The cycling photographer

Posted by Jon Sparks Oct 31, 2007

In my day job, I'm a professional photographer specialising in landscapes and outdoor pursuits, and of course I'm particularly interested in cycling.

Compared to walking, rock-climbing and mountaineering, which are my other main specialist areas, cycling is definitely harder to photograph properly. I've watched a lot of very good photographers, with broad general experience, struggle with photographing action on bikes. There are two main reasons why:

• 1: You're often photographing individuals, not team action, so you need to get close;
• 2: Most people underestimate the speed even of touring cyclists.

I think this is what lies behind my particular bugbear: even when a professional photographer is employed, a lot of publications end up full of pictures of people standing around with their bikes, not actually riding.You might think, if the professionals struggle, what chance has anyone else got? But as a regular cyclist, you have two great advantages:

• You understand cycling and know what makes great cycling pictures;
• You ride regularly so you're always in the middle of the action.

With these factors on your side, and a few simple pointers on the technique front, you should be able to get images that really do justice to your bicycling experiences. That's why I'm posting the first of a short series of articles on this subject.