probabilty. It's also become very much like explaining the punch-line of a joke...

Ease up dude and be careful "bending" in the shower with all those pumped up men around!

The excessively tight cropping suggests massiveness, which I think is unintended. We have two cues that indicate that the bike is moving at high speed - its tilt, and knowing the bike's not likely to have inner tubes mounted instead of tires. Unfortunately those aren't enough at the immediate level, and the visceral impression is that bike and driver are about to tip over, not fly off to the right. There's also a visual detail that powerfully corroborates this impression - the relative definition of that central brass/brake thing in the front wheel. This is a fine catalog photo of the motorcycle, but if you think about product/ad photos that rise above others, there's an infusion of a personal perspective on the product or its context.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!"

 

I think this is a pretty good shot. Its not a masterpiece, but I have seen far far worse grace the pages of many bike magazines. This photo should not be judged out of context, as it has been quite a bit. I don't think the photographer intended this photo to be hung in a gallery. Rather, this photo was intended to be sold to the rider himself, who could care less about the "loss of continuity in the corner which robs the image of greater meaning". Really, it may be a valid point but, was the customer satisfied? Is the photographer satisfied? If so I say well done my friend, keep up the good work.

 

All photography is art. There is no question, but there is a blurry line where art and business begin to diverge. In other words, if the photo is not intended to be a piece of "high art", then it shouldn't be judged as such.

 

I have no problem with the fact that this photo was chosen for P.o.W, well except for that whole digital thing ;)

 

Nice shot Darron.

Vuk....High-five'

 

Darron..... second shot rocks!

The picture is fine for what it is, I actually like the shots Jamie Curtis has put in threads in the past better. This thread has effectively killed my mental image of Samuel as a scrawny coffeehouse intellectual who smokes 10 packs a day.

I see the POW has continued to be provocative in its choice. Certainly there are people who do not find this subject matter to be the best, or the treatment to be the most artistic. However, as Darron has pointed out, that is immaterial. He did not shoot this to win the POW, but to please his clients. And as such, it is a very good photograph. Technically, it is well done, but even more than that, the framing and composition (especially the angle from which it was shot) are nice. Certainly not my favorite pic, as I don't dig the subject matter, but it is not undeserving of being the POW. Congratulations, Darron.

Though I have no particular opinion of this photograph, for the fear of having the first POW without "the comment", I will be the first to say

 

Anyone who doesn't rate this photograph a 10-10 is just jealous.