Michael Lichter Photography Blog: WILEY-X SUNGLASSES & THE NIKON D3x

Post by Michael Lichter

Written on December 10, 2008

I had a great day scouting and visiting with Jay Allen and Claudia in Bisbee prior to the shoot. Jay showed me around and had plenty of suggestions for the shoot. While scouting and before flying down to join me, Steve surprised me with a call and asked "So what piece of equipment do you want me to bring more than any other?" I told him all I really need are my cameras but he responded with "how about a D3x?" WOW! I've been asking Nikon for this beast for years and just recently, they told me about it and booked me for a shoot a couple of weeks out. Then Nikon decided I could try it out to get familiar with it before the shoot I would be doing for them. With our busy schedule and the holidays coming up, Steve and I agreed we couldn't make a total change without the time in advance to test the camera and process images in our workflow, and we only had one body, so the plan was to shoot with my D3's, and run the D3x through its paces in the real world as we could. Just for fun, I'll just include the D3x images below.

We met up at Caren's Big Sky Motorcycles a bit earlier than originally planned since the weather forecast for Sunday wasn't great. Today was the day to make hay. Caren organized a great group of riders for me that included a good mix of solo riders, and a couple of 2-up's. I reviewed the shoot with everyone, and told them how they would all know each other real well by the time they returned on Sunday. The plan was to beat it down the highway to Mountain View and head south on 83 where we would start shooting. I sat behind Ray, a motor-officer on the Phoenix force. Ray was a rock and the other riders caught on quick. By the time we stopped in Sonoita, it was old hat. Too many great places to stop but we used the bulk of our time in Tombstone where we met up with Jay Allen. It was dusk by the time we pulled into Bisbee, with plenty of shots in the can. Hanging out with Jay on the roof of his incredible place before dinner was a blast. Then off to Santiago's where they had a single long table reserved for 14. They took great care of us (especially when they personally topped off each of our margs with Grand Marnier!) After dinner, we just crawled across the street to listen and/or dance at The Stock Exchange Saloon. It was late but what a fun night. Don't forget, we were working hard!

Saturday, December 6, 2008, 12:57. Jerod hoisted Danielle onto his back during a stop in Whetstone on our ride from Tucson to Bisbee, AZ for Wiley X sunglasses. (The glasses were there!)

Saturday, December 6, 2008, 13:25. Alana and John at a pull-off before getting to Bisbee, AZ.

Saturday, December 6, 2008, 15:12. Jay Allen on the main street. Is that Doc Holiday down the center? Tombstone, AZ.

Saturday, December 6, 2008, 15:31. Lance and Caren together on the main street, although this was the bike Caren was riding solo. (She is quite the rider!) Tombstone, AZ.