Go Big or Go Home! from Big Col on Vimeo.

One of the things we saw a lot of on the trail tour on Sunday were Lizards. The wet weather in the Karwendel seemed to bring a whole army of them out. Was a major look out job the whole time not to ride over the wee Beasties…

Max and I somehow managed a very wet tour above 2000m in the Karwendel today. Was going to try some video again but rain killed that idea after about half an hour. Fabi joined us up to the hut then bailed, luckily taking some of the video gear down so lightening my load. Max and I continued over the summit, saw pretty much nothing and found a cool trail down the other side. It stopped raining for a little and there was some cool atmosphere. Pic shows Max 3/4 down the trail and test driving his new ANT, size M with 160mm up front. Pic taken using a Panasonic GH1  and the  7-14mm.

Pic shows Max enjoying the early morning sun at Lenggries bike park. Stefan looks on. Had no flashes with me today so I just thought I’d use the sun. Pic taken using a Nikon D300 with the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 prime lens stopped down to f/11.

Pic taken at my local dirt jumps one evening last week. Rider is a Dude called Marcel. Pic taken with the Panasonic GH1 and 20mm f/1.7 lens. If you read the forums then people are saying that the GH1 is no sports camera. Ok, it’s not my first choice of body for an all day FREERIDE shoot but, with some care, it’s still possible to capture the action at just the right moment.

At the end of October 2008, I had a photo-hike with Harald and Max in the Wilder Kaiser. They were of course riding but, considering the terrain, I just left the bike at home and hiked.  Two of the pics from that day have made it into the Jaw-Dropper photo story this month in BIKE. Here’s another pic that I quite like and it’s taken just below the shot of Harald riding down from the summit. Actually, this section of the trail is steeper in real life than it looks in this picture. Dunno about if the term “Jaw Dropper” really does this terrain justice. Something like “Crazy Shit” would have been much better.

Pic taken using a Nikon D300 and the Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye lens.

Didn’t make it to the mountains today, just had a day in Munich hanging out with Niall.  We took some cameras and went for a sight seeing tour around the English Garden. Water was still high and pumping through the Eisbach. A whole bunch of folk were watching, as usual. Most were tourists with point and shoot cams. I’d say there were about 10 folk on either side with pretty serious shooting gear. Top line Canon gear and L glass. Couple of Nikons. We sat and watched for a while and what struck me most was that they were all shooting the same shit. Standing side by side a couple of meters back from the water with a 24-70 or 70-200 setup. One guy was on the other side with an on cam flash. So 15 – 20 folks all shooting the same shit. So I thought how fucking sad is that. I bolted the luscious Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye onto my D300 and walked down to the bank, got on my knees and held the cam about 2 inches above some serious cubic feet per second. Surf dude on the other side clocked it, surfed over and pulled a move above the cam. I took about 4 shots blind then pulled the cam away before getting splashed. Was in Manual mode, ISO800, f/4, 1/1000th – which wasn’t perfect, had to lighten up the foreground a little. Was a high DR subject anyway. Could have shot some more but Niall was wanting to get to a beer garden for a strong Apfelsaft.  But the point is this: when you see 20 photogs shooting the same shit, then make sure you do something different.  The cam at arms length shooting blind technique is one I’ve used a lot for the biking shots, with an ultra wide the DOF/sharpness is a no brainer and it’s hard to not get the subject in the frame.  Some photogs hate shooting blind, just won’t do it, but for some situations I think it works out great.

Out with Max and Stefan today in the Chiemgau.  On a mountain I’d not been on before, and, from the map at least, one that seemed to be full of cool trails. We bailed from a North facing trail since it was still too wet so, instead, opted for a South facing one.  Was harder than it looked from above but we still had some fun.  Max seemed to ride everything. Stefan most of everything. Me, well, nearly everything;-)  Took my trusty Nikon D300 out for a change and this pic was taken with the Tokina 11-16mm lens and two SB24 flashes – one in a bush off left and another held by Stefan at about bar level just behind me right.

So, opposed to Colin’s last post we decided not to go ahead for a summit or some higher stuff, as it was constantly raining. We instead opted for  some muddy trails near Innsbruck. No hassle to drive somewhere and an easy way out in case it would rain too much. And as always: in the end everything went fine . And a bright, fresh green and red give some beautiful contrast. And you can’t get any greener than in springtime during rain….

D300 + Tokina 12-24@18mm, ISO 320, 1/60th sec, f/5.6

Pic shows Max riding above the Spitzingsee clouds. Arrived at the car park and it started to rain. Heavily. Somehow we forced ourselves out the car and rode up hill. 10 mins later the rain began to ease and close to the top the clouds lifted to give an awesome view.  Atmosphere totale. Pic taken with a Panasonic GH1 and the 20mm 1.7 pancake lens: f/8, 1/2000sec, ISO 100. Got a few other stellar frames from the same spot;)