GOYA - Group Ride

Part of my triathlon training is participating in organized group rides. This particular ride, The Jackson County Brevet, is organized by our head cycling coach and raises money for Aplastic Anemia. A cause that hits close to home as his wife has been living with this disease for many years. Our club comes out in big numbers to show our support. I brought along the Kodak PlaySport camera. It shoots stills and video.

It was my intention to shoot video during the ride and later post those videos on Facebook as well. I thought I had the camera set to shoot videos, instead I only took still images. I was disappointed at first and then got a really nice surprise. Read on to see more.



Although it looks like all I shot was the back side of cyclists, it was my intention to move through the groups, moving ahead and falling back. I had the camera mounted onto my handle bars and because of the angle and the glare of the sun, I had no clue what I was shooting. I would only rotate the camera and hit the record button.

This was more of an experiment to see how well this camera worked and to test out the quality of the video. I was hoping for at least some decent shots that I could edit together for a minute or two finished piece.

I would ride along, hit the record button, then stop. The whole time thinking I was shooting some video. I shot until the first stop and put the camera in my back pocket and never looked at it again until the end of the ride.

That's when I realized I got stills instead of video. I was really disappointed as I looked through the shots. Then I came up on this shot of Casey, one one of my team mates.

I love the colors and his expression. Just riding along and enjoying a great ride. This was a quarter mile before the first stop. I thought it was good, but wished his head was lower in the frame. I didn't like the top of the helmet getting cut off. Then I checked out the next shot.

Now that's an awesome shot! I was blown away. Composition is right on. Perfect, clear blue skies. Nice trees and tall grass. I still can't believe it was taken with a point and shoot camera. It's about 8:45 in the morning, the sun is still low with a nice golden color. We were riding towards the sun and it provided the perfect light. This is one of my all time favorite photos for the reasons I've already mentioned, but last week Casey was in Switzerland representing the USA in the Duathlon World Championship. What an honor to represent the USA, and an honor to have taken this shot of someone worthy of competing in a World Championship.  That just makes this image that much more special.

Although I haven't updated my portfolio in several months, you better believe that this shot is going in it. Casey will be racing Ironman Florida in November along with his wife and several other of our team mates. I'm looking forward to cheering them on, watching them achieve their goals and capture images of the day.


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