TRISTAN RAYNER PHOTOGRAPHY: July 2011

22 July, 2011

Giant Reign SX - New ride for this year!!!

After much thought, maths, reading, reviewing, test riding and careful decision making, I finally found the perfect bike. Many people say having one bike to do it all isn't possible, and to a degree I agree with that theory. There are some pretty heavy extremes at either end of the very broad mountain bike spectrum these days, from weight shaving, pedal pushing uphill blasters in the XC world, to the heavy hitting, break-neck speed blasting downhillers. I was looking for something that could pedal around and explore comfortably, but still had some pretty serious capabilities when the summit was reached and it was time to come down. Not too heavy, but still burly, manouverable, but rigid, a strong, fast, capable all mountain machine.

In 2009 in my first summer here in BC, I was riding at Silver Star Bike park outside of Vernon where I met a mechanic working in the service centre. Giant bicycles supports the mountains rental fleet, and the mechanic spoke very highly of this new "Reign SX". He said it was a great park bike, loved jumps and single track, soaked up steep, gnarly terrain but could be taken out for a trail adventure and comfortably climb without sapping all your energy before the fun ride home.

Here I am 2 years later, and I found a brand new, Large frame SX still sitting in a shop, waiting to be plucked and shown a good time! with a clearance price on it and a better spec than the current model (which was on their showroom floor for over a grand more!) I new the search had come to an end. We tuned the rear suspension and replaced the spring in the fork with one the next step heavier, put a larger range rear cassette on it and away I went!

I have taken a few pictures and will post some more later, this is just one of my immediate favourites.

Whistler tomorrow for the Red Bull Joyride, its going to be a fantastic event, and the weather has calmed perfectly for the weekend, its going to be a great day of action and excitement!

Brandon Semenuk my tip for the win, the kid is on fire!!


I'd say "in all her glory" but the Glory is her bigger sister!

** 2 images blended with photomatix. 1 image flash left, 1 image flash right.

Shooting for Deep Summer wildcard entry

Late in May a competition was held through Kokanee Crankworx and Pinkbike.com for the wildcard spot alongside 5 other highly regarded industry photographers in the Shimano Saint Deep Summer Photo Challenge, which is held in Whistler during the Kokanee Crankworx Mountain Bike festival every summer.

The participating photographers have a limited period of time to shoot in and around the Whistler Bike Park and surrounding area with some of the best riders in the world, producing a 5 minute slideshow of images. They are all shown to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Fairmont Hotel one evening during the festival and a winner is crowned.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try and win a spot alongside some of my adventure photographer idols so in the space of a week I went out riding and shooting with a few different friends. I didn't win, but seeing the caliber of images from those who where selected as finalists, I was pretty happy with what I was able to produce with limited time, equipment and experience in strobe photography.

I was only able to submit 3 images, so picking the best ones and finding a common theme while showing diversity was pretty tough! We were not supposed to submit images of known riders without model releases ( I have lots of images from competitions, but no releases) so I withstood the temptation to include one of my best images from previous Crankworx competitions, only to discover later that many others had done this, one even making it into the final 5 contestants. Oh well!!

The light was always a challenge, especially on one of the days where we went out after work and only had a couple of hours before the sun got too low and the canopy just made it too dark. Setting up my strobes, deciding whether or not I needed to use a tripod, finding angles and suitable locations and taking lighting into account all presented significant challenges and an overall great learning experience. I was lucky enough to have patient and talented friends that were prepared to do things over and over again!

Below are a few shots from a couple of the different shooting locations...

Jakub rolls in from an elevated bridge section on Seymour

Assessing the lines

Garrett on the wall ride, you can go vertical when its dry.

Cool rock roller

Two days later after riding on Seymour with Garrett and Jakub, I hit Cypress with James. The terrain was steeper and there where some seriously large stunts and sections that James had preconceived as good shooting locations.

SUPER steep rock at the top of "Wild Cherry"

From underneath this time

Dropping over the lip of "Disciple"

Disciple from front on

Now pretty keen to shoot more biking and continue to develop my skills with wireless flash setups. With some more time, better planning and the right light and locations, I can see some wicked images coming to the surface!

18 July, 2011

Vancouvers Spring time Cherry Blossoms

Several months back, as the winter began to subside, Vancouvers vast numbers of Cherry Blossoms began to bloom. There came in various stages this year, perhaps confused by the unusual weather patterns, so for several weeks in different places, streets were filled with their glorious displays of whites and pinks.

A large tree in full bloom almost looks like a huge fluffy balloon. The intense number of flowers is something to behold, and when entire streets are lined with them it really is quite a beautiful sight.

Below is just a few pics I grabbed on a few occasions I was out and about with my camera.