Tuesday, 01 May 2012
May Challenge: MTB Photography
April has been officially declared as the wettest April on record for 100 years so if you managed to take on April's Bikepacking challenge I am seriously impressed! But don't let the weather get to you, afterall there's another 8 months to squeeze in all our challenges. Click here if you want a reminder of the MBWales 2012 Challenges we've covered so far.
Anyway it's a new month and time for our 5th MBWales 2012 Challenge. Days are getting longer so with May's challenge we want to encourage you to develop your hidden creative talents with a photography challenge. We've been lucky enough to enlist the support of professional photographer Peter Stevens who over the next few months will be be supplying us with regular updates, articles, tips and tuition on how to take awesome mountain bike photography. So if you're a budding photographer or just someone who carries a camera with them on rides this is the challenge for you.
Each month Pete will be supplying a couple of doses of photo knowledge and asking you to follow his advice and send him your progress. (don't forget to upload your own photos to our MBWales Flickr pool too). Pete will then feature the best photos within his articles at the end of each month.
With no further ado here's part one:
An introduction to recreational photography (part 1)
By Peter Stevens
We all love getting out and about in the country side, the fresh air, the beautiful scenery and all the fun and frolics that go with it make us all feel alive and full of zest, however, have you or do you find that the photographs you take on your weekend mini adventures fail to live up to your expectations? Are they too dark, fuzzy, and lacking in dynamism? Well, over this course of tutorials I will be attempting to develop your recreational photographic skills, I will be introducing you to varied shooting techniques, from basic composition to camera panning, we will also be looking at the settings on your camera and understanding there functions, in addition to all this I will also be talking you through some very basic Photo editing techniques.
Before we get started you will need a few things to help you along the way,
1) A Camera (If you don’t have a camera, use the camera function on your mobile phone)
2) A dry bag to keep your equipment safe (it can get very wet and muddy out on the trails)
3) Photo editing software (if you don’t already have it, I recommend Picasa by Google its free)
If you would like to download the free software, go to picasa.google.co.uk/ and click on the download button (this will take no more than a couple of minutes).
Ok so now we have our equipment and editing software we can begin.
The Camera
If your camera has a multiple of setting and functions don’t worry, we are only going to be using a couple of these to start with, if you are using a phone to shoot your pictures you may want to consider an upgrade to a digital compact camera, these offer more versatility and ultimately will produce a better image.
Ok, to begin with we are going to use the following two settings on your camera, look for the green rectangular box on your camera’s mode wheel (I have not come across a compact or slr camera that doesn’t have one of these ) this is a fully automatic setting, when the camera is set to this program all you really need to worry about is your subject matter and composition, this setting is good for general purpose shooting, indoors and out. However, if you are taking a picture of one of your riding buddies in action you will need a more dedicated program, on the same selector wheel look for the running man icon
and set the camera to this function, this will ensure the camera uses all is fastest settings and will minimizes the risk of subject and camera blur.
We hear a lot about the awesome mountain bike trails centres Wales has to offer but sometimes we forget to mention the incredible, rugged and wild single track that crisscrosses the country too.
Nikki and Jason are two people who were more than aware of the fun to be had on the Welsh trails. Until recently they had been professional singers based in Somerset, but Nikki and her husband decided it was time to hang up their microphones and find a new way of life. Jason was a keen mountain biker and Nikki loved to cook so they dreamt of building a business in rural Wales whereby they could combine their two passions.
In summer 2011, after a lot of hard work, they set up a new organization called MudTrek. Jason had qualified as a MIAS Mountain Bike Guide and it struck them that they could offer something unique to the UK but which is very popular elsewhere in Europe - fully catered, guided mountain biking breaks along the lines of a
ski-chalet type holiday including awesome riding, free guiding, great accommodation and fabulous food.
Based in a large barn with incredible views MudTrek are right on the edge of Brechfa Forest and the world renowned mountain bike trails based there. So far their venture has been a great success and it’s already picked up the Carmarthenshire Tourism Gold Award for “Carmarthenshire’s Most Exciting New Business”.
So now they are up and running. Guests are offered week-ends, mid-week breaks or full weeks and “secret” trail guiding too - a chance to ride
“off piste”, away from the trail centres, allowing guests to benefit from Jason’s knowledge of some the best local natural single track around.
Going “off-piste”
We got in touch with Andrew Povey from Bristol who had recently booked a trip with Mudtrek and he had some pretty good things to say;
“Our group have enjoyed the great Welsh trail centres many times so we were intrigued when we came across a review in The Guardian for a company calledMudTrekwho offer ski-chalet style week-ends and breaks for mountain bikers in Wales – great barn accommodation, all food included and free “off-piste” guiding as well. Based near Brechfa, Carmarthenshire it sounded like a great way to spend a week-end as we could take in the trails there too. Sorted!
Awesome views greeted us as we drove into the car park and, having settled in, we sat down to a delicious Chicken Curry followed by Sticky Toffee pudding, home made by Nikki, our “chalet girl”. Rain greeted us on Saturday morning but our spirits were raised when a cooked breakfast arrived. TheMudTrekLandy was loaded up by Jay, our guide and we were off.
It was an awesome sight as we pulled up into the car park in the Doethie Valley, misty and grey with the Llyn Brianne Dam Spillway overflowing. A short ride along some fire road gave us a false sense of security until we arrived at a small chapel where we were informed “this is where challenge starts”! Whilst we eventually all made it up this technical, steep climb 3 of the group got to the top without a single dab earning their place on the “Elite Board”. A very fast, loose descent followed and, despite the Welsh weather the view was just stunning, as was the trail - a narrow, muddy “by the seat of your pants” ride through the valley. We felt like we were in another world. The single track just spiralled out of sight and seemed endless. It was a great day with laughs and spills aplenty and Jay’s easy going company making you feel you'd ridden with him before.
Soaked and muddy but happy, we stuffed our well-earned packed lunches (Nikki again) and made our way back for bike washing and warm showers before a trip to the pub. Back at the barn, a great Chilli was served followed by Apple Pie and cream.
The following morning we hit the red at Brechfa - a complete contrast to the previous day. Our only disappointment was that time didn’t allow us to ride the other “off piste” trails these guys offer – a good enough excuse to return. All week-end nothing was too much trouble for our hosts. We will be back.”
To find out more you can visit the MudTrek website and where you’ll even find the chance to enter a competition to win your own
Fully Catered MudTrek mountain biking week-end break for up to 6 riders!