Felt Bicycles MTB are about to launch their new enduro racing team, which is – with seven members – the biggest and deepest, talent-wise, Felt has ever had. Check out the first gathering of the full team and get some insights behind the recent Felt Bicycles MTB photo shoot.
For Mountain Biking Marketing guy, Eddie McDonald, this was his first chance to get them together, and with the season only a few weeks away, an important part of the teams preparation. “All of these guys are contenders at any race,” said McDonald. It was important for Eddie to meet the guys face to face, as well as have the opportunity to dial in their Compulsions and Virtue Nines.
Managing a team is not just about administration, the enduro squad will also form an important part of the upcoming marketing campaigns. So, after an early 0-dark-30 wake-up call to catch the morning light, the crew headed to the local trails with a photographer in tow.
Coordinating a photo shoot isn’t just showing up and loading into the back of the van with coffee, beef jerky, and a fully charged camera – there has to be a plan. On this shoot, the person with the plan and the vision was Amy Ginn, Felt’s Brand Creative Supervisor.
“There’s the conceptual ideas of what we want to shoot,” explains Amy, “what type of image we want, and then we coordinate with the photographer.”
This coordination means location scouting, organizing the crew, and evaluating the photos as they are shot in real-time. Amy and Eddie had allowed for two days on the trails to get the images they were looking for, but called it a wrap after a day and a half.
Typically the real work begins after the photo shoot as there can be hundreds, if not thousands, of images to pour over looking for that “one” where the sun is perfect and the image is crisp. Fortunately photographer Nils Nilsen was a “Gold star. He nailed it.”
Also filming behind the scenes was Brian Darney, Director of Brand Marketing.” He had his cell phone out videoing the “B roll” action, like Eddie giving out high-fives and Amy falling, but still protecting the iPad as she hit the deck. From there Multi-Media Designer Corey Seip was able to do his magic and splice the footage together into a montage of the day’s activities which teases the upcoming campaign. I gotta say – it came out looking really good.
Words & Photos: Felt Bicycles.
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