The new luismoreira.ca

This last week has been quite a busy one. I've been jumping between creating an adventure racing photo book and putting the finishing touches on my new website. Well the book's been published and now the website has gone live! Here's a crop of what you'll see on the opening page,

Adventure Racing Photo Book

After working on the 2009 Untamed New England Adventure Race in mid July, I put a collection of images together into a photo book that racers, race staff and sponsors can purchase and keep as a reminder of this fantastic event. It was a great experience considering it was my first published book. Even my picky tendencies didn't put a damper on the project. The Blurb software made the process fairly straight forward and they offer to sell the book in their bookstore without the need to put any cash up front.

The cover looks like this,



You can find it
here.

Who needs 2008...

It looks like I skipped it altogether!

Well, I haven't exactly been sitting around. I've been working closely with Breathe Magazine in hopes of helping it to evolve into what I believe it can become. Working on a magazine is much like working on your own photography business and then again it's nothing like it. One can take the high road, the heavily beaten path, the creative angle or the mundane and usual content route.  Everyone has their own method and opinion but it all comes down to the long term vision and direction of those who put it together. There's always plenty of hope when starting a new project and the necessary tasks involved are fairly straight forward. The challenge is to stay faithful to that vision and to use it to shape your progress and navigate your daily challenges.

Yeah, I know, it sounds like the usual novice, aspirational crap but I believe it.  

... and believing in it might be all that matters.

A Unique Adventure Sports Weekend

Two weekends ago I traveled to Blue Mountain, near Collingwood Ontario, to photograph a new adventure sports event sponsored by Keen and run by a veteran Canadian adventure racing company. The event is called the Keen Adventure Sports Games and it featured a number of separate adventure sports disciplines that occurred over two days. Competitors could compete in individual events or all of them but only those who participated in the "Adventure Challenge" category qualified for the grand prize. The Keen AS Games uses disciplines adopted from adventure racing i.e. biking, hiking, and paddling only they are run separately. Adventure racing photography can be challenging due to the non-stop nature of the event but fortunately this attribute provides you a few more opportunities to capture your intended shot. This competition, however, allowed less time for error. I only had the luxury of two to four hours not two to four days to plan and shoot. In this situation one must identify good shooting locations from the course map and travel to them quickly. The rest is up to your instincts and vision.

This event looks very promising and will hopefully be an annual competition. Breathe Magazine has a write up on its website if you're interested in reading a bit more about this unique event. You can view it here.

Breathe Magazine

The Rock and Ice Ultra marathon is long from over but the published race articles are starting to show up on magazine stands. Breathe Magazines June issue features the race on its cover and their article provides the reader a detailed account of the conditions the racers endured. The cover shot on the left shows Daniel Probst (on a warmer day) on an ice road outside of Yellowknife. Other articles can be seen in Trail Runner's September issue, West Magazine, and Men's Fitness UK. The race was a great challenge from a photographers point of view and in terms of photography it was very rewarding. The 2008 Rock and Ice Ultra Marathon is scheduled for March 22nd - 27th.

A gallery of my race photographs can be seen here.