Inspired By Passion

I love all sorts of cycling photography. It’s such a simple, elegant machine. One guy that inspires me is Cycleangelo (great moniker!... what else would you call a cycling artist?) He has a great site and a couple really cool series of images he’s worked on over the years. I’ve always loved his “bike portrait” series. http://cycleangelo.cc/tagged/pron . (anyone know how he gets some of these bikes to seemingly stand on their own? Photoshop? Magic?)

This series inspired me to capture a similar portrait of my new ride (profile, drive side, captured in the location where it’s ridden.) I realize it’s far from a fixie (3x10) but hopefully Cycleangelo would approve ;-)

Finding Photography Inspiration On Two Wheels

When talking to people about inspiration and creativity in the many interviews we've heard on the LightSource Podcast from www.studiolighting.net, one thing continues to pop up: "Shoot what you love."

Recently, I've started bicycle commuting to work. I know... "why don't you wait till the hottest part of the year to start that, dummy!" It was only misserable the first ride, now that I have a few weeks under the belt it's much easier AND more fun. As usual, my internet surfing has shifted to cycling and bike commuting. I also browsed a little bit on Flickr in the bicycling group and stumbled on some great sites: Cycloangelo's tumblr micro-blog documenting fixies in NYC, Bike commuting, peopleforbikes.org to name a few.

One that really captured my attention and instantly was added to my Google Reader feed was www.gnatlikes.com. Gnat works for Salsa Bicycles by day and is a serious photography hobbyist. His blog blends his interest in cycling and photography really well and it's gotten me meditating on that original thought a little more. So, armed with my point & shoot camera I took a few shots on my commute the other evening.

I learned a few things:

1. Shooting while riding is hard
2. Gnat takes really great pics from the saddle
3. Compact P&S camera... not a DSLR
4. Pick your place you are shooting... don't do it in traffic!

I hope to drag a camera along on the group ride Thursday evening and we'll see what I snap then... as well as the Sunday mountain bike ride in York (any locals wanna join me?)

One of the reasons I ride to work... Glad I'm not there!

Chasing down some fellow commuter who doesn't even know he's in a race.

My whip