A few years back, I had the job of working at DC Shoes. This meant I was able to work with some pretty amazing athletes. DC was making a big push in the MX scene and one of our pros was Ricky Carmichael. Ricky is considered by many to be the greatest MX rider in history and has the wins to back it up. He was in his prime and had a very disciplined approach to his riding and training. I had shot a couple of times with him and the photos I had taken landed in a few people's hands, including the Senior Editor of Racer X magazine's Davey Coombs. He thought my angles and style were unique to MX and my background in action sports gave me an "eye" that the other photographers in that industry didn't have. This meant that I was able to get my photos published right away and I didn't have to go through a lot of trial in order to prove myself. Ok, it helped that DC was a big advertiser with the magazine as well.
Over time I was able to make a nice friendship with Ricky and we developed a great working relationship. This is something I probably took for granted and only realized later that he would only choose limited people to shoot with since his work load and training often took most of his time. He needed to trust me and respect what I could get. He also participated in a sport with a lot of danger and liked that I was able to work quickly.
His schedule included the Supercross season that usually starts in winter and ends toward the beginning of summer when the outdoor "Motocross" season would take over. That meant that only a short period of time was available to do extra work and get in some off-season training. Since I needed to get some shots for DC's advertising and some extras for editorial, etc., I was invited by him to stay at his house several times and get incorporated in to his routine.
This routine consisted of waking up and cramming the day with MX. He would hit the road bike for a couple of hours with his trainer. His trainer was a ex-cross country racer and made a name for himself with a very unique style of training. I envied this, and would have loved to go for a ride with them, but knew my boundaries and waited for his return. After all, this wasn't a group fun ride. He then would eat (very strict diet) and continue with his training at the gym. Only after this would he hit the track for some disciplined turns and testing. Oh, and he also needed to trust me since his training routine was a much guarded secret and was coveted by many of his competition. I could then grab my camera and get some shots. He was a great professional. I knew I could easily disrupt his training, but I respected his space and tried to stay as non-intrusive as possible. He also knew this, but often would take the time to stop and do any requests I might have. This would go on for hours till he and I were done. I got a lot of shots and saw some amazing riding.
Later, it was time to grab some dinner. Ricky was quite the host. He often would take us all down to the local Outback Steakhouse for a nice meal. Ricky is a good ‘ol boy from Tallahassee and likes things simple, so the Outback was the cat’s meow. No drinking for him (at least not during his training season), but heh, my workday was over. He also knew everyone who worked at the restaurant and everyone loves him. It was steamed vegetables and roasted chicken for him and usually something a bit richer for me. What a day.
Now you might be thinking that this makes him out to be a pretty boring, but that is far from the truth. The guy is hilarious and has a very sarcastic sense of humor. Unfortunately, the media can take things out of context and he is very aware of this and his image, so he takes great efforts to be careful about what he said and did in public and this meant that often he came across as having a flat personality. Fortunately those that know him are aware of this and know the real truth. I respect the hell out of him.
BTW, the top shot is a whip photo I did that was later bought by Fox Racing. They made it in to a poster and shows how technical his riding can be. The lower shot is just one of the hundreds of turns he did during his training to perfect his cornering skills.
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