Published: Amanda Batty Dirt Rag Cover

Posted by Photo-John on September 24, 2015

I’m very pleased to share the most recent issue of Dirt Rag magazine (number 187 – it’s a killer issue), with a Photo-John cover shot and Photo-John images illustrating a feature story. Dirt Rag asked if I could shoot Salt Lake City professional downhill mountain biker Amanda Batty for their “Personality Issue” and of course I said yes. Ultimately they decided to use one of the photos for the cover and voila, I’ve got an Amanda Batty Dirt Rag cover photo.

When I contacted Amanda she was very excited about the article, an interview piece by Chris “Bama” Milucky, about her outspokenness and controversial reputation. We did a session with her working at her Competitive Cyclist customer service job, shot her at home and we did two action photo sessions on the trail. She’s a great rider and we got a bunch of solid trail and technical riding photos that showed off her skills on the bike. However, I really wanted to show she’s more than just a female rider with an attitude. I wanted to get past her reputation and online persona and make people see the fun, multi-dimensional person I know. There’s a whole lot more to Amanda than most people see in her articles or on Facebook.

Working with Amanda was great. She’s a willing subject both on and off the bike. We had a good time, did some fun riding and got a ton of great photos. We’ll definitely be working together in the future. Now go buy a copy of Dirt Rag so you can see all the photos and read the interview for yourself!

Camera Gear Notes

I know a lot of people follow me because of my camera reviews so I’m going to say a little bit about the camera gear I used to shoot Amanda.

Canon EOS 7D DSLR & 18-200mm IS Zoom Lens

Canon EOS 7D DSLR & EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens

A lot of aspiring photographers believe they need a full-frame DSLR to get professional results. Not true. All of the photos of Amanda in Dirt Rag were taken with crop sensor cameras. I prefer APS-C sensor DSLRs because they’re smaller, lighter and more affordable and I know I can get the quality I need in most lighting conditions – especially outdoors. Most of the photos in the article were taken with a Canon EOS 70D but the cover shot was actually made with an EOS 7D I’ve owned since it came out, back in 2009 (buy my Canon EOS 7D!). There are definitely better cameras now and there are APS-C sensor cameras that have better image quality. But the EOS 7D has held up very well and there still isn’t a better sports camera for the price – except for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II, of course.