One toothbrush, two pairs of pants and a credit card
Yep, I've been busy on the road recently and very nice it was too. First up was a day trip to London town to shoot the Nissan Qashqai event for MBR magazine. The Qashqai is a bicycle stunts contest that is held in various strategic cities around Europe and the final was on the south bank of Ol' grandfather Thames bang in front of the Tate Modern art gallery which was hosting a street art show. Massive murals adorned the exterior of the building making a colourful backdrop for the riders and the crowds. Did I say crowds? Well that part of London is busy at anytime but on a sunny Saturday in May it is rammed with tourists, locals, market traders and all sorts of characters! It was great. I think this shot captures the flavour of the event even though the rider is miniscule. It's London baby! Footnote: the London round was won by Sam Pilgrim from my birthplace of Colchester whose other claim to fame is being the oldest recorded town in Great Britain. Come on the Romans!
Then it was off to Belgium for the Ronda van Belgie - that's the Tour of Belgium to you and me. Rouleur magazine asked me to shoot the event - a minor race in the grand scheme of things but the be all and end all if you are Belgian, hence Tom Boonen's name on the start list - to capture the soul of the race rather than purely peak of action material.
The race was won by latest Belgian sensation Stijn Devolder which no doubt pleased the partisan hordes, gorged on strong beer and frittes. By the end of three days I was down to one pair of pants but still cleaning my teeth. Which is worse; clean tuche or clean teeth? Well, I reckoned more people would see my teeth and having a nice smile for the various marshalls and police was more valuable at the time........ You know Stijn cleans his pearlies....
Next up back in the UK but an even longer drive to Scotland to shoot an ad campaign for makers of all things bike clothing Endura. Chris Duncan from Endura, Kev Grant from Escape Route, the outdoor shop in Pitlochry and myself worked some very spiffy trails indeed along some tasty Scottish burns and lochins. They made my stay very welcome and if you are in the area Escape Route makes the best coffee around. Can you dig it?
By now I had turned my remaining pair of pants inside out but was feeling chipper despite the chaffing. Mental note to self: exchange images for technical underpants when in an outdoor emporium. But onwards and upwards. I drove through the heart of Scotland through amazing scenery, along to Loch Laggan where the previous year I shot freerider Andrew Shandro on a fantastic sunny evening. Then into the Anaoch Mor Ski area for the Fort William World Cup. Expectations were high for the Brit riders at the Fort. The Athertons were coming off a triple win at Andorra and Peaty is always a favourite. Here is my shot of Sam Hill's new team mate Brendan Fairclough giving it full berries near the top of the run. The weather blessed us this year as you can see from the women's XC image below Brendan.
Heading south now, a long, long drive into deepest Lincolnshire (and it is deep). I'm going to shoot a portrait of top UK frame builder Dave Yates in his workshop. I am late. By an hour and a half. I phoned ahead but Dave is still a little miffed. Not my fault I say, it was the Appleby Horse Fair on the A66. F**kin hate pikies! Look out for the feature called Chas and Dave (yep I shot Chas Roberts too) in a forthcoming issue of Cycling Plus
What else? Oh, I have really clean teeth and a jar of Sudafed nappy rash cream. Says it all really. After a quick jaunt to New York to pick up some kit I flew to Zurich for the GT Media Camp. The venue was actually Livigno in Italy and no one told us that the borders close at 8pm. No really. We drove up two huge passes only to be sent packing and eventually booked into a room and returned the following day. Bah! Still it was worth it for the views and the riding. I hope you agree.
And there's more! Check back soon when I will be putting up galleries from a portrait project for What Mountain Bike, a motocross fashion shoot in .......Swindon, Wiltshire, and some great news about Rouleur magazine. Don't touch that dial...
We're on our way to Wembley!
Well, Cardiff City that is, for their little date with destiny in match called The FA Cup Final... The Welsh side wear Skins the compression clothing used for fast recovery and little ol' moi got the job to shoot the boy(o)s during one of their training sessions in the build up to the big match. Fighting my way through the array of gleaming black Range Rovers and Audi Q7s to the training ground, I discovered that the hot weather meant that only a handful of players were wearing the clothing. Damn! But help was at hand in the form of Skins UK chap Edd Hames where duly dished out some boxfresh product for the lads to pull on. So here we have the Bluebirds' Darren Purse, Gavin Rae and Stephen McPhail feeling the squeeze from their kit but striking the hero pose all the same.....
Wrestling single speeders? Que si!
It's those naughty Trek 69ers acting tough in a derelict building somewhere in downtown Bristol. I already had a couple of authentic lucha libre wrestling masks (you don't need to know why!) so when the idea was bandied about doing a shoot from a slightly leftfield angle I was on the case. Got in touch with my man in Mexico and ordered three more masks so there was no infighting about who had the best get up. We convened at Shaggy's place and worked some angles in his front room which is another word for bicycle emporium. Then around the docks for some lifestyle and off to Leigh Woods for a slice of night action. Next day back to the same place for a few 'conventional' shots. A good time was had by all and not a pinfall, boston crab, half nelson or forearm smash was used in anger. (If anyone knows the origins of those wrestling terms, I'd be really interested to find out. I mean is it called a half nelson because Admiral Nelson had one arm? Just a thought) Click here or on the image to view more action....
Fact: Belgium ain't boring!
The Three Days of De Panne is a minor classic in and around the coastal town of De Panne in Belgium and it is the race that pro riders use as a warm up for the famous Tour of Flanders the following Sunday. Of course, no one tells the local population it is 'minor' and they turn out with all the enthusiasm that you would expect from a nation that sees cycling on a par with football, and behave accordingly; filling out the cafes next to the course and drinking and smoking away to their hearts content. It is A Big Day out, even on a Thursday and the fact that De Panne is a seaside resort adds to the flavour. So it was that we (me and John Mullineaux from ProTourNews) got up at sparrowfart in the morning to drive to the tunnel tranche la manche and on to De Panne. Bleary eyed after a 35 minute catnap in the train, we emerged into brilliant rising sunshine and headed east along the motorway. No need for maps; De Panne is right next to Koksijde home of the infamous sand dunes that hosts a round of the UCI World Cup cyclocross. The last day of De Panne is a split stage with a road race in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon. I took my new Lensbaby 3G to play around with and shot a few frames at the beach and around the town. Then on to the end of the stage 3A. Fresh (really fresh) from the World Track champs, it was none other than madison gold medallist himself Mark Cavendish of the High Road squad that contested a sprint with Francesco Chicci of Liquigas. There was only one outcome. After a swift lunch break and a few more snaps (note: carrying cameras at a race in Belgium means you will be asked to take group shots of half-cuts locals at every turn!) out we went for the TT. It was a blast watching top flight cyclists beating themselves up over the cobbled streets, the rumble of disc wheels bearing down at silly speeds for a human powered vehicle. And at the death it was Dennis Bergkamp doppleganger Joost Posthuma that stole the overall victory by winning the time trial and moving onto the top podium step. Will I be going back to Belgium for more skinny-tyred action? You bet your bottom. I can't wait! See you soon. Click here or on the image to see the De Panne gallery.
Yep, aside from a sortie out to Wales where it blew a gale and lashed horizontal wetness, I have been shooting indoors. Thought I'd post a quick slideshow of some very tasty Colnago bikes I photographed for the UK distributor windwave
Geoff Waugh is the British Professional Photographers Association Press and PR photographer of the Year!
Oooh it felt good writing that ;-) The image that scooped the prize was of this clearly fatigued and anxious young paratrooper about to board a plane and trying to catch some sleep on his backpack ( or Bergen as the squaddies kept telling me and I wasn't about to argue!) The image was taken on the runway at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.
I was stoked to receive that gong and then I nearly choked on my chicken (it's always chicken at awards isn't it?) when this image won the Sports category in the 20x16 print competition.
So I came away with two gongs and got to kiss Phillipa 'Tomorrows World' Forrester one both cheeks. Mwah, mwah! But that's not all. Oh no my friends. The judges bestowed merit awards upon the two images below. I have to say that I used Loxley Colour to make the prints and was very impressed with the results, so many thanks to you guys up there, and keep off the deep fried Mars bars!
The Rouleur magazine exhibition is on the road, next stop Coventry Transport Museum......
The private view is Wednesday , January 30th and the show is on from Jan 3st1 to Feb 29th. From there the whole shebang crosses the ocean to USA where it will appear- -with new and updated images - at three presitigous venues. From 8th to 10th February in Portland, Oregon for the Hand Built Bike Show. Paul Smith's boutique on Melrose Avenue LA is the host (for the final stage of the Tour of California) from 24th Feb to 8th March, then on to Cadence Cycles, Manhattan, New York, 20th March to 20th April. This is a really exciting time for me and the magazine, showcasing work in areas I wouldn't normally reach. So if you can get to one of these shows it would be great. Other news is that the Rouleur Photo Annual first edition sold out before the end of last year! The second edition is on sale here tip: it's under 'Collectables"
On paper the plan was simple: ride motorbikes from Kent to Cardiff and find and photograph extreme sports legend Travis Pastrana at the GB Rally. (Travis appears to have got a bit bored with double backflips on a motocrosser and now races a works Subaru in the production class.) In practice it went, shall we say, a little tits up?!
Firstly, I had climbed out of my sickbed to undertake the commission and was weak with flu. Then there was the small fact that I hadn't ridden a motorbike for nearly ten years. I wobbled out of the magazine's car park and hit the motorway. At some point I was aware of the editor parked on the hard shoulder and on his mobile phone. I learnt later he was phoning the office to laugh about the fact that my bag containing my change- my only-of clothes had been too close to the exhaust pipe, caught fire and was now either floating skywards on the breeze or in small charred pieces by the armco. Not a great start. So after a 200 mile journey in atrocious conditions, I was taxied by the kind B&B landlady to the local Marks and Spencers in Cardiff where I bought what can only be described as a "very nice outfit indeed". So,to the rally. Looks great on TV- really hard to navigate at your first attempt. Humbug! We shot some images of the bikes (it was a road test afterall) and eventually found some cars, some very drunk French fans of Sebastien Loeb the World Champ to be, and I got some pix of Travis sideways in the Subaru. It was coming together. Then we met, by chance, the Subaru USA honcho, Travis's boss and bingo! we were in the game. A very wet and windy ride to Swansea the next day and there we caught up with the man in the Parc Ferme. All that was left was to shoot some more bikes and then ride 250 miles back to my place. I even got the father-in-law's presents sorted. Well, they only been worn once..... he shouldn't notice. Click the image to see the Rally gallery and look out for the entire feature in TWO magazine in the New Year.
Ipswich Cross Nationals
A few people have been bugging, ahem, asking me politely, to post some images from the recent Nationals at Chantry Park so here is a small cross section. Ouch! Of course I prayed for rain as usual and lawks a lawdy - it worked. Oh yes, proper cross weather. Long may it last. Well until about February 08 then nada mas.
Belgian cross rules! Kalmthout WC rnd 1
Nothing beats the blood and guts of cross and nowhere is it better than in the Belgian heartland. Watching the world's best close up is mind boggling. The band, the beer, the cigars, the supporters clubs all go to make this worth a sortie across the channel. Nevermind that I had to come back on a ferry stuffed with thousands of po-faced England Rugby fans....!
Click on Bart Wellens' face for a sneak preview of some of the images...
Rouleur Preview Hits High Note!
Last Wednesday's private viewing of the Rouleur cycling photography exhibition at London's Host Gallery went off really well. I had to fight through the throng on the pavement outside just to get a beer. Rouluer magazine editor Guy Andrews and his colleagues at Rapha Racing had done an excellent job of producing the show and the accompanying Photo Annual. And then pulling in all their contacts to make it a trendy gathering.
Elsewhere I bragged about some portraits I had taken at the MTB World Championships. Well I have put a few up. Click on young Christoph there to take a look.
Flip it and reverse it!
When I bought last Saturday's Guardian I thought the image of the biker advertising the free adventure supplement looked familiar, but it wasn't until I saw the same pic inside the freebie that I knew it was mine! Those sneaky layout guys had flipped the image so it ran right to left instead the way I shot it. Non bikers , or those that study these things may have wondered why the chainset was on the left side of the bike! You can see my original shot (actually one taken a split second before-I couldn't find the original dagnabbit!) taken at the 2003 Redbull Rampage in Virgin , Utah, on the right. I used a 16mm fisheye (yes, it was shot on transparency with a Nikon F5 camera) to exaggerate the drop whilst still taking in the stunning backdrop. The upshot is a shot that can easily be stripped into a page with no clutter so text can be laid over the bluebird sky. And everyone's happy. Ka ching!
Drat, drat and triple drat!
Looks like Autumn has finally kicked in with a vengence. I went out yesterday for a few hours on my mountainbike and suffered cold, rain and some feeble rays of sun. But the upside is that rain means mud and mud means cyclo cross (well in my mind at least). I don't want anymore sunny cross pix like this:
The first round of the London League Cross where it was shirt sleeve weather (click image for gallery).
And I probably won't see too many of these since they would only rust and leave their owners in tears. Nope they are under wraps until next year, the little (and very big) beauties. (click image for gallery)
And whilst all the fuss has died down over the World Mountain Bike Champs, I still have a gallery of images right here. (Viewing tip for Apple Web Galleries: navigate to the bottom left of screen and click 'mosaic'. This is by far the best viewing mode but it cannot be set as a default. Perhaps next release hey Apple?)
The Dirt SNAP exhibition at the World Champs went down a storm. It was great to hook up with old friends and make new ones. The selection of images was varied, ranging from the old - Greg Herbold circa 1990 - to the very recent of current World Champ Sam Hill. I got a little stick for my Gachet shot, but , hey, it is my job to take pictures! In the main though, the standard was high and the show very well received. (I think the free beer helped!) Many people told me how much they liked this image of Shaun 'Napalm' Palmer after his finish line crash at the Are 99 World Championships. Well, click the image below to see the entire sequence of Palmer's frustration at missing out on the big prize - to him being a consummate pro' and signing autographs..
