Remembering where you came from is something I believe is important to anyone person or business. I think especially for a business, knowing where you came from will help you down the road. I’ve seen a number of businesses, small and large, that seem to lose touch with their roots and they start to crumble. With that said, yesterday my friend Tyler Chamberlain who has been featured in a number of competitions was riding in Altamont at a friend’s house and I thought I haven’t seen him in FOREVER, nor have I shot any bmx since I was in High School. When I first started taking pictures for the fun of it, it was out at my own dirt jumps where my friends and I would take my parents video camera and new digital camera and shoot away. So in a way, it’s where I first started to recognize my passion in photography. Naturally my dream was to either be a photographer for the X Games, Sport Illustrated or National Geographic… but a wedding and portrait photographer is just a cool! 🙂 When I met Tyler, this introduced me to a whole new world of bmx and photography. A world that I felt like I was risking my life to even drop in on a ramp. Tyler introduced me to his massive half pipe (which I never dropped in on), and a world outside the small rural area of Illinois. Looking down the 15′ drop in ramp, I clinched my handlebars and prayed that my life would not end that day. However, most of my time consisted of taking pictures, where I was safe from breaking any bones. 🙂
So last night, I got to feel the rush of capturing the trick at it’s peak. Don’t get me wrong a camera that shoots 8 frames per second, and will do a burst of about 11 images makes this pretty easy. Last time I shot Tyler, I was using film… so yeah, it was much easier. We had a great time, got some great shots, and I only fell down once! HA I know, how does one who’s not even riding fall down? Apparently I was standing too close to the landing ramp, and when the trick failed the bike, now free, had it’s sights right on me. As I turned and ran, it’s almost as if the handlebars extended to clip my ankles and trip me. But everything was cool, no injuries, what an awesome night!
