Juskuz Photography

So, I just returned from a great mountain biking trip in Utah with my friends Craig and John . We rode it Salt Lake, Zion, Bryce and Moab. Also, we were fortunate enough to get to ride with Adam Hill and Josh Reese. Justin also lives out there and actually joined us for a few days of riding. Craig and I left Houghton on Thursday after work and drove through the night. At some ungodly hour we met met with John in Des Moines, loaded his crap, and kept on moving. We actually made pretty good time and arrived in SLC a little after 6pm.

Justin didn’t let us waste any time… he had us change, grab our bikes, and soon after we met up with Josh and Adam and were being shuttled up Lower Cottonwood Canyon to make a run. After returning to the car we parted ways, changed, met up for dinner at Squatter’s Brewery, then back to Justin’s for some sleep.

The next day Adam and Josh met us at Justin’s for some breakfast, then we headed off to ride a downhill run called Bobsled found in the mountains above Justin’s place.

Justin ripping down Bobsled (above) – Hilly cleaning the dead-car-drop also on Bobsled (below)

After riding Bobsled we drove across SLC to Adam and Josh’s neck of the woods to ride the Draper XC trails. I would have taken some photos here if I hadn’t been sucking wind and trying to keep up with Adam on the uphill. It just seemed to go on forever… After riding we grabbed lunch, showered at Adam/Josh’s then made the trek south to Zion.

Setting up camp the first night in Zion…

The next morning we got up early and headed up to Gooseberry Mesa. What we didn’t expect was it to be as buggy as it was. Apparently there was a recent gnat hatch and things were a little out of control. Above you can see Justin trying to hide from the gnats while getting his java fix.

One of the lookouts at Gooseberry…

You can see the curvature of the earth from up here…

After finishing our ride at Gooseberry we headed back to town had some lunch and headed into Zion to do some hiking… here you can see Craig getting a little too close to some of the wildlife

Making our way up Angel’s Landing in Zion…

Making our way down Angel’s Landing in Zion…

The next day we were interested in doing a more technical canyon, but due to road construction were not able to access some of the canyons we were initially interested in. After stopping at a couple of different shops in town we decided to attempt a canyon called Yankee Doodle which was just outside of Leeds. Due to less than adequate directions it took us a bit longer than expected to find the entrance. The canyon had some easy down climbing sections but nothing very technical, no water, and in the end we did it as an out and back as the exit directions were again, not very clear.

Justin holding up a huge boulder as Craig and John pass under… Unfortunately this was just before the boulder squashed Justin. Luckily I was able to climb over the boulder after the incident, but if you happen to run into Justin and he looks a little short… now you know why.

Driving back to Springdale after hiking Yankee Doodle…

After finishing Yankee Doodle we headed back to town for some dinner then made the drive east to Bryce National Park. In the morning we got up early and shuttled to the top of the Thunder Mountain trail. This is by far one of the sweetest rides I’ve done in Utah. It’s super scenic on the way up and finishes with a super fast and relatively long descent. Above you can see Justin cranking to the top of one of the climbs.

Justin and Craig ripping along on the Thunder Mountain trail…

One of the coolest sections on Thunder Mountain is this spine you get to ride with hoodoos on either side…

After completing the Thunder Mountain trail we retrieved our car from the upper trailhead repacked some of our gear, and parted ways with Justin. He had some things to do back in SLC and needed to get on the road. Craig, John and I continued our trip by heading into Bryce National Park and decided to do a hike down through the hoodoos…

Here are John and Craig making our way down through the maze of trails that wander in and out of all the hoodoos in Bryce…

The terrain here is just amazing…

Bryce is by far one of the coolest places to visit and hike…

After hiking in Bryce we still had quite a bit of day left and figured we could get in another ride. So, we decided to check out the Caasto/Cassidy/Losse loop suggested to us by one of the shop guys back in Zion. I didn’t take many images on this ride as the trail kinda sucked. Caasto canyon was a sandy, baby-heady 2-track climb up a canyon that wasn’t all too scenic. The Cassidy portion was pretty cool and went through an area call “Little Desert”. But then the end of the ride down Losse was again a sandy single-track mess full of horse dung and lacking in scenery. The Cassidy trail is definitely worth doing if you can access it from other points, but stay away from Caasto and Losee canyons… they aren’t really worth the trouble.

After finishing the Caasto/Cassidy/Losse loop we decided to camp in Bryce one more night so that we could make the trip Escalante to Moab in the daylight. Above you can see Craig taking a break near an area called Hell’s Backbone…

After arriving in Moab we didn’t really have much time to get a ride in so we headed up Negro Bill Canyon to the arch you see above.

Then we headed up to the Sand Flats area to find a campsite and get ready for Slickrock in the morning…

Craig coming down one of the descents on the Slickrock trail…

John and Craig on Slickrock with the Lasals in the background…

After riding Slickrock we decided to go check out Arches National Park…

John and Craig hiking in to see Sandstone Arch…

The well known Delicate Arch… and the couple of hundred people that somehow never seem to appear in the pictures

After hiking Arches we grabbed dinner at the Moab Brewery then headed back to the Sand Flats area to get some sleep. In the morning we woke up and headed back into Moab to the Poison Spider Bike Shop to wait for our shuttle…

Unloading the shuttle at the start of the Whole Enchilada… actually this probably isn’t the true trailhead. The upper trails were not open yet, so they dropped us off at the Hazard trailhead…

Craig somewhere on the UPS/LPS trail…

After finishing making our way to the bottom of the Porcupine Rim trail we rode our bikes back to town, loaded up the car, grabbed some Coke Slushee’s and started the long haul back to the midwest… I cannot wait to head back out there… maybe I can round some people up to go out there this fall… if you’re interested let me know.

Later.

Lori given’r on the new roll-down-to-uphill-bridge on the Red Trail…

 

This weekend was the Ride the Keweenaw Weekend. Things kicked off wit a social and a movie at the KBC on Friday night. Then on Saturday there were guided rides at the Michigan Tech Trails, Maasto/Churning Rapids, and Swedetown trail systems. Saturday ended with a BBQ in Copper Harbor. Unfortunately, I could not participate in any of the goings on as I was down in Baraga for a kayak demo/expo for most of the day.

 

Movie on the back deck of the KBC…

 

On Sunday things were a bit different. Dan was out of town so Arni and I headed up to Copper Harbor in the morning with our demo fleet in tow. From 10-1 the Keweenaw Adventure Company was running free shuttles from town back up to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, and at 1:00 the different groups headed out to ride the newly designated IMBA Epic Loop in Copper Harbor. I got one shuttle run in, and then headed out with the fast group on the Epic ride. The plan was to get ahead of the groups and then stop to take some photos… slowly dropping through the ranks so that I could try and photograph all of the different ability levels.

I have to say… I just wasn’t really feeling the camera yesterday. I felt like I was really struggling to get a good exposure in the woods, and my ability to focus on the subject was all over the place. Some of the focusing problems had more to do with what I chose to focus on rather than lacking the ability to focus… but apparently I was making poor choices. Anyway, enjoy the images and check out the Copper Harbor Trails Club website for more info and to offer your support.

Later.

Mark leading out the slow fast group…

John cruising down the roll-down and over/up the bridge on the Red Trail…

Thank You to everyone that participated and/or helped out over the course of the weekend. It was a great time and a ton of fun!

Headed up to the dirt jumps tonight to help dig and brought equipment to shoot a time-lapse vid of the work getting done. However, it was apparently too hot for anyone else to show so I just grabbed a few images and got out of there. Everyone’s probably out on the water… can’t really blame them. I forget what the forecast was for today, but right now it’s 95 degrees here at the house, and I’m pretty sure we broke into the triple digits in some areas.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really like the top image on this post and really want to get up to the trails some day when I can get a few frames with people/riders in the composition. If anyone’s interested let me know… it’ll only take a few minutes and I think it’ll look pretty cool.

Later.

I finally found a wordpress plugin that will allow me to change the header image on this website and gives me some amount of control. So, the other day I took a bit of time and made up some new headers, put them in the proper folder, and ta-dah… rotating header!

Anyway, I just ran through some of the images I’ve shot over the last couple of months and these are what I came up with… Well, these are the ones that seemed to fit into the long aspect ratio. What I’m wondering is what you guys think of these different images, what they say about the site, etc… Do you like them all? What’s your favorite? Should I get rid of any of them?

Right now the header is set to change on every refresh. However, the program isn’t all that great about randomly cycling through all of the images. In a couple of days I will probably change it so that it rotates every couple of minutes.

Until then, don’t hold back… leave your suggestions/critiques in the comments area below.

Later.

Copper Harbor is such a great place to ride and right now they are working on putting together a new map of their trails. My friend Chris has been volunteering his time behind the computer working on said map. From what I’ve heard things have come together quite nicely. The map portion of the map is done, and they are just waiting on some advertisers and it’s good to go. 

Well… I suppose that’s not totally true. The map still needed a cover photo, and that’s what Chris and I set out to take. The first thing we needed to decide was what to shoot. Fortunately, that really wasn’t a problem. Even though it’s been shot a hundred times, Stairway to Heaven is one of the most unique features that the Copper Harbor trails have to offer. It’s not a very difficult feature to ride, yet it is super fun. This makes it the perfect candidate for promoting the trail system because it appeals to pretty much everyone without discouraging anyone. 

So, now that we know what we’re shooting… how are we going to shoot it? 

Because Stairway to Heaven has previously been the subject of many other photographs, Chris and I decided that if we were going to do this we needed to do something different. Fortunately, I have been working on putting together a backpack mount camera rig. I figured that we could use this mount combined with a fisheye lens and slow shutter speed to capture some fairly unique images that not only show off the trail but also convey a sense of movement and speed. Below you can see some of the different shots we captured while experimenting with the system. 

After shooting a ton of images we decided to move on and shoot some other sections of the trail. At this point the bugs had figured out how tasty we were and that we weren’t heading anywhere anytime soon. So, we didn’t spend a ton of time shooting the rest of the trail, but we did manage to get in a variety of shots. 

Anyway, everything went pretty well and I’m much happier with these images compared to the images I shot last fall… in the rain… without a plan.

Well, enjoy the images… Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments area. 

Later.

A few days ago Mark mentioned that the trilliums (white flowers) out by his house were pretty dense this year and that there might be some photo opportunities if I was interested. Well, I’m always interested. So, we decided to meet after work last night to see what we could find. Unfortunately, the weather yesterday was pretty shitty. It more or less rained all day, varying between just a slight drizzle and downpour. However, as 7:00 rolled around the rain let up and things were a go.

Ryan and I met Mark at his house and proceeded to scout out the parts of the trail where the flowers were the thickest. These flowers funny in that they are really only located right around Mark’s house. There are a couple of thick patches, but for the most part as you move away from their property the flowers start thinning out.

Anyway, we found a nice piece of two-track that ran along side one of the denser patches of trilliums and played around there for a while. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn’t really find a way to make the flowers stand out. I think it was a combination of the wetness and the quality of the light that made things less than ideal. What are you going to do. We did find a log for Mark and Ryan to ride on and that was pretty fun for a bit. Luckily, Lily had joined us and was there to spot Mark… just in case.

After playing in the flowers we headed back to Mark’s house and to a short section of trail in his front yard that is pretty tight and has a few sharp turns. Here we were just looking to get a good image of a rider blasting through the trees. Here I broke out the lights to add some interest and focus specifically on the riders. The problems we ran into were in finding a good line of sight through all of the little trees, that lined up with the apex of one of the turns. This proved more difficult that you might think. If I shifted my location so that I could see the front wheel on the trail during the turn, a tree would be blocking the rider’s face. If the riders tried to adjust their line so that I could see the tire while not blocking their face, it straightened things out too much and it’s hard to fake an “active” riding position.

It was fun either way and I always just enjoy getting out with my camera and experimenting. Everything leads to better pictures.

Monday I think I’ll be headed up to Copper Harbor with Chris to try and find some images for use in the new Copper Harbor MTB trail map.

Check back soon…

The path up to the dirt jumps…

Every Monday evening around 6:30 some of the local riders and shop guys get together to put in some time throwing dirt around making sure that the local dirt jumps are in decent shape. Currently, they are in the process of a pretty major overhaul. The jumps of yesterday are no more, and in their place are jumps that are bigger and steeper. Not really that comfortable on big jumps yet… fret not citizen. The guys have not forgotten about you. Weaving in and out of the larger set of jumps is a smaller set. This line gradually builds up in size until, towards the end, you are hitting jumps comparable to the ones that start the bigger line. The idea is that even if you aren’t that comfortable yet, you have a place to grow your skills until you feel ready to take it up a notch.

Anyway, the jumps that are complete are in really good shape, are well formed, and the series really seems to flow. The guys responsible for the current setup have been doing this a while and it would appear that they know what they are doing. Also, you will find a small pump track, and there are plans for a picnic/grill area and dual slalom course. You should really check it out.

So, if you ever find yourself sitting around wondering what to do with yourself on a Monday evening around 6:30… head on over to the dirt jumps… there is always enough work to go around.

Later.

Ryan and Steve shoveling dirt…

Ryan and Steve hauling dirt…

Ryan and Steve dumping dirt…

Take note… two hands on the shovel, eyes on the target, good height… text book two-footed-shovel-plunge…

Andy testing the completed section…

 

 

 

Well, I was fortunate enough to find someone at another publication that liked one of my images. They liked it enough to run it full page behind the table of contents. I am pretty excited about this one as the guys at Dirt Rag were kind enough to include my website address and a shout-out to Mont Ripley.

Word on the street is that a few more of my images made it in the latest issue of SBC Surf… stay tuned!

Later.

(Note: I always lead off with the cover so that you could identify the issue on the stands if so desired… so far none of my images have made any covers… yet.)

Below is a slightly better version of the image without the weird glare off the magazine’s paper.

I just wanted to share some thoughts on what is supposedly one of the most versatile and easiest to use trunk mounted bike racks on the market today… Yakima’s QuickBack 3.

I’m going to cut straight to the point. If you own a 2001 4dr Jetta do not purchase this rack. It does not fit on this vehicle very well, and the design places unnecessary stress on the most necessary attachment points. I would even go so far as to say, if you own a small to midsize sedan do not purchase this rack as I feel you would have similar problems. I think this rack would work swimmingly on a hatchback, minivan, or a full-sized sedan (large trunk). From there it’s just a matter of whether or not your bike will fit… mine did not. I have a 2010 Santa Cruz Blur LT and could find a way to secure it to the rack. Now I could purchase Yakima’s tube top accessory, but then I believe that my bike would hang so low as possibly scrape on the ground… no thanks!

I don’t want rag on this rack too much. It’s a trunk mounted rack… you really shouldn’t expect much in the first place. But I do have a few complaints that would probably make me return the rack even if it did fit my vehicle. First, the spacing between the cradles on the bars is not adjustable. This is very limiting and doesn’t allow for any tweaking… Design Fail #1. Second, the excess strap retainers are made of hard plastic and it is quite difficult to cram the folded excess strap into the clip. Also, the hard plastic has the potential to be quite loud while banging against the car and could very well damage the finish. A velcro retaining strap would have been much easier to use, just as if not more secure, quite, and less likely to damage the finish… Design Fail #2. Lastly, the point where the top strap attached to the rack is vertically oriented while the strap, where attached to the car, is horizontally oriented. This necessitates a slight twist in the strap. When the rack is attached to a hatchback as in all of Yakima’s product shots, it seems just fine. However, on my Jetta I had to remove the strap retainers and completely tighten down the strap to make it even close to being short enough to appear secure. In this scenario the strap attaches to the car just on the opposite side of the top pad putting a very severe twist in the strap right as it enters the buckle. In my opinion this is not very secure, and puts unnecessary stress on the straps that are supporting the majority of the weight. Now, just north of the support arms on either side of the big red knob there is plenty of room to attach the buckles in a fashion that wouldn’t necessitate a twist and would provide additional room for tightening which would increase the number of vehicles that this specific rack could fit… Design Fail #3.

The other day both Sam and I had the day off so we decided to head up to the trails for a little biking. Sam has sorta become my unofficial “talent” when it comes time to take the camera out of the bag. He’s usually a pretty good sport about it and it doesn’t hurt that he’s usually pretty good at whatever activity is happening. Anyway, yesterday was a gorgeous day. Now, you might think that’s a good thing… but you’d be slightly wrong. Those perfect bluebird days are beautiful, but the light is pretty harsh and contrasty reducing your options when taking photos. I don’t want to say that this type of light is bad… you should always be able to find something or someway to shoot. However, it is not ideal.

Below you can see an image that I took a couple of days ago on a pretty overcast day. The image itself isn’t anything special, but in my mind it should look pretty cool in black and white and the fallen trees forming an “X” add some visual interest… now we just need a rider.

 

 

 

In the next image you can see the light conditions we were dealing with yesterday. Things are super contrasty. Notice how in the image above there are no shadows around the trees because of the super soft light coming from almost every direction, but in the image below there are all of these almost black lines created by the shadows of the trunks. This location was very open, so what do you do… move into the woods where you have some cover.

 

 

In the next image I was shooting up the trail into the bright sky behind Sam. I exposed for Sam’s body and let the background blowout. My goal is to separate the rider from the background, and by blowing out the background we effectively put more emphasis on the rider. I also like the effect of the white helmet and white shirt blending into the background.

 

 

 

For the next image we found a nice high speed, swoopy section of trail. The light here was pretty good, but the spot right were I wanted the rider to be had a streak of light coming through the canopy and was making things difficult. So, here I decided to add in a little strobe. My SB-800 was set in commander mode, manual, and I think it was at 1/4 power. It was maybe 8-10 feet in front of and to the left of the rider (camera right). The sun provided a nice rim light and the backlighting on the trees really helped make the greens pop. These were definitely my favorite images from the ride.

 

 

Here is another image from the day. This one was shot with just the ambient light, and I think they ended up a little over processed due to me pushing the mid-tones to retrieve some of the detail. I do think they look pretty cool, but I wish the light had been a little softer and more diffuse.

 

Overall it was a lot of fun shooting, and we got a bunch of riding in on top of it. It’s always good shooting in challenging conditions, and I’m just happy to have come home with some images I don’t think are total crap. Most of the time it only took a minute or two to get everything setup, even if I decided to use strobe. I would have Sam stand where I think I wanted him to be, dial in my exposure, then start making live runs. Sometimes it would take a frame or two to find out where I had to focus and get the timing right, but after that it was smooth sailing. Every run is a little different, so in a sense it’s a little bit of a crapshoot, but we tried to control everything we could, including showing the rider the images and discussing how we wanted him to ride something, to improve our chances of getting a few keepers.

Enjoy!

(you can click on the images to see them a little bigger 800px vs 600px… the compression makes some of them seem a little soft in the post)