Tri something new

Over the years I've shot most things on two wheels, but it's been a while since I've turned my lens on the skinny-tyred forerunners of mountain bikes. All that's changed recently with commissions from new triathlon mag Tri Plus, who asked me if I wanted to shoot some bike tests for them. I jumped at the chance, because it's an opportunity to look at a familiar subject in a new way.

I shot most of the test (with the exception of some detail pics and a couple of individual bike shots) without flash on a bright, sunny day. Students of my photo courses will know all about my enthusiasm for accurate panning technique, and mine was certainly being put to the test. Flash can cover a multitude of sins including slightly misjudged panning - without it, I had nowhere to hide. 

Luckily my eye-hand coordination turned out to be better than my team sports skills would suggest. I came away with some openers like this:

Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/30sec f/20 @ ISO200

The flowers added a splash of colour and a heightened sense of speed, but the success of a shot like this all hinges on whether at least one of the rider's heads (and preferably a good chunk of one of the bikes) is completely sharp. Here's an unsharpened, 100% crop of the second rider's head:

The sun must've really been shining on my luck that day, because through a fortuitous sequence of events I also ended up selling one of the images to the UK importers of Wilier frames for use in a series of ads:

Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/11, two radio slaves

Regular readers will know that I'm a stickler for retaining as many rights in commissioned images as possible - and this is a perfect example of why that's important. If I'd reliinquished my copyright to the commissioning client, I would never have been able to make this sale. The small print in contracts isn't the most exciting reading, but it's there for a reason...

Comments

[David]

Oooooo

wonder if i can be of use to tri plus.

i do alot of tri stuff.

would it be too cheeky to ask if you have a contact?

[Seb Rogers]

Hi David,

Yup, that's pretty cheeky ;-)

I'm sure you'll find the editor's email address somewhere in the mag's flannel panel...

[Graham Stewart]

> "Over the years I've shot most things on two wheels,"

Seb is "Unforgiven":

"I've shot just about everything that walked or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to shoot you, Little Tri Plus"

;)

[Seb Rogers]

(through clenched teeth)

'Go ahead, skinny-tyred road bike - make my day...'

On second thoughts, I won't be giving up the day job for a comedy career...

;-P