![]() ![]() They’re never at a fixed distance, they’re always a cascade of moments, sometimes intimate and sometimes incomprehensibly vast and wide I definitely bring that ethos into the projects I shoot. Oscillating in and out, macro to micro, sometimes about the expansiveness of a vista and sometimes about the curve of an eyelash. ![]() One of the things I love about this selection is the variety – close, far, in front, to the side – do you like moving about a lot? What are some of the things you’re ideally conveying in a cycling shoot? That feeling of movement maybe? This looks later in the day – is that right? Your trademark warm tones really sing with this setting and style of riding in my opinion. I feel like they’re often to sedentary feeling, a little too removed from the exhilarating feeling of motion and inertia that I correlate to riding myself. But I try to avoid/not lean too heavily on stationary shots where I’m standing on the side of the road, waiting for the riders to pass me by. ![]() We almost never do location scouting, but sometimes it’s helpful to ride a trail or road beforehand to get a sense of where the good angles are, where there might be a good vista or switchback curve to document, etc. For me there’s a lot of comedy in the photo: Hamo’s thick application of zinc below his eyes, the fact that he’s riding a 650b rando low trail bike on a flow trail, the sheer look of brawny “Australian-ness” in his eyes and his body as he rails the berm. We think it’s actually a motocross course, somewhat similar to a MTB flow trail, but half the trail went uphill, which takes out the “flow” when you’re on a bicycle. This was another spot we scouted on our first day’s ride, Jack spotted it off the gravel trail we were riding. Tell me too about location scouting – do you do much in advance – Google maps and the like – or do you like to give yourself time to Explore on location if you can? This spot looks great – when you found it, did they ride it over and over to give you options? Or is this a full send home run? Again, love the vibes. The ride at that moment in time was one of those situations where everything is clicking: smooth road, gradual descent, effortless pedal strokes, wind on your face, sun on your skin. I love having someone else act as a foil to the point that the subject is just fully engaged elsewhere, and not with my camera, as it lets things just flow in a way where you’re getting the most absolutely natural expressions. My overall goal with shooting cycling, or anything for that matter, is getting a mix of intimacy and a feeling of first-person participation and that you’re right in the mix (or observing it as a fly on the wall). Hi, Pat! I was shooting out of the side door of our minivan, and he’s having a laugh with Jack, who is driving. We’d probably be close friends if we lived in the same place. Oh god, Pat Drapac, what an amazing human. Do you speak to your subjects much, or let others interact with them? I’m guessing there’s someone over your shoulder that he’s interacting with? It feels like we’re riding with him here, but I’m guessing it’s from a car? The vibe of the group was excellent, I really love having a mix of men and women on the ride cause I find things become far more social, a bit more laid back all-around, and more fun in general :) It was a sweaty, hot, insanely bright and squinty day. It was a white-hot summer day and the sun was already high in the sky, so I had to do some Ansel Adams zone system exposure work to get the tones where I wanted them. I started our shoot day by riding out with these three- Pat Drapac, Katya Crema, and Hamo Low- and think I feigned a slight mechanical or something so that they would stop here. This little intersection was not too far from our lodge that we stayed at, and I kind of tucked it into my mental rolodex of Nice Places To Take A Photo. The three of us did a little shakedown/exploratory ride to check out the area the viability/rideability of a couple roads. I landed in Australia with Jack Saunders (Art Director Sportif) and Verity Copeland (Jack’s wife and lovely friend and a rider on the shoot) a day before everyone else arrived. Stuart Downie: Tell me about the vibe in the group – what were these guys like to ride with? ![]()
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