Recently, I have had a few opportunities to take action portraits of people doing what they love best. In this case … offroad riding. I had no idea that I would enjoy this type of photography and always thought of it as very complex, time consuming and technical. But I was wrong and I pleasantly found that action, or sport if you prefer, portraits challenges both my creativity and technical skills as a photographer allowing me to show my subject at their best in their element.

I had a sneak preview of the upcoming XC race held at Chicopee, in Kitchener, Ontario and was invited by Ron Golden of Motomotion to ride with a group of established riders. I not only jumped at the chance to ride my KTM 200 but I also wanted to stake out some cool areas to take action shots of racers next weekend. I have been wanting to have a sport portrait photo session for a while and this was the perfect opportunity.

Overall, I am stoked with the pictures I took but not so stoked at the way I rode the technical sections of the course. I have not been able to do a lot of riding over the last five years (I can count them on both hands) and I believe I have been spoiled by both the Ganaraska and Simcoe Country Forests for their sweet flowing singletrack. I am a whiz on that but had an eye opening, and embarassing (yes…I have an ego) technical faux pas in the uphill sections of the course reserved for the pros.