Getting to shoot with Marcus and Andrew Starykowicz's team was really special.  On a spur of the moment, me and Kyle had a project lined up down in Mississippi.  It was truly a last minute deal, as we packed up the day before to head out in the morning.  Roughly six hours later, we met with Marcus and made our way over to our first hotel stop in Tupelo, Mississippi. 

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There, we were introduced to a couple of the different athletes that were on this training camp for triathletes and cyclists.  That afternoon, we managed to get some shots at the beautiful Tupelo Aquatic Center who were gracious and let us film Marcus and the other athletes.  With quite a bit of footage from there, we headed back to the hotel to settle in for a restless night, as we were eager to get going the next day. 

 

The next morning we took a few shots of the athletes getting ready for the ride.  For these shots, we primarily stuck with the 50mm Rokinon lens.  It's pretty affordable glass and it worked perfeclty for what we trying to get.  Shooting in the dimly lit hotel hallways just wouldn't have been possible without it.

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The most interesting part of the shoot was coordinating to capture the different athletes travelling on the Natchez Trace, an over 400 mile long road of pure Appalachian charm.  No buildings or signs of civilization anywhere.  However, with the natural beauty of the environment came the toll of very little cell phone service to work with.  Planning each shot was a challenge.  Kyle rode in the back of Marcus's truck for some of the shots on the bike, and then occasionally stopped off on the side of the road to get close-ups and wides just as the bikes would pass.  It was a challenge, however the road was pretty forgiving as we had plenty of time to catch up to each cyclist on the pre-determined route.

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All in all, it was a fantastic shoot.  Editing was fairly easy, as I cut down each interview with Marcus and Andrew into small bits of story.  That was the most challenging aspect of the editing process.  Picking what's important and what isn't is crucial to form a coherent story line.