This had to be one of the most fun shooting experiences I’ve had.

A friend of mine has almost 30 acres of undeveloped land in New Berlin, NY.  So we went camping up there the same weekend as the 2009 Unadilla Pro National Motorcross Championship (pronounced you-na-dill-uh.  I was mispronouncing it for the weeks leading up to the trip).  The track is only a few miles from the property, making it an ideal setup.  We were there from Friday-Monday and spent all day Saturday (Aug 15th) in the pits and watching the races.  You can see it from the pictures, but I’ll say it just the same…the track is immensely accessible.  Spectators can get within inches of where the riders as blasting through.  It was really incredible.  Which is part of the reason I had so much fun shooting.

Photo time!

My favorite photo from the weekend.  See how close the fans are?  They were routinely getting pelted with rocks and dirt that would get kicked up as the riders came through.

Mud flying everywhere.

It was a nationally televised event.

And for good reason.  There was some serious talent on display.

Chad Reed, the weekend’s big winner, showing why it’s necessary to have your sponsors plastered all over your a**.

I have a ton of photos to edit and sort through.  Once I do, I’ll have them uploaded at my smugmug site.  If you’re interested in seeing the full-resolution pics, check there as well.  In the meantime, I reached out to the Unadilla MX website to see if they were interested in any of my photos.  Hopefully they are!

I leave you with two more things.  First, a short video showing our campsite:

(I’m having trouble embedding the vid, but the link is here.)

And second, my buddy Aleks, being a ham and getting some air.