After two years in the Peace Corps (in Morocco), our daughter spent the better part of summer 2010 on the Northern Neck of Virginia. On one of our visits, I noticed this guy on the road. I have very few photos of actual riding but immediately wanted to get shots of him riding. When I described the guy, our daughter's friend, who owned a coffee shop at the time, said she knew who he was. I left a tab for him, for the next few times he came in, hoping it would soften him up to let me take his photo.
Over the next month or two, didn't have any luck hooking up with him when we were there. Then, on one trip, driving back from the coast, I spotted him. Followed him to a rural gas/food stop. Spent some time talking and he was not only agreeable to the first shots but giving me a shot of him riding. He told me to drive down the road to a certain spot and he would come by in a while. I had barely gotten there and pulled my camera out when I heard a roar coming down the road. This was much earlier than I expected. I was planning to shoot in "burst mode" as I do when I shoot sports. But since I had been taking single shots on the coast, I was not set up for him coming so soon. I basically had to depend upon one shot - which most serious photographers do not like to depend on. I'd like to think that all my sports experience over the previous few years allowed me to capture this action shot. I really like this photo. He was a character (that's another story) and this shot epitomizes speed, grace and character on a bike - for me. As you can tell, I like it so much, it is the base photo at the top of this site :)
Note that the feather, in the upper shot, is nicely bent, at speed, and stays in the hole on the handlebar simply by gravity and wind resistance.
Over the next month or two, didn't have any luck hooking up with him when we were there. Then, on one trip, driving back from the coast, I spotted him. Followed him to a rural gas/food stop. Spent some time talking and he was not only agreeable to the first shots but giving me a shot of him riding. He told me to drive down the road to a certain spot and he would come by in a while. I had barely gotten there and pulled my camera out when I heard a roar coming down the road. This was much earlier than I expected. I was planning to shoot in "burst mode" as I do when I shoot sports. But since I had been taking single shots on the coast, I was not set up for him coming so soon. I basically had to depend upon one shot - which most serious photographers do not like to depend on. I'd like to think that all my sports experience over the previous few years allowed me to capture this action shot. I really like this photo. He was a character (that's another story) and this shot epitomizes speed, grace and character on a bike - for me. As you can tell, I like it so much, it is the base photo at the top of this site :)
Note that the feather, in the upper shot, is nicely bent, at speed, and stays in the hole on the handlebar simply by gravity and wind resistance.
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