It was a beautiful day for some CCCX Road Racing action.  The venue was the normal course in Ft Ord in Marina, CA.  We were treated to a full days worth of racing with 150+ racers out in different categories.  We viewed some good breakaways and some good spring finishes to the different categories of racers.

I ended up photographing the race from the last two turns and straights.  It gave me a chance to get both the start/finishes of the races, as well as the podium photos.  The weather was good, as we had some nice fog for most of the day to keep things a little cool, and (at least for me) the breeze and wind felt great.  I’m sure it didn’t feel too good for the guys/gals who were racing since I believe that breeze became a headwind on the climb!

Race winners were given California Giant Strawberries (and according to my wife, they are GOOOOOOOD!)  Also on hand was First One Scene EMS to take care of all the wounded riders from crashes or anyone else in need of medical attention.  Luckily they got to hang out in their tent all day and relax, as we didn’t have any crashes during the race.

I also will be looking forward to racing against the Cat 5 guys on the 3rd race in Oct.  It’ll be my first road race, so take it easy on me!

Race photos can be found here:

Fall CCCX Road Race #1

It was a great day for a race.  I haven’t had the chance to photograph many crit races, and I forgot how fun they are.  Quick course, lots of turns, and lots of opportunity to photograph the racers.  It was warm out there though, and I was wishing that there was a little more shade out there for me to hang out at.  It seems the shade is always in the spot I don’t want to photograph at, and never where I plan to photograph.

I was able to catch the first big crash at the finish line, but I missed the second one where the medics were called out.

I also ended up having to head home early, so I only got the first couple laps of the womens race, and I missed the Mens 1/2/Pro race.

Race photos can be found here:

Watsonville Criterium 2010

San Jose Sports Photographer Scott Mosher was out again at the series finale for the CCCX XC Series at Ft Ord on 6/27.  The temperatures started off nice & in the mid 50s, but it ended up getting pretty toasty out there.  Luckily there wasn’t any big crashes  during the day, though I was starting to wonder once LifeFlight flew overhead a couple times during one of the races.

Pics are now up, so enjoy!

CCCX XC #7

Today was a windy race today at Ft Ord.  I was at a campout on Friday night, so I drove straight from San Juan Batista to the race.  It was pretty cold last night and I was hoping that it would warm up during the day.  I think it would have warmed up nice if the wind had ever stopped blowing.

One of the things that was nice about the course (for me) was there was a few places for me to drive around the course and photograph racers at different spot.  I just wish those expert racers would just slow down.  It would have made it much easier for me to get to a new photograph location before you get there!

Race photos can be found at the link below.  If you’ve got any problems or need help finding an image, please let me know.  I did BTW post all the images that I took, well minus the ones that weren’t up to my standard.

If may notice there is a gallery called “1st Climb”.  This gallery contains about 25 images that contains multiple numbers, such as 101 & 205.  Instead of trying to sort it out by gallery, I decided to put them in their own gallery.

SB Racing Winter XC  Finals

]]> http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/san-jose-california-sports-photographer-sb-racing-winter-xc-final-52210/feed/ 0 http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/san-jose-california-sports-photographer-cccx-xc-5/ http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/san-jose-california-sports-photographer-cccx-xc-5/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 04:10:57 +0000 Scott Mosher http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/san-jose-california-sports-photographer-cccx-xc-5/

It was a good day for some California sports photography.  Sunday was supposed to be in the 70s and sunny so I planned on packing the sunscreen, shorts, and plenty of water.  Turns out my hunch to wear pants (also great poison oak protection) and grab my jacket & a long sleeve undershirt (also great poison oak protection) saved my bacon today.  Turns out the weather decided to be cold, and at times windy & a little drizzly.

I decided to go try to shoot in completely different shooting locations for this race as I was trying to change it up a little bit from what I normally get.  I tried to get a wide variety of images for everyone, including climbing, descending, panning, and anything else I could think of.  I’m hoping at least a few people will find an image of them that is different from what they’ve seen so far.

Pics are now up, so enjoy!

CCCX XC #5

Ah, finally, I got to photograph a bike race near my house!  Todays race was held in San Jose, California at Santa Teresa County Park.  Instead of having to get up at 6-something in the morning, get some breakfast, load up the car, and be on the road by 7, I was able to stay up late, sleep in, and then have my wife drop me off at the park.  I thought about riding up to the park, but I really wasn’t in the mood to ride up Bernal Rd carrying my gear, and dealing with the gear/bike while out shooting.

Great weather today at the park, some nice sun and a perfect breeze.   Luckily I didn’t get bit by any snakes while I was tromping around in the rocks.  The race was put on by SB Racing, and this was the first race I’ve photographed for them.

Race photos can be found here:

SB Racing Winter XC #4

]]> http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/san-jose-california-photographer-sb-racing-org-winter-xc-4-582010/feed/ 0 http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/you-never-did-learn-to-mind-your-surroundings/ http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/you-never-did-learn-to-mind-your-surroundings/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:45:38 +0000 Scott Mosher http://www.scottmosherphotography.com/blog/?p=1475

I always have fun when I’m photographing sports.  Well let me take that back, I do when I don’t fall/step/touch/get near poison oak.  Sometimes the job can be stressful, knowing there is a lot of times where you have to get the shot.  Whether that includes shooting a wide angle lens on the outside of a turn to get that image of the dust spraying all over the place.  It is a place where you have to be on your toes.   Being aware of your surroundings can be the difference between avoiding getting hit, or having to call the paramedics to haul YOU out.

For example, this is shot using my Tokina 12-24mm lens @ 15mm.  My intent was to get a closeup of the riders & the dust they created as they went by.

A couple riders later, this happened right in front of me, again at 15mm, so hes probably a foot or two away from me.

Example #2 is I was at another DH race a week or so ago and there was a great jump that was in the middle of the trail.  When I get to a jump area, I tend to watch the riders for a couple minutes to see where they are landing or crashing.  I also check tire marks on the ground for places where people have crashed/come close to crashing.  Then I’ll pick my spot to shoot from.  In this case I noticed most riders were landing off to the right side and were heading towards the bushes in that direction.  I decided to shoot from about the point where they landed at so I’d be out of the way of flying bikes/riders.

Turns out I was only mostly correct.  One rider decided to hit the jump, (I’m guessing) changed his mind last minute, but it was too late.  He went off the jump partially, and headed straight towards me.  I snapped a couple images before jumping out of the way.  In fact I was actually taking pictures while I was jumping out of the way.  BTW, the radio on my pants pocket is there so I can contact the paramedics in the event they are needed.  I’ve starting having one with me while on the trails in case.  So far I haven’t had to use it.  Photo courtesy of Rick R.

My last example is from a football game I photographed for West Valley College last fall.  Football is a game where you really need to mind where you are.  I really don’t want to find out what a big linebacker falling on you while he’s running full speed feels.  I normally shoot football kneeling down, or when the play is getting close I’ll switch to being on one knee so I can move quickly.  In this sequence, I saw the QB looking my direction while getting ready to throw a pass.  As he threw the ball, I noticed it was heading straight towards me.   I took my eye out of the viewfinder to see the receiver jumping for the ball directly in front of me.

The receiver was falling backwards towards me, so I jumped up & started getting out of the way.  I just pointed my camera in the direction of the play & literally started running.  Right as the receiver was about to land, he got clocked by one of the other teams players, and both went flying onto the sidelines.  I was close enough to get clipped by one of the players as they hit the ground and I went running.

So remember, your job is to help document the play and the game going on to tell the story using images.  Make sure you are mindful of where you are and what is going on around you, so you can document it and not be a part of the story.

Todays game was Ohlone vs West Valley College at West Valley.  I only spent a couple innings at the game today since I photographed the baseball game vs Chabot.

To view our sports portfolio please visit our main website, San Jose, CA Wedding, Portrait, and Sports Photography.

Todays game was Chabot vs West Valley College at West Valley.  I only spent a couple innings at the game today since I was also going to photograph the softball game that was at West Valley as well.

To view our sports portfolio please visit our main website, San Jose, CA Wedding, Portrait, and Sports Photography.

Sunday was a perfect day for racing.  Not a lot of wind, nice sun, and perfect temperature.

Race photos can be found here:

CCCX XC #3