Behind the Shot #1 | Jayden Riley (BFD Moto / Husqvarna Canada / TLD Canada)

Jayden Riley (BFD Moto / Husqvarna Canada / Troy Lee Designs Canada) | Fujifilm X-H2 + Fujinon 50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR | 1/3200s f2.8 ISO 200 50mm | BFD Moto Fall Super Series | Wild Rose MX, Calgary AB | April 23rd, 2023
© Noel Flatters / Superfine Media

Welcome to my ‘Behind the Shot Series’, where I look back at motocross and enduro photographs that I’ve taken (good and bad) to tell the story of the image. For this inaugural post I’m looking back to the start of the 2023 motocross season here in Calgary, Alberta, and this image of #48 Jayden Riley. Jayden is a young up-and-coming racer for BFD Moto, Husqvarna Canada, and Troy Lee Designs Canada.

To set the scene, this shot was from Round 1 of the BFD Moto Spring Super Series at the Wild Rose MX Association here in Calgary. The Spring series is a pretty big event here in Western Canada normally attracting 400+ riders to this iconic Canadian track. It’s a great opportunity to see professional and high-end amateur racers strut their stuff after spending time down in the US training during the winter, and to get the first indicators for performance expectations. The series runs 5 rounds over 3 weekends from late April to late May, and this year it would finish the week before Round 1 of the national Canadian Triple Crown Series.

This shot captures Jayden as he exits a corner at the NW end of the Wild Rose Hill track in Moto 1 of the day with another talented young Albertan amateur, Mars Millar (BFD Moto / GasGas Canada / Fox Racing Canada) hot on his tail. As anyone who’s been to Calgary in the Spring before can likely attest too, the weather at this time of year can be pretty variable. We got pretty luck this day with temperatures warming up through the afternoon, but this was taken at just about 11:20 in the morning and it was still pretty chilly out, with some big breezes coming off of the mountains (hence Jayden has a vest on for this moto).

THE FUJIFILM X PLATFORM
To get one technical detail out of the way, I shoot on the Fujifilm X platform. More specifically I shoot Fujifilm X-H2 bodies (not the X-H2s), which may seem slightly odd for sports photography. I shoot the X-H2 because I was still primarily shooting portrait work when these new hybrid bodies came out, so it made more sense at the time. Since then I’ve switched focus (ha!) to professional motocross and enduro photography, but I haven’t had the need yet to switch to the X-H2s. Sure, it would be nice to be on that body, and I would’ve gone that way if I had already made the move to sports photography when they came out, but honestly the X-H2 is still an outstanding platform for this type of shooting. The high resolution raw images are amazing to work with when I shoot at max resolution, and 15fps bursts are still good enough that I’ve hardly ever needed/wanted more. I’m currently niched down enough into stills photography that I haven’t missed the video advantages of the X-H2s, but as I’m getting more involved in journalistic coverage, I do foresee a business need to make switch with one of my bodies to it. And why shoot professional motocross and enduro photography on the Fujifilm X platform you might ask? For sure, Fujifilm is not going to be very many peoples’ first thought with it comes to sports and motosport photography but it’s the system I invested in for portrait work and I see no valid economic or performance reasons to switch out to Canon, Sony, Nikon, etc. Fuijilm’s performance improvements with respect to autofocus, subject tracking, image stabilisation, and burst rates - coupled with the amazing Fujifilm colour science - makes it a strong competitor in the sports segment. I would agree that it doesn’t have the full line-up of performance telephoto and long primes that other platforms have, but for my style of shooting and use-cases that doesn’t impact me. I suspect that we’re going to see some additions to the X-Mount lens road map for sports photographers in the relatively near future, too, based recent on comments from the President of Fujifilm.

TECHNICAL SHOT DETAILS
I shot this image of Jayden using the Fujinon XF 10-24mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR lens, which is essentially the Fujifilm’s performance 70-200mm full frame equivalent. If I recall correctly, I was about 20 to 25 feet away from Jayden when I took the shot. I was shooting at 50mm and 1/3200s here, which is pretty much my go-to shutter speed for motocross. It freezes action really well, especially when there’s a lot of roost (dirt/mud/dust track debris thrown up by the bikes) in the air like in this shot. It also still gives a subtle motion blur on the tires/wheels if they’re not going dead slow in a tight corner. This, to me, helps add in a sense of the action and chaos that’s so inherently amazing about this sport. For race shots, I don’t believe images have to be clinically perfect. It’s such a high-energy, intense, and emotional sport. I want photos that convey those feelings and emotions. I was stopped down at f2.8 to keep the main subject the focus of attention knowing that I was far enough away to not have to worry about big focus differences on Jayden’s body and bike. I also framed the shot to get the top of the berm in view for foreground interest that was blurred with the shallow depth of field. I was at ISO 200 here, as it was overcast but still bright due to Calgary’s altitude of around 3500 feet.

NON-TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I chose this track location so that I could get a shot of Jayden with competition in the background. The geometry of the corner and the corner’s exit meant that I knew that could get Jayden accelerating with his front wheel lofting a bit as he grabbed throttle for a bit of a ‘peak action’ look. It also meant that I had a really good chance of catching someone he was battling with in the background. From my pre-race track walk I knew that this corner had some mint loamy dirt conditions that would be perfect for getting lots of roost in the air to show energy and action, and to add visual interest. From Jayden’s shadow you can see that the sun was pretty much directly off to his right, which gave interplay with shadows and sun on his bike and body for more image depth. The lens compression of the Funjinon XF 50-140mm was really nice here, too. It helped compensate for being far enough away from Jayden that I wouldn’t get tons of bokeh in the background, and to separate him out from the background, too.

I shot this from, like I try to do with the majority of my shots, from down low to get the ‘hero’ perspective. In this specific instance I was down on both of my knees as close to the ground as I could get without laying down. Don’t get me wrong, I shoot fairly often from a prone position, but for this angle I would’ve had too much of the top of the berm in the frame.

I really like that in this image I managed to get all three of Jayden’s main sponsors visible - The BFD Moto logo on the fork shroud, the Husqvarna Motorcycles logo on the gas tank cover, and Troy Lee Designs logo on his shirt, pants, and helmet. You can also see some of his secondary sponsors on the bike, including Direct Suspension, Dunlop Tires, and Busted Knuckle Racing. As an added bonus, his name is clearly visible on the top left of the number plate.

All in all, I was really pleased with this shot. It ticked pretty much all of the boxes for me in terms capturing the chaos, energy, and emotion of motocross racing, and it also highlighted Jayden and his team/sponsors really well. He went on to have a great season, culminating in a national championship at the 2023 Walton Transcan Grand National in August. I was there shooting Nationals in Ontario and you can check out a shot of him racing in the gold bib at on my ‘Recent Work’ page, in fact.

Thanks for reading this first Behind the Shot post! Hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit! More to come, so stay tuned.

cheers | noel.