In May, I photographed the launch of Mission: “Thank You” which features Adam Sandoval giving away free Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The first of the free bikes was a surprise with the recipient Shane Kruchten not knowing he was getting the bike. It was a really fun shoot as everyone was in a great mood, and the lighting and setting was great. The day started early as I was there hours before the event was to kick off. First up were a few photos of Adam and Scooter posing with the new motorcycle.
Adam and Scooter are the team behind ScootinAmerica and make a very photographic duo. These photos were taken using the light comic gin from the skylights. I used the Nikon D4 and 24-70mm f/2.8 using ISO 3200, f/5.6. I normally would have shot this at f/2.8 but I needed Adam and Scooter in the focus along wth the Harley-Davidson logo on the bike.
In the next photo, you can see the roof of the building in relationship to where the press area was set up. These skylights allowed me to use the natural light when setting up the second portraits of Adam and his bike.
The next photo shows were I placed the bike for the portrait. Knowing I had room in front and behind the bike, meant I knew I could use the longer focal length and compress the scene while throwing the background out of focus.
In the previous photo I burned in some the ceiling. This was shot with the Nikon D4 and 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens at ISO 800, 1/160 sec and f/2.8. I could use the wider aperture here as it was shot from further away. More space to work allowed me more options on capturing the image.
The key shot of the day was to capture when Shane got the surprise of the bike. I really like this shot as it captured the emotion on his face as Adam handed him the keys.
Trying to get a photo of the press interviewing Shane and his new bike.
The day was not over. I had edited and submitted the photos of the giveaway at the Harley-Davidson store, now it was time to try to get some photos of Adam and Shane going for a ride. Due to the timing and the rush on the first set of images, I was not able to shoot the riders leaving the store. But I did catch up with them at the memorial on Mount Soledad. Then it was a final shot of Shane leaving on his new bike.
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