Jack Payne, Rainbow, California. Photo Dan Severson

As a photographer, there is only so much planning you can do when setting up a shoot. Picking the right riders, location and time of day are the main ingredients needed to increase our chances of something good happening in front of the lens. It’s human nature to want to be in control of every variable, but when it comes to bike photography, at some point you just have to let go and leave the rest up to the riders’ ability and motivation, your knowledge of the camera, and good ol’ fashioned luck.

This shoot was originally set up for an up-and-coming junior rider from the San Diego area. We had been talking for a few months and finally picked a place and time. Knowing it was only going to be one rider, I reached out to Ellsworth rider and employee Andre Pepin to join us. Andre has one of the meanest whips in the biz, and loves sessioning jumps with his buddies. One of them is his friend Jake Payne, who is a former MX team manager for Fox Head, and just loves to ride for fun. Having these two guys in the mix pretty much guarantees your chances of coming away with something good.

Fast forward to the day of the shoot. I had heard rumors of this jump spot being shut down but wasn’t one hundred percent sure if it was true or not. Upon arriving at the parking lot, I see new fences up, concrete barriers and of course plenty of “No Trespassing” signs. Yup, looks like somebody doesn’t want us there. Falling back on my days as a young skateboarder, being kicked out of every spot imaginable by police and security guards, I figure we might as well get in there and see what eventuates. What’s the worst that could happen? I hop the wall and start scoping out the area. As the meeting time comes up, Andre and Jake are en route, but still no word from the junior rider. The two guys show up and finally I get a phone call from the junior. He’s injured and forgot about the shoot. Ok. Good thing I invited the other riders, or I would have been there by myself with nothing to do.

We start setting up and have about an hour and half of good light. Being in a valley, this spot loses the sun behind the mountains about 45 minutes before dark, and having flashes can really come in handy. As I sort out angles and composition possibilities, the guys warm up on the jump. It’s always interesting to me how things come together at the same time. As the riders start getting more comfortable, I start to feel more confident that the angles I’ve chosen will do their riding justice.

We shot just about every possibility that day: long lens, medium and fisheye (my favorite). Feeling like we covered it all and with the light pretty much gone, we decide to call it a day. As we are packing up our gear to head out, all of a sudden the sky starts to turn a crazy pink color. Even though we were all exhausted, we know this sky color won’t last long. Andre is already out of his gear, but Jake is up for a few more tries.

I grab the fisheye and pop a flash on top, as that is the quickest set-up, and we start firing off shots. This was the last shot of the day on Jake’s third and final attempt. I was really happy with this image and it felt like icing on the cake of a fun day of shooting. For all the planning that went into that day, it was the unplanned moment that worked out the best.

*For the settings; I did a panning shot at a shutter speed of 1/250 at F 4.5 and ISO 1000.