I first shot with Grant after he won the Rocky Trail Shimano MTB GP series, it was a shoot with both the male and female winners to help promote their success and the event.   Grant has been racing for many years in both road and predominently mountain bike now and with brand Apollo Bicycles.  

  I was working on a project and also wanted to do some night images at a venue that an upcoming 24-hour event was to be held.  This worked well for both Grant and I as he had a new light sponsor NiteLights and shooting some light trails would make for some nice images they may want to use.  

  Meeting at Awaba MTB Park in the late afternoon we started with the portraits before moving onto the light trails or “light snakes” as Grant dubbed them.  I know the main loop at Awaba well but the challenge with this shoot is once it went dark getting around was not as straight forward as hoped.  I was prepared with a head torch and Grant had his fantastic lights which we used to help with compositions and focus before Grant would disappear into the dark returning at full race pace where I would need to time the shutter release.  A handful of images taken at each location and then onto the next one.  We finished nearly at midnight before both making the near 2hr drive back to where we each live.  

  Light streaks are always a popular image with viewers as of course its not something the naked eye can see.  Getting them right is all about the composition and where the lights and rider cross when the flash goes off.  White background portraits were taken using my mobile studio setup.