This was one of those crazy summer weekends where I had a week’s worth of shooting to get done in 2 days. I chose to shoot a mountain bike camp with Wade Simmons at Blue Mountain on Saturday and the CMRC MX Pro National at Gopher Dunes on Sunday. I was shooting/riding all day Saturday at Blue then editing shots and repacking until 1:30 in the morning. Only a few hours later, at 4:45am, I started my drive south to shoot the race. Sunburned and exhausted from the previous day, but stoked to shoot the first MX Pro Nationals in Ontario for 2010.

The threat of thunderstorms held off and the first part of the day was blue-bird. Some clouds rolled in later in the afternoon but for the most part, the light was decent. A lot of the shots I wanted were back-lit but there is always another shot to be made. I shot the whole day with the new AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II. This lens is absolutely incredible. It focuses lightning fast and is as sharp as a tack. It features the VRII stabilization system, like on my new 70-200mm, but I didn’t need it given the shutter speeds I was shooting at. The lens feels very well balanced on my D3 and I shot all day Saturday hand holding it. I used my monopod to shoot the race today however. I found this lens to be the perfect focal length for shooting the race. It renders the out of focus areas creamy smooth. I shot most of the day between f/5.6 and f/8.0 but shot it wide open during my mountain bike shoot on Saturday. I’ll talk a bit more about this lens and post more images when I write my blog entry from the mountain bike shoot.

Here are a few choice shots from the race.