Standerd Slides

Subject: Aaron Reed
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, Chronicle section, page 18

I can’t say enough about this guy. He can really make a poor, cloudy day on the lake quite amusing.

We were ripping across Lake Minneola after shooting one morning, and he just jumps out of his seat and lands on the Party Island. He starts flailing around on the thing, jumping up and down like a frog.

Did you know that Reed is Dan C E’s PR events manager? Yes he is. Who is Dan C E? Ohhhhhhhhh, you’ll see.

- Letchworth

Subject: Liquid Force Ad
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, pages 2-3

Lake Powell always speaks 2 things to me: beer bongs and long exposures. Well, its says a lot more than that, but those are definitely a couple of standouts.

This year was our 4th return to the big pond on Mars and like always, amazing riding went down and good times were had by all. We ended the week at Warm Creek for the BroStock portion of the trip and to catch a break from the madness. I made my way to the top deck of the houseboat late one night. This was a 30 second exposure of the lineup of houseboats. Its very therapuetic to me….just compose your shot, hit the button and lay back and watch the stars. There are no city lights for miles, making the stars jump out like snowflakes. Try it sometime. Especially all you digi heads. Just don’t burn up your sensor.

- Letchworth

Subject: Three o’clock storm
Photo: Joey Meddock

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, Chronicle section , page 21

It rains in Florida usually by 3pm, everyday. Well, it used to be that way a few years back. Now, it’s getting to be more rare. We need all the rain we can at this point.

I shot this off the dock in my neighborhood. I skated down there just before the sky opened up. The storm was off in the distance enough to keep the camera dry. I wanted to get a more colorful shot but the clouds were a bit two thick to reflect the sun and rain. Usually, storms like this bring some insane color to the sky. This one stuck around for a while, never allowing the sun to come back out.

- Meddock

Subject: Kyle Walton
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, Chronicle section , page 20

On our first night of the Liquid Force-Lake Powell trip we all woke up to Gale force winds whipping through the canyons that we parked in. It was nuts. I”ve heard the stories, but never seen winds like that before. Tents were blowing over, gear was flying everywhere. It was a mess. Put it this way, I was very thankful that I had a room inside. Those on top of the houseboat were going through hell all night.

And then there’s Kyle Walton…. The dude just stuck it out in the boat all night. I woke up and looked over the edge to see him perfectly wedged on the back bench seat of the Malibu. I think he is pretty comfortable in a sleeping bag, judging from the stories he’s shared with me. You know what, I think the boat is the overlooked “honey hole” for sleep spaces at Lake Powell. He’s on to something.

- Letchworth

Subject: CWB Ad, Scotty Broome
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, pages 16-17

Boats can very dangerous. They are a 1/2 ton fiber glass spear with a spinning set of blades. We often use them as chase boats to get close to the action via compromising situations.

On this day on Lake Hiawassee I really wanted to get shot from the “danger zone.” I just like calling it that. Please don’t try this at home. It really isn’t worth it. We positioned the boat back on the take, off side of the wake and Scotty Broome had to cut right in front of us to get the perspective that I wanted. I could have reached out and smacked him on the back. It was close.

Thanks to Dean Smith for driving. Most of all, the credit really goes out to the driver in that situation. They really have to be confident and very aware of what is going on. Again, I don’t recommend trying this. I think Aaron Reed pooped his pants once while trying to drive one of these for me.

- Letchworth

Subject: Shane Bonifay
Photo: Joey Meddock

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, Juice section, pages 6-7

We did this shot in early January. Shane was just coming off knee surgery and couldn’t ride hard yet. He just wanted to get wet and stretch out a bit, so he got a set in just as the sun was setting on Lake Jessamine near downtown Orlando.

Brian Grubb was driving his tinted-window Malibu. The darkness in the windshield made the silohouette of the boat a tad darker than normal. Shane quickly started carving as soon as he got out of the water. I told the driver to try and line him up in the shimmer of the water so I could capture the spray through the light. It’s a lot easier said than done. Everything happens really fast, while moving across the water. The pendulum of the rope swinging toward the chase boat makes it real tough to get it right. If the camera was any lower, or the boat was any closer to shore, Shane’s head or body would blend into the background. We had to get both boats out into the middle of the lake to separate Shane from the treeline behind him. Doing so, allowed us just enough time to get the speed, distance and angle right. Couple slaysharooos and we were stoked!

Subject: Collin Harrington from the cover of Book 1.3
Photo: Joey Meddock

TSQ Location: Book 1.3, Front Cover

I picked off this shot while we did the Intracoastal story in issue in 1.3. I knew going into the trip, I wanted to get a shot with cover potential. I just didn’t know which one of the four riders it was going to be. Collin told me before we left that he knew of a few bridges that were projected to be in our GPS route. After a few bends down the waterway, we came upon a bridge where Chris O’shea and got out of the boat.

There were a few rusty ladder rungs that came down low enough for us to climb up on. Chris O is afraid of heights, so he stopped on the first or second perch he came up to. I kept climbing, one handed (300mm lens and camera in other hand) and inched my way higher to get the angle I wanted on Collin.

As I wrestled around and tried to keep focusing upward, I clipped the lens hood on the ladder. I swore, looked down, and watched it sink into the water below.
That part sucked. It really got my heart racing. After that, I thought to myself “ok this is high enough.”

To this day, I keep shooting that 300mm lens with no lens hood. It’s just my new look I guess with that camera setup.

So before Collin rode, I told him that I had this trick in mind. I wanted him to do it a bunch of times so we could really dial in the angles and distances from where I was standing on the bridge. The first few were a bit to far away and it was tough to clearly see the grab. When he rode back through on the way back down, I would yell at him to wait longer and come closer to me, etc.

The first time back, I missed the shot by just a hair and wasn’t able to get the angle just right. I knew we were close though. I get nervous sometimes when I start to see all the elements of the photo beginning to line up, just how I imagined in my head. To me, it’s like being knocked out.

Right when you are coming back into consciousness, your eyes uncross and you start focusing on the first thing you see or hear while somebody is slapping you in the face. Finally, you can communicate (like that…in a nutshell).

“One more time, Collin! Perfect timing!” I screamed out to him on the pass by. The boat looped around, lined back up and Collin began to cut out toe side. I braced myself against the concrete piller behind me and peered into the view finder. As the boat got closer and closer, Collin would keep getting bigger in the frame. The timing of him edging into the wake was key. On this cover shot, he stalled on his edge, way outside the wake.

Long enough to make me think it was waiting too long.

My adrenaline was pumping as he hit the wake. At the peak of the trick, I pressed the shutter, saw the frame blink twice and immediately knew we got a potential shot. I gave Collin the ‘tap on the head’ as soon as he landed and looked up, signaling we were done.

Seconds later, we see a dude on the dock at the nearby yacht club screaming his lungs out, stomping his feet, and waving hit hat.
I guess he didn’t like melon bs 3’s like we do.

– Meddock