MXA’S PHOTO OF THE WEEK: WE CAN TELL WHICH WAY IS UP, BUT THE REST IS FUZZY

Coming or going?

Jon Ortner shot this photo at Glen Helen’s REM track. It appears that racer Marc Crosby (66)  forgot his lucky rabbit’s foot and has turned around mid-moto to go back to the pits to get it. Not true. It is an optical illusion created by the foreshortening of Ortner’s long lens. The lens brings the background subjects closer to the foreground than they really are.  In fact, Marc is cresting a rise heading in the proper direction on the track, while the riders behind him are on a completely different part of the track (separated by a small valley).