[Friday April 26th 2013] I just got home dusty, tired and happy. Tonight I've been at a Welshot event where we've been shooting BMX Bikers. It was hosted by the very talented motor sports photographer, John Evans . On the journey there I'd encountered some horrible traffic and arrived in a foul mood; I hate being late for anything. But the whole situation with young guys racing around on their bikes, jumping them and skidding in the gravel was so damn joyful my bad mood was very quickly gone and I got down to the business of catching some action shots. I started out with the 24-70 on the 5Dmk2.
The light was good and there were signs of a promising sky so once I'd got my eye in I started playing around with off-camera flash. I set the 580EX on a remote trigger and put that on top of the little stand that comes with the flash. I put those beside the track and started playing with numbers until I'd got a nice balance between ambient and flash. 60 minutes and a few different positions later we were all ready for a hot drink. It was kinda windy and cold, especially for those of us lying on the lymestone gravel and concrete track. I hadn't really chosen the most appropriate attire and when I tried to lay down on one sloping part of the track I found myself sliding backwards downhill, covering every inch of myself with a thick coating of grey white dust.
After our drinks the sky was looking fabulous so I grabbed a few silhouettes of the kids against it until the light dropped to near darkness and it was back to the off-camera flash again. This time, for a bit of fun I decided to use the X100 so I put the remote trigger on top of the little camera and spent a very happy 30 minutes discovering that the Fuji really can hold its own against much bigger cameras.
Overall I had a fantastic evening. The politeness and good humour of the photographers and bikers combined with the pleasure of seeing young people racing around doing jumps and tricks on their bikes made my bad mood vanish instantly. Both cameras handled wonderfully and my love affair with my X100 has been cemented even further. See the whole collection here.
