Force12 Photography

End and Beginning...Force12 has joined Cycho Industries to become Cycho Media

2011-01-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

I will always look on the Force12 brand fondly, as the first true image brand I created. But it is time to move onto bigger adventures in the world of photography, alongside a number of my other interests. And so the Cycho brand has been born! The same high quality images (if not better) of the best sporting events South Africa has to offer can now be seen on the Cycho Media site.

So go check it out at http://www.cycho.co.za/ - sign up and follow the Cycho Media blog to see the latest images!

A New Era Video is up! - Urban Rage 2010

2011-01-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

So it is finally up for voting - my entry into the Nokia Create Competition "A New Era".

Please go and check it out and vote for me at http://ringaz.nokia.co.za/opinions/vote-now-it%e2%80%99s-your-chance-to-decide-who-will-win-the-trip-of-a-lifetime/ and check the awesome vid out!

Shot and edited exclusively with a Nokia N8 - it definitely has to be one of the most awesome phones ever created!

A New Era...

2011-01-11T22:31:00.003-08:00

watch this space from 14-01-2011!!!! Its gonna be big!!!!!!!!!!!

Urban Rage - The Album

2010-12-15T01:06:00.000-08:00

So Urban Rage 2010 is done and dusted, with Philip Buys and Candy Neethling proving that they are just unstoppable! Check out the album of my favourite shots from the weekend below:

Click on the bottom right corner to go full screen!

A Sunday Stroll...NOT - Urban Rage 2010

2010-12-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

Some pics from Sunday's Racing - Man was it intense!

The Hot Shots - Urban Rage 2010

2010-12-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

Urban Rage always provides some of the best scenery for shooting, and this year so far has delivered to the fullest...

Check out some of my favourites from today, with more coming from tomorrow's action!

Bicycle Polo Coming to Town

2010-12-06T01:58:00.000-08:00

So the tournament is around the corner, and looking exciting. i think its gonna be an absolute blast, and I'll be there to capture the whole event on camera. So if you are bored on the 16th (Public Holiday - yes Please!), come have some fun and enter a team over at www.bikepolo.co.za

Check out the full shoot below...

KZN BMX Awards Evening

2010-11-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

As a freebie to all those BMXers out there, I have uploaded all the pics from Saturday's KZN awards evening in high res format to download. Just follow the link below, and click on the individual pictures that you want to download. There will be a download button just above the picture - click this and follow the browser prompts. If you use the pics on the web anywhere, please return the favour and tag / label the pic with my web address - www.force12photography.blogspot.com.

The Gallery

Tripling it up in 2010

2010-11-09T00:39:00.000-08:00

Sunday saw the frantic racing action of the 2010 edition of the Triple Challenge, a crazy long distance multisport race from Pietermaritzburg to Inanda. The event comprises of a run, mountain bike and paddle through some of the best scenery the KZN Valley of a Thousand Hills has to offer. Dan Hugo and Jeanie Bomford dominated the multisport event, whilst the multicross provided some of the best racing in years, with the lead constantly swopping over the course of the race. Eventually Justin Porteous and Hanlie Booyens took the well deserved titles.

Triple Challenge 2010

2010-11-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

So again it has been a little quiet on the shooting front, but things are about to get into gear (excuse the pun) as summer kicks off in a big way! Next up is Triple Challenge this weekend - an insanely tough event from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, running, riding and paddling. Shot this last year with some awesome scenery, but not so awesome weather, so lets hope this year we get a break. Hopefully will get a chance to use some of the nice new toys, which I'll let you know about soon!

Some of the Change a Life guys in action at the 2009 Triple Challenge

Mongoose Schools Series - Final @ Grace College 16-10-10

2010-10-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

It was definitely a day for the ducks as the rain came pouring down halfway through racing. The kids carried on however, whilst I hid my camera in fear of sacrificing another slr to water damage (don't even ask what happened to the last one!). Got some great images in the forest with the remote flash though whilst it stayed dry for the younger kids.

Full Album - Click on 2 arrows in the bottom right corner to go full screen:

Bikerumour.com

2010-10-11T04:05:00.001-07:00

Check out the pic of the day! Playing around at the BMX Worlds :)

http://www.bikerumor.com/2010/10/06/bikerumor-pic-of-the-day-skizos-alternative-career/

BMX Nationals 9 & 10, and Grand Nationals

2010-09-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

Racing is done and dusted, and I'm sure the riders will remember the weekend as one of intensely close racing. All the images have been posted in galleries over at racepicsSA.blogspot.com, but here is a taste of the action:

BMX Nationals Pics

2010-09-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

Fridays and Saturday's Pics are up on racepicsSA.blogspot.com. Sunday's pics to follow shortly.

BMX Nationals - Friday Practice

2010-09-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

For a full album go to racepicsSA.blogspot.com

BMX Nationals and Grands - Whats to come:

2010-09-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

Sample image of what the pics will look like below. For full galleries, go to racepicsSA.blogspot.com after the event.

To order images, check out the galleries, and mail me on force12photography@gmail.com with the image no's. Once payment is confirmed, I will send you a download link for the full res image.

Happy racing :)

BMX @ PMB Golden Horse 19-09-2010

2010-09-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I've managed to shoot the local BMX racing, so took a trip out to check the track before next weeks Grands. Uploaded an album for the guys asking to see the pics.

BMX Nationals and Grand Nationals

2010-09-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick heads up for those BMXers out there. Gonna be the official photographer at the BMX Nationals and Grands here in PMB. I am busy sorting out the email / web ordering system, and will post details shortly. You will be able to view the galleries online, order by email, and then download the pic from the link I will send. This way if your loved ones want the pics, they can download them from anywhere.

Until then...

Mongoose Schools Series # 5 - Howick Prep

2010-09-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

This had to be one of the most awesome schools' race courses ever built, a bit like an urban assault through Howick Prep's corridors and over their swimming pool!

Full album below - click on arrows, bottom right corner for full screen.

Mongoose Schools Series # 4 - Highbury

2010-09-13T00:29:00.000-07:00

So went down to Highbury to check out the racing at the local Mongoose schools' series, which is becoming fierce and furious amongst the local youngsters. It was fun to play with the remote flashes again, and ended up with some lekker pics.

Full album below...click on bottom right corner for full screen.

Durban Track Grand Prix

2010-08-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

The weather was awesome for an interesting day of shooting, and even better racing. With all the big guns travelling from country wide to take part, the Durban Track GP was a huge success.

Drop me a mail if you would like any images.

Here is the full album... click on the arrows bottom right to go full screen.

The Americans come to visit PMB

2010-08-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

This one's for Jerry over at BMXmania.com ... some of the Americans that made the long trip out to SA to race the best ever BMX world champs.

Force12 in the media

2010-08-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

Check it out... Sifiso Nhlapo after getting silver at the BMX World Champs in my home town of PMB.

BMX Worlds - SA Team Gallery Up

2010-08-03T23:40:00.001-07:00

Check out the awesome 3D gallery on the right for pics of the SA team riders at the BMX Worlds 2010. For anyone wanting full res images, please email me on force12photography@gmail.com with image numbers. (Images R30 ea)

KZN Track Champs

2010-08-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

The 2 days of racing at KZN track champs was intense and a new experience for me as an athlete. There wasn't much time to pull out the camera, but skipped one of the races to play around a bit, and got some nice images of something different for a change. Check them out...

Major Updates on the way

2010-08-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

So it has been havoc between racing and shooting for six days straight at the BMX Worlds, so updates have been few and far between. So I am hoping to get a whole bunch of stuff up in the next few days, including some images from the BMX, which was absolutely awesome (and a couple of thousand shots later, still needing to be sorted and edited!).

A Massive First

2010-08-02T01:51:00.000-07:00

It Official! My first ever front page newspaper image! Made the front of today's Witness Newspaper (PMB / KZN publication) with a pic of Sifiso Nhlapo celebrating his 2nd place at Saturday's BMX Worlds! And its not small either! That definitely made the week of shooting worthwhile. I'll try get a copy later today and post an image :)

Mongoose Schools Series # 2 - Thomas Moore

2010-07-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

So I went road tripping down to the Mongoose Schools Race at Thomas Moore in Kloof to shoot some pics for the organisers. Nice day to shoot, but a little difficult lugging equipment around with a dislocated collarbone (results of my other life as an athlete :) ). So to make things easier I took an assistant along... nothing like a good bag carrier in life! Gave him a camera to try out (my old spare) and actually seems to have a good eye for it, just needs to learn the camera a little better. I may even post a shot or two of his later. I really also used the shoot to try sort out my event gallery system (having nightmares with the original one, so moved to a more reliable system). So you will notice I am making some more use of the features that the wonderful company Google offer (amongst which is reliability!), and so Force12 now has its own email address and Picasa Gallery, where I will upload the full album of pics from events that I shoot. Here is a couple of pics from the day, with the rest available here.

Gallery System up and running in test mode

2010-07-07T01:08:00.001-07:00

Hey all. Finally got my gallery up and running thanks to the guys over at pixcelgallery.com. Posted a gallery of shots from the first Mongoose schools race at Cascades, PMB as a test (check i out here - Gallery). Email me on darren.goddard@gmail.com and let me know what you think. Plan is to upload all event shoots from now on, starting with next weeks Mongoose Schools race (Hopefully I can make it down to Durban for that one!)

Enjoy...until the next shoot :)

The Evolution of Force12

2010-06-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

So big things are happening in the world of Force12, with many new projects on the go. The new equipment has definitely been worth the investment so far, with requests pouring in for images. Its great to finally be getting some recognition for my work, especially amongst the athletes I shoot, alongside the media. I havn't had much opportunity to shoot any specific events lately, but been focusing more on assignments for paying customers, some of which I will post shortly.

In the meantime, check out the latest (May / June) issue of Mountain Biker magazine, where you will see some of my work from the Momentum Health KZN cup series, and the MTN Cascades Nationals. Also keep an eye out for the new issue, where I will have some work in the Mountain Biker, as well as the BMXr sections!

I have had many requests from people to see my images that I shoot at events, but until now I had not found an efficient way of posting whole albums on the web. I am busy experimenting with a new photo hosting site, which will allow me to upload a whole event, with the best pics being saved for here. Once I have shot a particular event, I will post a link and some images here, keeping the blog very much alive!

Until then...

CODP Competition...

2010-06-07T00:39:00.000-07:00

So I dropped 2 of my shots in as entries to a local competition run by the College of Digital Photography. The competition is a monthly thing with 3 winners per month, and a final winner after about 8 months of entries. The topic for may was "Our Future Sports Stars", so I used one of my pics from the Giba BMX Nationals earlier in the year, shot on the last burm whilst playing around with some slower shutter speeds. It may not be one of my ultimate best pics, but it worked for the competition, since it is sponsored by Transitions, hence the choice of picture, with the flash focusing only on the face.

The pic of Connor Terblanche ended up as one of May's winners, with the prize being an awesome bookset on digital photography techniques...something I think is gonna be of good use. Check out the announcement on http://www.codp.co.za/?m=10&idkey=1365

Check out the winning pic below

And the prize...

Mogoose Schools MTB @ Cascades

2010-06-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

Went out to shoot some pics of the green monsters (Jeep Apparel Multisport School) at the Mongoose schools MTB race at Cascades. The course was looking awesome, with a lot of the nationals single track being used, making it quite a challenge for some of the kids. I used the time to to continue the remote flash experiment, just to try get the lighting right since some of the auto settings are blowing out the whites (as you can check in the DH stuff below). Its still going to be some time before I fully get the hang of the new equipment. 3 years of shooting with the same camera becomes a relationship based on experience that is going to take some time to recreate. However I am loving the quality of the new camera, with the keep rate at least 5 times higher than the old one. Check out some of the playing below...

Force12 Around Town!

2010-06-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Check out the poster for the Mongoose Schools MTB Series, with one of my shots from the Mountain View KZN provincial earlier on in the year...

DH Action at Giba 29-05-2010

2010-06-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

So finally got to shoot some action with the new camera! Man what a change...ok good light and an awesome course did help, but now I realise why people spend so much money on their camera's. I was loving the whole new world of remote flash - definitely taking the pictures to the next level! So check out some of my favourites from the weekend...

The New Baby!

2010-05-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

Ok...so I bit the bullet and invested in a decent camera...finally! So enter a new era at Force12, armed with a Canon 7D! Image quality on the Camera is phenomenal...with everything said about it being positive, so we shall see. I am hoping that the camera will allow me to get where I'd like to go, with the image quality that makes it worth being a photographer. You will be able to check out what I am shooting with the new toy...and all the experiments that are gonna result from some interesting features...like remote flashes and HD Video!

So here is the first official Force12 image with the new toy...

St Mikes Beach Trip

2010-05-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

As promised... Check out the beach the other morning down at the KZN South Coast. A bit of different shooting for me - something other than bicycles :). But a bit of sadness in that these are the retirement shots of my old faithful 350D. Its going to be sad to see her go, but I'm excited about the new toy...

Quiet time with new things to come

2010-05-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

So alls been quiet on the shooting front lately, as I've taken a bit of a break from my racing and been catching up at work. Things have been pretty quiet for a while now, but possibly picking up shortly again as the cycling season gets back under way, alongside some other opportunities coming along. Been doing some playing on my camera in the meanwhile and will post some of the awesome beach trip pics shot at St Mikes (KZN south coast) shortly.

In the meantime...keep an eye on this space for some exciting new developments for Force12 that are hopefully gonna lead to big things!

Spot you soon...

MTB Nationals @ Cascades - DH

2010-04-14T00:55:00.001-07:00

The DH action was hot this weekend, with all the guys pushing on the popular new track. Congrats to junior Tim Bentley (1st pic below) on his first overall nationals win!

MTB Nationals @ Cascades - XC

2010-04-14T00:49:00.000-07:00

The weather was pretty miserable for the morning of the XC, so i had to do some hiding away in the forests. Racing has definitely picked up a level, with all the guys on the limit. Ended up with a couple of interesting shots in the end - just playing with flash and the local scenery.

Giba BMX Nationals

2010-04-08T05:05:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend shooting the BMX Nationals down at Giba, where the racing was pretty fierce. Having 2 days to shoot allowed for some creativity beyond the necessary shots, definitely giving me time to play a bit. These are some of my favourites from the weekend (taken from the batch of about 500!)

DH @ Cascades 28-03-2010

2010-03-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

The new nationals track is looking hot for 2 weeks time. Unfortunately the light wasn't great for shooting, but still ended up with a couple of interesting shots...

Cordwalles Mudman...

2010-03-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

So I couldn't race after being sick for most of the week, but couldn't resist taking my camera along and doing the spectator thing...here's some of what came out of the day...

BMX @ Giba 13 March 2010

2010-03-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

So its back to shooting BMX again - the first for the year. Thought I would go check out the new nationals track @ Giba Gorge on Sunday. Its looking hot and gonna be some good racing in three weeks time!

DH @ Cascades 28 Feb

2010-03-01T00:49:00.000-08:00

Managed to get to racing in time to shoot the second run. The light was pretty strong, so played around a bit with the polariser...led to some interesting pics:

XC Provincial @ Mountain View 21 Feb

2010-03-01T00:38:00.000-08:00

The light and scenery were amazing, which resulted in some awesome shots... here's a taste of some, and some links to blogs where you can check out a couple more.
http://www.morewoodbikes.com/blog/2010/02/kzn-xc-cup-2-mountain-view/
http://www.multigirl.co.za/index.php?sectionID=7&pst=141
http://brendondavids.blogspot.com/2010/02/bishopstowe-xc-prov-2.html
Force12 is spreading its wings...

Image Use

2010-02-09T21:53:00.000-08:00

Hey all

Just a note to all those who are in the pics on my blog...been finding stuff all over the net, esp on facebook with either the logo cropped out, or no credit given. I'm happy for u guys to use whatever I post on two conditions:
1. that a link to this blog or my email address goes with the pic.
2. If my logo is on the pic, PLEASE do not crop it off and then use the pic as your own.

Thanks...

World's View DH: 31 Jan 2010

2010-01-31T22:32:00.000-08:00

The guys were pushing the limits at World's view yesterday, as the track dried out and speeds started sky rocketing. Unfortunately for some this meant an untimely meeting with the dirt and some pretty hard landings. Racing was quick with only a few seconds separating the top guys and Greg and Tim pushing each other on.

Worlds View DH: 17 Jan 2010

2010-01-21T04:57:00.001-08:00

First race of the year, with an awesome turnout! Its great to see the numbers, as well as Greg coming to join in the fun at a local event (OK it is sponsored and named after him so...), but cool nonetheless. Check the pics below, and if you are looking for more, mail me on darren.goddard@gmail.com.

Groms @ Giba

2010-01-12T04:37:00.000-08:00

Liam and Dayle were hitting the dirt jumps at Giba on Sunday, so I thought I would test out the lens repairs... This is what came out:

Ghetto Jam 2009 @ The Bentleys

2009-12-21T01:34:00.000-08:00

This has to be one of the biggest sets of trails in the country! All the big guns came to play, bringing the full arsenal of tricks, including Tim pulling off a sweet front flip, and Dave's massive supermans!

HP Urban Rage 2009!

2009-12-13T00:12:00.000-08:00

Oh man what a race! This has to rank up there amongst some of the most unique and spectacular MTB races in the world. Where else do you get to ride through everything from abandoned buildings, over canals, through an aquarium, around a whale skeleton and into a swimming pool! Was awesome to be able to ride and shoot such an event and get to be a part of it all! Check out some of the pics below...

Triple Challenge 2009

2009-11-26T05:08:00.000-08:00

A bit of a miserable day for shooting, but still an adventure chasing the leaders around the back ends of KZN. The race was eventually won by Dan Hugo, with Jean Hackland making it a double for Team Jeep in the ladies category.

men's winner Dan Hugo leading the field early on

Ladies Winner Jean Hackland

MTN 50Miler

2009-11-08T22:35:00.001-08:00

Heres my favourites from yesterdays 50Miler...extremely hot and dry, but nice shooting conditions.

Best of 2009: DH & 4X MTB

2009-11-05T23:32:00.000-08:00

Some of my shots from the local downhill racing in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, including the UCI World Cup.

Best of 2009: XC MTB

2009-11-04T04:18:00.000-08:00

Continuing on the theme of my favourite pics of 2009, here are some of my shots from around KZN, South Africa.

Best of 2009: BMX

2009-10-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

To just show what I've been up to and shooting this year, I thought I would add some of my favourites from the 2009 BMX Racing Season here in KZN, South Africa.

2009-10-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

To get things rockin, I thought I would add my first ever magazine cover pic. This was shot at the 2008 urban rage in Durban, and ended up on the cover of Sport 'n Life at the beginning of 2009.