Photography and Cycling, two of my favorite hobbies.
I have been taking photographs for a long time. I remember shopping with my dad during the early 80’s in Miami on a trip to the Grand Prix to get what was the nicest camera he had bought in a long time, A Canon T70. This was the family’s first venture into the world of 35mm. I think I was 10 or so at the time and allowed to take pictures as long as he was there and I had the strap around my neck. With that camera I was introduced to the fact that anybody could make decent photographs, not just snapshots and not just the guys getting pictures in the magazines. My first solid portrait (IMNSHO) happened to be a portrait of my dad on a trip to Colorado.
Since then I have run the full cycle of black and white dark rooms through digital as it has emerged over the last decade or so. Always trying to capture the moment, the feeling and the light.
In the last few of years it hit me that I spend way too much time on a bicycle to not be carrying a camera. The whole idea is to capture the beauty I see while out riding, to share the feeling of riding a bike while being outside. Along the way I gathered inspiration through blogs and photo sharing sites like Flickr. In some ways it was a new frontier. Not many people try to carry full-sized SLR cameras on their bikes, let alone try to shoot while riding. I had tried a few point and shoot cameras for their compact size, but was often disappointed in the results. I found seriouscompacts.com on the web and realised I could get what I wanted out of a smaller camera, but my wallet would be sore afterwards. I almost bought a Panasonic DMC-LX3, but held out a bit and bought in to the emerging miro 4:3 technology. I could have near the full power and versatility of my Canon DSLR in half the package size. Without the size and weight many doors have opened while few have closed.
While reading over at the the adventure monkey blog I first saw the term “PhotoCycling” used. I was awestruck, yes Eric’s pictures are great, but that was the perfect word for what he, I and a now many others have been doing. Combining the passion of photography with our other passion of riding. I hope that my venture here at Ocean Air Cycles inspires you to get outside on your bike as well as capture the moments to spread the word.
I tip my hat to the inspiration I found at Eric’s site as well as, Gnat Likes, ecovelo and epicurean cyclist Thank you for sharing your photographs and stories.
