Literally, our ride today was up the Creek. My friend Eaphan is a great rider, and a great person. You can ask him to do anything and he will either say yes or a very polite no. I told him I was bringing along my camera equipment on our ride today and I am glad I did because I would have hated not to be able to get a few pictures and I know I would be stewing all night about it. The sun was at the perfect angle and it’s less than intense autumn rays provided stunning shadows and warmth.

My only disappointment was not bringing my Nikon 24-70mm lens. I had packed light today – one camera and one lens. I chose my Nikon 70-200mm because it is still a fairly new lens for me and I love using it and also because I can currently only fit one lens with my the Nikon D3S in my bag (read…I need a larger camera bag). It was also my first time on these trails so I had no idea what to expect. And I have to admit I really wanted to ride today – it was beautifully sunny and unseasonably warm for mid-November.

In retrospect, a wide angle lens would have been the better choice as I really didn’t have a lot of room to take pictures due to the abundance of floral overgrowth surrounding the barely used trails. So I worked my lens to the best I could and although I am stoked with the pictures I got I will definetely have to go back with the wider lens.

And again I will call upon Eaphan and I will direct him to do this and do that, wear some red and bring the yellow bike . In the end,  my hope is to get some unique shots of him and have a great ride. It’s always fun going mountain biking with friends and riding in the fall is a blast.

I had just finished taking the pictures by the creek, had packed up my equipment and rode less than a minute before I came to a quick stop and saw some sweet light on the few remaining yellow leaves on the bare trees. Most of the leaves had fallen a few weeks earlier and were dry and brown rustling under our tires and fluttering away as we sped by. Seeing the light and a pile of leaves gave me an idea and I asked Eaphan to practice his tripod turns swinging the rear end around and kicking up the leaves. Just like a little kid would do. And so he did. Thanks buddy for a great day and for showing me some great trails!