Spotlight: Kyle Peters

A few months ago I joined the MxStore crew to help film a couple of segments for their production 'Inside The Nationals'. In between filming I fired off a few stills to help promote the movie. One of the riders I shot was Kyle Peters, an American rider, making a name for himself of the other side of the world. 

There was no brief for the photos, just simply a matter of capturing Kyle as he laid down some laps. I watched his lines and came up with a few concepts that I liked. The track was surrounded by lucious green grass and the sun was low in relation to the track, as it was situated on the side of a hill.  All shots were taken with a Canon 1dx mark ii and Canon 24-70mm f2.8 ii. I used and Elinchrom Ranger S head paired with the Ranger pack.

This was the first image I came up with, and I got slammed with roost. I used the strobe to overpower the sun and help balance the bright sky with the foreground.

Similar to the shot above, but with less roost blasting me. I increased the shutter speed which affects the ambient light, hence the hills and sky are more underexposed. 

The sun was in a perfect spot in which I wanted to shoot Kyle riding through it but use the strobe to over power the sun.

Like the above shot, I used the sun to my advantage.  I also achieved a nice natural flair in the image.

Definitely one of the scariest shots I've ever taken. Kyle was exactly pumped on the concept, but knew it wouldworth the shot. I laid on my back in the middle of the tabletop he was jumping and shot him as he went directly over me. It wasn't as scary as it could've been, and I had complete faith in Kyle's ability to successfully jump over me. We did around three takes then wrapped it up. 

Part of the filming included a gym session. After this session I captured his sweat and determination, using a single light and 90cm x 110xm Elinchrom Softbox.