I was absolutely gutted to find that the manufacturer in Portugal had cocked up the production times for the caps and they hadn't even sent them yet, Nathan told them that he was refusing to pay for them as there was 100 of them and it would of been hard to sell them all after the event had finished so there was one thing I wouldn't be able to hand in as a physical product for my submission which I was quite annoyed about (it also meant I have to go and buy one from elsewhere now). Nonetheless, the t-shirts were made and a few of them had already sold which was good to see.
I got to Aurelius cycles and they had installed a bar onto a workbench which I thought was an amazing idea. There was a few people already there painting their faces or drinking pints so I was introduced by Tim to a few of them before he gave me his go-pro and explained how it worked with the mono-pod and chest harness.
The gear I had for the event was the following:
Canon EOS 60D
Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash
Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 MK2 Lens
Manfrotto Tripod
Gopro HERO3+ Silver
Chest Harness
Monopod
This gave me complete flexibility for filming wide-angles, close ups, zooms, and while riding. I told Tim to use the go pro with the monopod while I was using the DSLR so that there were two perspectives of film which would come in useful.
After a beer and a bit of networking, I started to shoot the environment as people started turning up, the outside of the workshop from different angles, the rooms inside full of people and the bikes all piled up. This I knew would give some great introduction shots for the film.
Shortly after that, the workshop was full of people and the t-shirt had sold out in every size.
The track stand was the first competition of the event. The aim was to balance while stationary on the bicycle. Over a couple of pints, Nathan, Tim & I discussed an idea about having an almost musical chairs game where the riders had to start moving when the music came on, then stop again when the music went off. This went down amazingly and was a real test of people's abilities.
The final moments of this competition were caught on the go pro where one of the finalists fell over, I knew this was going in the film as soon as it happened as it was pretty comical.
Once that was over, we went on our way to the spring event with fireworks to send us off. I thought Tim would be a better contender for the go pro while riding as it was his and I didn't want anything happening to it. He got some great shots of the ride between events.
The sprint competition area was very dimly lit which was difficult for the filming as I had to whack up the ISO making the video quite grainy. Nonetheless, I got some good shots of the sprints with both the wide angle and the 50mm.
Once the sprint competitions were finished, it started to rain. This was really peculiar because it happened just in time for the skid competitions. This made things a bit more fun as people got a lot further because of the lack of friction.
The rain luckily stopped just after the competition started, this made the ground wet without soaking all the riders and camera equipment so the weather was on our side a fair bit.
We then made our way to the hill climb, I made sure I got one good shot as I wanted to compete in this one.
That was all the competitions, the last stop was the Nation of Shopkeepers where we were all able to have a few drinks and take part in the prize giving for the winners. This was best for the go pro as there was hardly any light and the risk of spraying champagne.
That was it, a lot of people stayed for a few drinks, some had to make their way home. Nathan & Tim then thanked me for all of the work I had done and even though I told them I didn't want paying for the work, they gave me a £50 bike lock and £20 for beers.
Nathan also told me that he wanted to do some work with me soon for Restrap so I look forward to what that pans out to be.
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