So, I’m about to head out for the second full day of running around shooting, downloading, editing, crying, cursing and cheering; all the while trying to capture, and also enjoy, the insane amounts of super sweet action going on here at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO. Yesterday, things kicked off the the whitewater kayak event, the Steep Creek Championship. Top competitors were were running a section of Class 5 rapids about a half hour outside of Vail. I was getting down and dirty, wild and wet trying to capture as much of the action as I could. I spent a little bit of time shooting with longer lenses, but I really wanted to get up close and make it feel like you’re there. I scrambled around to a few different locations, getting as close as I could to the water and some of the major obstacle, also trying to keep in check with the fact that if I fell in I would at best end up in the hospital.
Hit the jump for the rest of the images!
It got brutal. Homeboy at the top of the page almost took me out. I was really putting the Pentax weather-sealing that they are always bragging about to the test. And it held up. Unfortunately, I wish my cameras had more Lens-hood-getting-knocked-off-and-floating-down-the-rapids-Sealing and Knocking-your-camera-into-rocks-repeatedly-and-eventually-cracking-the-screen-Sealing. Actually, it only cracked the screen protector, so I guess it had the protection already. But it was a close one. I can for sure say, that after a full day of clamoring around on the edge of Class 5 rapids, with multiple K-7′s and K20d’s swinging around my neck, because I sure needed my hands to scramble, and them getting repeatedly slammed into rocks and splashed with frothy whitewater… These things are beastly tough. A+, Pentax. A+.
Here’s what I got, besides a really sunburned neck and mild hypothermia.
Some sick, sick images up in here, Bentastic!! Great work & can’t wait to see more!!