Assignment 5: Covering an Event; The Tour de France. Reading and Research.

During the summer while I was planning the photography and reconnoitering for The Tour de France I cam across a pamphlet advertising an exhibition of cycling photography by Lincoln based photographer Phil Crow.  Sadly I missed the exhibition but found the pamphlet and Crow's website interesting.  In the pamphlet Dr Mark Smith, Principal Lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at Lincoln University says that success in cycling in the Olympics and the Tour de France brings with it responsibility.  The success has increased the interest and participation  in cycling and the next step is to ensure a shared community responsibility is achieved in supporting and nurturing this interest.  As part of this he says that Lincoln University is proud to support the exhibition. (Smith, M. 2014)  Lyn Strydon, Cycle Officer, Lincs County Council, says that the exhibition is a fantastic snapshot into cycling in Lincolnshire over the Lincoln Grand Prix cycling weekend. (Strydon, L. (2014)  In the same pamphlet Crow says that the exhibition came about in an attempt to encourage people to get on their bikes following the recent international successes on the cycling stage.  The exhibition featured images from the Festival of Cycling, an amateur sportive, held in conjunction with the professional Lincoln Grand Prix.  Crow's website features images of the exhibition itself and also shots of local cyclists taking part in the sportive.  When planning my work for this assignment I was inspired by this work and it made me realise that I needed to focus on local riders and spectators enjoying the sport of cycling and not just the professional riders in the Tour de France itself, although these would be the key images.

Being a keen cyclist, I have read the cycling press for many years, especially around Tour de France time.  One photographer who stands out in my mind over the years is Graham Watson.  Born in 1956, Watson worked for society photographer Lenare from 1972-1977 when he learned the basics of his craft.  Following a visit to the Tour de France in 1977, he won a competition in Cycling Weekly and his career as a cycling photographer began.  Initially he covered British races, but gradually began to work in Europe and on the Tour de France.  He is now established as on of the greats of cycling photography and his clients include the governing body of international cycling, the UCI, and a host of cycling magazines in this country and world wide.  I have always found his work inspirational.  I really like his close ups of individual riders, often taken with a wide angle or standard lens and his telephoto shots of groups of riders often head on with the tele lens compressing the perspective.  His wider shots are also excellent especially ones he manages to get most years where he shows the riders behind a field of sunflowers, iconic Tour de France and high summer in France.  Also, looking back to the course project on researching web slideshows, his website has several excellent ones containing all those features I felt to be important when I was writing up the project: 

• automation
• a soundtrack, either commentary or music or a combination
•  captions either underneath the slides or superimposed on the image.  
• the option to pause in order to view an image in detail and in one's own time or the option of a manual alternative.  

Another inspirational cycling photographer is Belgian photographer, Tim de Waele, who among other publications, photographs for the Tour de France Official Programme.  Like Watson de Waele's images show both close ups and distance shots of individual riders and the whole peloton (the main group of riders in a race).  His wider images, also like those of Watson feature the landscape, something I would like to include.  From video footage on his website it can be heard that his camera is set to fast continuous. This is important also in sports photography in order to catch just that special moment.

References and Websites
References and Website
Crow,P (2014) On Your Bike Lincolnshire An exhibition of Cycling Photography
Available from: http://www.philcrow.com/folio/exhibitions/ [Accessed 8.11.14]

De Waele, T. (2014) Photography Available from: http://www.tdwsport.com/ [Accessed 8.11.14]

Smith, M. (2014) On Your Bike Lincolnshire Exhibition Pamphlet

Strydon, L. (2014) On Your Bike Lincolnshire Exhibition Pamphlet

Watson, G. (2014) Cycling Photographer 
Available from: http://www.grahamwatson.com/about/bio.html [Accessed 8.11.14]