Gallery: “World Champion Sebastien Kienle” – LAVA Magazine Cover

If the phrase “World Champion” precedes your name you’re pretty much a bad-ass. Sebastien Kienle is no exception. The 2012 70.3 World Champion hailing from Germany was in the lead at his first Kona Ironman World Championships last year, en route to crush the bike course record, when not only did he manage to get one flat tire, but two. And he still finished fourth at the end of the day.

I caught up with Kienle in St. George Utah before his 70.3 race there, to shoot him for the July cover of Lava Magazine. After hanging out with him for a couple days I realized the guy’s a machine, down to earth, and he will be in the lead again in Kona. I used my Nikon D800 paired with the Pocket Wizard Flex TT with the new beta firmware, to consistently freeze action shooting over 1000th of a second synched with profoto 7b strobes! Here are some of my favorite pics from our shoot, hope you enjoy!

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My First Image in National Geographic Magazine

Since I was a child and my parents had a subscription to National Geographic Magazine, escaping to remote locations, excavating ruins and experiencing exotic animals was always just a page flip away. For me NGM has always been the gold standard for not only nature and conservation but also great photography. David Dubilet’s surreal underwater scenes, Steve McCurry’s Afghan girl, Chris Johns Camel’s crossing the Sahara, Paul Nicklin’s Emperor Penguins, and the list of amazing photography in the magazines 125 year history goes on and on. I am honored to have one of my favorite images, the underwater view of the mass swim start from the 2011 Kona Ironman World Champs that won World Press Photo in 2012, published as a double page spread in the March edition of National Geographic Magazine’s Visions of Earth section. It’s always been a dream of mine to be published in the magazine and can’t thank NGM enough for deeming my photograph worthy to be in the same pages as the greats. Pick up your copy of National Geographic today or go to their website here and order your own custom print of my image!

PHOTO OF THE DAY FLASHBACK – 2009 Ironman

KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII – OCTOBER 9: Lava flows from the Kilauea volcano during the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 9, 2009. Considered one of the most grueling races in the world, competitors must brave 95 degrees temperature and 90 percent humidity to complete a 3.86 km swim, 180.2 km bike, and a 42.2 km marathon with in an 17 hour time cutoff to be called an “Ironman”. (Photo by Donald Miralle) Canon EOS-1D Mark III Lens: 70-200mm Aperture: F4 Shutter 1.0 sec ISO:250

17,000 miles in 7 days

Living at 30,000 feet isn’t good for you. You eat crappy airline food, don’t get any exercise, and your body can’t figure out time zone it’s in. Just finished a whirlwind trip from San Diego to Los Angeles to Chicago to Amsterdam to Copenhagen to San Francisco to Kona to San Diego the past week. More time in the air than on the ground, and here are some hipstomatic iphone photos as evidence. Had to give a keynote presentation of my work to the Danish National Photographers Union Convention, which was a great group, seeing some old faces and meeting some new. Then I made my annual trip to Hawaii to shoot the Ironman for LAVA. I’m exhausted and ready to catch some sleep, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen…

Approaching Copenhagen with the sea windmills

 

Youngest pilot in United’s fleet

 

Cirrus cloads at 30,000 ft.

 

London airport

 

Trees at Amsterdam Airport

 

Random dude at Copenhagen train station

 

Kona coast on approach