Lief Rodgers - Progress without Podiums

During the first few months of the pandemic, athletes and sports photographers alike were struggling with ways of maintaining form and finding outlets for what they do best. I teamed up with Lief Rodgers, part of Giant Canada's Off-Road Team, to film him as he copes with the cancellation of the races in the 2020 season. The idea behind this video was to do it in the style of a shredit/enduro video, but have Lief ride his cross-country bike and suit up in lycra.

The most off-road photography I have done is cyclo-cross, so jumping fully into aggressive trail riding was a lot to experience but lots of fun. I would watch Lief do a run on a section of trail, see where the peak action was and then set up for the best place to catch that. Three days, several sections of trails and some driving sections, we got enough footage to put an edit together.

Up until this point (May 2020) it's probably been over a year since I've edited my own footage. Having worked as a cinematographer, it was always handed off to an editor to do. Other than my own demo reels, it's been a while since I was behind the cut myself. It was exciting to rediscover Premiere Pro, sifting through the clips to find the best takes and cutting it to the Rolling Stones and Tame Impala.

Although I am focused on still imagery now, I will always take up an opportunity to dip back into motion and make films again. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the video.