Mountain Bike Photography :: Dan Barham :: Blog

Worxing for Crankworx

Dan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:01:08 +0000

This year I was lucky enough to land the job to shoot the official photos of the 2010 Kokanee Crankworx event up in Whistler, BC. I’ve been there every year since 2006 now, and it was great to mark the 5 year anniversary with a jump into shooting it commercially.

Below is a handful of my favourite images from the 5 days I worked, along with something special I put together – a zoom-able, pan-able panorama of the crowd in Whistler village midway through the gala slopestyle event. Total image size: an astonishing 136 megapixels, stitched from a total of 40 individual shots from my 16 megapixel camera. Were you there? If so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to spot yourself!

Winging and Winning It

Dan — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:14:37 +0000

About three weeks ago I received a call from fellow photographer Mattias Fredriksson, invited me to a brand new competition he was organising in his home town of Åre, Sweden – the Scandinavian Photo Challenge. Loosely based on the same format as the Deep Summer Challenge I competed (and lost to Mattias) in last year, it comprised three days of shooting in the fantastic Åre Bike Park, followed by two days of editing time.

I jumped at the chance, and made my way over there last week with very little idea of what to expect, where to go or who to shoot, but at least I knew who I’d be shooting – Robin Wallner, Linus Sjöholm and John Högman Alm of Sweden, and BC’s very own Mike Hopkins, none of whom I’d worked with before. Add on to that the prospect of beating Mattias in his home town and I was rather skeptical of my chances, but figured it’d be worth a shot.

I'd never met any of them before, but made four friends by the end of the week.

I needn’t have worried. The guys rode to an incredible standard the whole time, and despite all the troubles of crappy weather, mosquitoes, me getting sick (again) and Mike’s bike not turning up till the last day, we somehow managed to put together a show that won the judges’ approval and top spot for the competition.

I'm rubbish at making speeches. Photo: Johan Weimer.

I titled the finished product “Winging It”, in reference to the slap-dash way in which we went about the task of planning, scouting and shooting. It’s a technique that, while nerve wracking to say the least, definitely brings out a relaxed vibe, something that I think was appreciated by the audience as well as those making the decisions.

I’m working to make the slideshow available online very shortly, until then here’s a selection of images that didn’t quite make the ‘top quality’ spot. Look for the real deal in a number of magazines very shortly, including Bike, Dirt, Freeride (Germany), Big Bike and Singletrack. Super-maximum-Euro-thanks go out to the awesome people of Åre, the Bike Park, my team, Mattias and everyone else I met or who helped over the course of the week. Here’s to next time, Skål!

Peru: People & Places

Dan — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:53:36 +0000

Last week I returned from a fantastic trip to Peru with Sacred Rides Mountain Bike Adventures; I went along to cover aspects of the trip for upcoming articles in Bike and Singletrack magazines. Naturally all the best shots are under close guard until publication, but until then here’s a bike-free sampling of the amazing people and places I encountered over the course of my time down there.

No related posts.

Behind the Iceholes

Dan — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:42:44 +0000

The June 2010 issue of Bike Magazine just hit the shelves here in Canada, which means I finally get to write about what was one of the most unique and interesting shoots I did all year, back in late October ’09. The mag sent me halfway across the continent to the tiny town of Onaway, Michigan, to cover the race preparations of the most unlikely of teams – the Cheap Shots hunting club.

If you haven’t already seen the issue yet, here’s the opening spread:

As usual there’s a ton of shots from our four day trip that didn’t make it into the finished article, so here’s a good selection of ‘em. Not much in the way of bike-related action going on here, but hopefully something of interest, separated into a handful of “remember that time when…” type stories.

Be sure to check out the finished article, complete with all the images that aren’t shown here, either on newsstands now or online via the excellent Zinio.

So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen I give you…

The time we found lots of plastic animals in a forest

Picture the scene: a late-night flight into Traverse City, MI, followed by an early morning drive to meet Butch & the gang at the ranch in Onaway. The roads are deserted, Chris and I aren’t sure what we’re about to get ourselves into when all of a sudden, a patch of blues, greens, pinks and yellows flashes past in the blink of an eye.

Intrigued, we span the car round to check it out, only to find the surreal scene of hundreds of fibreglass animals hanging out in the forest, a dilapidated “For Sale” sign twisting in the wind, and not a soul in sight. We poked around for a few minutes, realised it was decidedly creepy and got the hell out of there.

The time we stopped for gas and a car-surfing deer pulled up beside us

You know you’re not in the big city any more when a truck rolls up at the gas station, freshly shot deer on the roof. Ever the coward, I waited for the driver to head inside the store before snapping a couple of shots, while Chris marvelled at his latest purchase – an unironic “HANDS OFF MY GUNS” hat.

The time we invaded a farm supply store, set up lights and confused customers

Our first encounter with Butch was at his farm supplies store, where we’d agreed to meet to grab a couple of in-environment portraits and arrange the rest of the shoot. When I first meet people on a job I’m always slightly self conscious of how I must appear to them – I’m sure the guy with the stupid hybrid British / Canadian accent, setting up a softbox in between the bags of animal feed must’ve gone down a storm.

The time we learned how to D.I.Y. our own bullets

The truth is, we were actually here to see Butch for two reasons. One, of course, was to get this article in the bag, but the other was something arguably more exciting – to use his homemade trebuchet to fling the flaming Shitbike into the afterlife. You can see how that turned out in the video posted on bikemag.com, suffice to say it didn’t end well for the medieval war machine.

After we’d destroyed his pride and joy with our ill-conceived plan, Butch invited us in for a coffee and to show us how he hand-pressed his own bullets. Make of that what you will.

The time we hoped we wouldn’t be complicit in a man’s death

The day of the “Iceman Cometh” race upon us, we got the team together early for a quick shot at getting the article opener done and dusted. Setting up a couple of blocks away from the event start area meant we were close enough to get there in time, but far away enough to get a nice clean background on the shot. The shot the mag eventually chose was as simple as it gets – just a gold reflector bouncing the morning sun back into their faces, then white-balance corrected to give a cold, blue, “icy” vibe to the image.

Prior to the race, Butch (not to mention his wife) had made some comments about him not pushing too hard, taking it easy on himself, not trying to hard and forcing something bad to happen. Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, we got it – he’s no spring chicken, and not used to this level of physical activity.

A few hours into the race, we caught up with a beleaguered and withdrawn version of the man we’d waved off earlier. He’d already put himself through hell, and at only halfway through the race things weren’t looking so great. There was talk of stopping, of doing his best, of quitting while he was ahead. All good advice, but Chris and I knew our story really hung on the hero finish – the against-all-odds triumph at the end, or it’d all amount to nothing. We exchanged a few worried glances while Butch rested, desperately suppressing the desire to say something or somehow force him into doing our bidding.

Just as things were looking hopeless, the hero of our story stood up, announced he’d see us soon and set off on the final leg of his journey. We breathed a sigh of relief, and watched him slowly winch himself into the distance.

The time we lost our hearing for six hours

On our last day in town, we realised at the last minute that it’d be great to get a couple of more shots of the ranch in the bag, so drove back unannounced to see if we could impose one more time. True enough to their word, the guys had recovered from their race ordeal the day before and were busy putting up a new barn.

We hung around for a while, finishing up the shots we needed, and were just about to head off when the prospect of shooting a couple of guns was brought up. I’m game for anything, fired off a couple of rounds with the .44 and was amazed to find that without ear protection I’d managed to deafen myself in one ear – holy crap those things are loud!

After failing to hit the side of a barn, we said our goodbyes and set off for the airport, covered in gunshot residue…

Being Incredible*

Dan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:39:44 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I wrapped up one of the larger jobs I’ve ever done: working with SUGOI* and Cannondale apparel to produce their Spring / Summer 2011 catalogues. Over the course of a week we had every typical problem with catalogue shoots crop up – unpredictable weather (we had sun, rain, hail and snow, often on the same day), frigid temperatures (great for models in summery outfits), and last-minute arrivals of one-off sample outfits. Still, we persevered, and put together what I think are great selection of images.

Of course, the main fruits of our labour are under lock-and-key for the next few months, but what I can show you is a number of behind-the-scenes shots from our week on Vancouver Island. Thanks to Margus Riga, who worked as my assistant on the shoot, for a bunch of these, not to mention the fantastic work of all the models and team of production staff that made them possible in the first place. And who put up with my creative hissy fits and general grumpy demeanour.

* SUGOI is Japanese for “Incredible”, hence the narcisstic-at-first-glance title of this post. Sorry, couldn’t resist it.

Awesome Awesomeland

Dan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:00:36 +0000

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the North Vancouver premiere of Bones Over Metal‘s great new bike movie “Awesomeland: Women of Dirt“. Here’s their own words on what it’s all about:

Awesome Land: Women Of Dirt is a unique look into the world of Downhill Racing, Dirt Jumping and Freeriding. This film looks through the eyes of the wondrous women that have helped grow the sport of Gravity Mountain Biking with their strength and courage.

Awesome Land: Women Of Dirt celebrates the mountain bike while celebrating the women who love them. A beautiful and energetic film that opens a window into an awesome world.

I couldn’t agree more; it’s great to see a women’s focussed movie with such a friendly vibe to it. The crowd, the biggest I think that tiny pub has ever seen, loved it and by happy chance I came away with a copy on DVD. Not only that, but I managed to get it signed by two of the raddest women in mountain biking – Micayla Gatto and Tara Llanes. Check it out, it looks pretty great:

The purpose of this post isn’t (just) to gloat however, I figured I’d spread the love and give this away to someone else so they can enjoy it too. It’s easy to enter, too – just post a comment below saying why you think you should win it*, and I’ll pick the best in a couple of weeks. Simple as that, really.

* Keep it clean… that means you, ever-growing-horde-of-Gatto-worshippers.

Girls Allowed

Dan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:10:52 +0000

I’ve long complained about the (stereo)typical sausage-fest that is the sport of mountain biking, so when pro freerider and all-round good egg Darcy Turenne asked me to be part of a new women-only festival, I jumped at the chance with nary a glance back.

She, along with fellow rider Katrina Strand, wanted an event that would build on the fantastic progress made by Crankworx‘s Womenzworx, but with a more inclusive vibe aimed across the whole spectrum of rider abilities and experience, set in the friendly atmosphere of Vancouver Island’s Mount Washington resort. “See Jane Jump” was born:

I’ll be there for the whole weekend in August, documenting the whole thing alongside killer videographer Aaron LaRocque, hopefully catching some great moments for the evening slideshows and take-home DVD that all participants receive. I’m excited to be a part of it.

To round things out here’s a handful of shots of girls ripping on bikes, for no other reason than, well, because:

For the Love of Green

Dan — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:56:44 +0000

I don’t get the chance to visit Vancouver Island very often, so when Strahan Loken invited me over for a quick day shoot, I jumped at the chance without a second thought. There’s nothing quite like the sparsely-populated forests so abundant in the area, with their golden-red Arbutus highlights and moss so green it practically uplights the canopy, and on a high-overcast and misty day there’s really nowhere else I’d rather be.

Strahan Loken carves a path through the beautiful forests of Vancouver Island

What’s truly intoxicating about the area is the sheer variety and stunning beauty of the nature out there. I’m rarely one to gush on about such things, but when faced with such fantastic flora I find it hard not to switch into full-on “Planet Earth” mode, excitedly pointing out each new discovery as if I’m the first to ever lay eyes on it. Which must get irritating.

Still, at the risk of annoying a wider audience, here’s a handful of images from my day out to this unique zone. Here’s to finding the next one.

Cowboy Coffee

Dan — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:02:53 +0000

Almost a couple of years ago to the day, I shot a bunch of photos of local coffee roasters Cowboy Coffee, in a kind of behind-the-scenes look at a bunch of guys with a passion for two things – coffee, and bicycles.

Originally slated for a article on NSMB.com (which I’m sure it could still be, at some point), it focussed on the great location they occupied for many years, the accumulation of bikes, the patina of use and the great sense of community that came baked into the walls – the tragedy being they were soon to move to a brand new location with none of the unique sense of history.

Slideshow after the jump.
(Flash, so if it doesn’t appear where you’re reading this, go directly to my site)

I’m sure Cam and I will finish the article one day, but until then here’s a sneak-peak at the images captured that one Friday in January 2008:

Gear For Sale

Dan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:27:28 +0000

I’m clearing out some of my old gear that hasn’t been used in a while. Priced super cheap (excluding shipping / payment fees) to sell quickly, if you’re interested contact me at photo@danbarham.com.

Canon 1D Mark II – SOLD

Canon 2X Extender II – SOLD

Fits certain ‘L’ lenses, gives a 2x boost to focal length
Newer ‘II’ version with better optics / weather sealing
Literally used twice, absolutely mint condition.

Tripod for sale