as a newcomer to this sport one thing that strikes me is how aweful the overall design and sophistication of its coverage…take triathlon magazine or most anything to do with the sport…the graphics,the photography, the product design…leave a lot to be desired…
here is an exploration of cycling i find inspiring to look at…
FYI… this is a good site for photojournalism and world events
personally i like graham watson. the renowned photojournalist miscaptioned all the botero shots by stating he was on “kelme,” when in fact he is on TMobile/Telekom and you can clearly see him wearing that team’s kit.
personally watson’s imagery are lame!..there is so much room in this industry to improve…design wise…watson is the perfect example…as a newbie i was looking for some inspiring imagery and checked out his web site…so cheesy…as far as the miscaption…so what!..dosen’t have anything to do with the image…but hey to each his own…
they’re nice images but different than what graham watson does. his job is to cover races, not training or the general lifestyle of cyclists. he does a phenomenal job, knows the parcours, knows where the moves will take place, and rarely misses a critical photo (i am particularly impressed with his ability to cover the classics.)
fwiw, you can’t get the art shots like the photographer you like when you are shooting from the back of a moving motorcycle (which is what graham is doing most of the time.)
also, graham focuses on the rider, whereas the photos on that site seem to focus more on the background and ambience (there are several pictures where the rider is purposely blurred almost beyond recognition.) again, this is different… i want to see my favorite riders giving it hell in crisp clean color.
i’m sure that graham could produce more of these art type shots if he did not have to depend on cycling as his main source of income… he sells his photos to news outlets around the world, and the last thing they want is a picture of a blurry mario cippolini
Umm…can I interject…?
If you’re looking at photo’s to get inspired to go ride you are missing the point. Bicycle inspiration isn’t found in an artistic conception. It’s found when you are out on your ass for hours on end, riding by your self in peace and tranquility. It’s found when you take a left instead of a right and ride to a different view you’ve never seen before. It’s found when you don’t think you can go on anymore, and then, as you are thinking of giving up, a new outlook takes over and you see the world differently than you’ve ever quite seen it before. Cycling is beautiful, but it’s to be filmed, not framed, it’s experience, not annalyzed, it’s to be, not to have been.
Now if you’al excuse me, I have a bicycle calling me.
-I luv u, I luv u, and I luv u!