What a gorgeous week for a County Fair and a nice way to spend the Labor Day Weekend! I was fortunate to have time to attend the 2019 Maury County Fair and Expo on Friday and Saturday. I created a boat load of images over the course of the 2 days. Being able to capture so many photos is a blessing and a curse. The convenience is a blessing compared to the film days. On the other hand, if you’re like me, you like to do some post processing to get the best out of your files and maybe add a little artistic flare. This can be a curse because of the time involved in curating and processing images. For me, it’s a labor of love. The reason for so many photos was due to shooting at 18 and sometimes 60 frames per second at the motocross. At those frame rates, a memory card can fill up very quickly!
I spent the evening on Friday inside the amusement park area and I spent most of my time Saturday at the Expo Center watching the motocross. I shot these high frame rates to increase my chances of getting as many “keepers” as possible when shooting the fast action of the motorcycles and ATV’s. I had intentions of creating one blog post about my adventures at the fair, but as I was curating the images, it became evident that the motocross deserved a post by itself. I made the decision to blog about the motocross first. I did this mainly because I was approached my several parents and family members of the participants during the event asking me where they good get access to the photos I was taking. I wanted to turn these images around as quick as possible, so here we are.
This was my first motocross. I grew up around dirt bikes and ATV’s. I used to own a motorcycle myself, but I’ve never watch a live motocross. There was something I noticed that is common in every sport or specialized activity. That common thread is the sense of family and brotherhood even amongst furious competition. As always, the pictures speak for themselves. I love creating bodies of work that tell a story. If you were there, you know what it was like. If you were not, I hope my photos give you a hint of what it was like to be there. Enjoy the slideshow!
My video recording and editing skills are a work in progress, so this video is not the greatest, but it does give you a look at the fast pace of the motorcross. This was just a simple handheld recording.
Shooting an event like this is a good exercise in practicing your technique. I finally got a chance to test out the firmware upgrade for the continuous auto-focus tracking on my camera. I’m still learning to put that feature to good use, but I was able to nail several shots with it. I even played around with my flash gun as the evening progressed. Believe it or not, I did not shoot these images with a proper zoom lens. I shot these images with my 45mm f1.8 and my 75mm f1.8 prime lenses. It wasn’t ideal, but I made it work. It was all about moving my feet to get close to the action. The next time I shoot a similar event, I’m going to rent the 40-150mm f2.8 PRO Zoom. That lens would make life much easier.
I had a wonderful evening! I met some great people including some of the young competitors. I loved watching the little ones riding their mini bikes. My wife says they look like little “bobble heads.” This is a male dominated sport, but the girls I saw were just as competitive as the guys. I look forward to my next motocross! Thanks to Maury County and Expo for putting on a great county fair! I know an event of this magnitude and duration takes a lot of planning and execution. Everyone I encountered from the parking attendants to the park were kind and helpful. Thank you for your hard work!
The motocross was not over when I left, but I had to leave to catch the fireworks at the amusement park area. I had an image in mind for the fireworks shot, so I setup my tripod and waited for the show to start. Well, upon the first explosion, it was evident that I needed to move to a different location to realize the image I envisioned. In fact, I captured the fireworks at a couple of vantage points that turned out quite nicely. If you want to see those shots, watch for my next blog post coming soon. Like and Follow me at Shuttering Thru Life to catch my next adventure. Thanks for reading!
No responses yet