Tom Simpson Photo

Horses, Lobsters, and a Golden Chopper

2012-02-13T07:54:00.000-08:00

Last week was nothing if not varied. I started off with a shoot with Irish international eventing rider, and Olympic hopeful, Camilla Speirs in Dublin. It's the first shoot of an ongoing commission by Horse and Hound magazine to shoot a series of portraits of riders who'll be competing in the equestrian sports at London 2012. As usual, the shot can't be shown until it's been published, but here's a picture of me at work. Wondering what the massive white things are? Waterproofing against the light drizzle in the form of empty horse-feed bags. All I can say about the shot is it's really rather special, and very different from anything I've shot before.

From there it was on to the Raleigh Headquarters just outside Nottingham. I got to spend the day in their warehouse looking at all sorts of interesting and historic bikes, including Reg Harris's silver medal winning bike in the 1948 Olympics, and a prototype carbon fibre bike made slightly ahead of its time in 1968. Best of all however was a gold plated Raleigh Chopper, made to commemorate the millionth chopper ever made. Some of the Raleigh pro team were visiting at the same time before heading off to a training camp. The sight of this bike made their day, as it did mine.

And lastly, on Thursday it was off to the Isle of Wight to photograph another Eventer for Horse and Hound, this time it was Australia's Sam Griffiths, Dorset resident. We photographed him in a few different locations, culminating in a somewhat surreal shot in a seafood restaurant on the coast. Again, I can't give the shot away, but I'd like to thank Sam for being such a great sport and agreeing to some rather off-the-wall shoot ideas. It really is one of the most beautiful and serene locations I've come across in the UK, and I hope to be back there soon. If you're interested, it's The Boathouse restaurant in the very aptly named Steephill Cove, near Ventnor. The proprietors, Mark and Vanessa really went out of their way to help, so a massive thankyou to them. If you're wondering why I liked it so much, have a look at the sunset from the restaurant...

Next, it'll be off to Holland again, this time for dressage rider Adelinde Cornelissen. Also, I'm looking forward to two days embedded with a team during the classic season opener, Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium.

In the meantime, I'll be enjoying some well-earned time off.

Francesco Moser

2012-02-04T15:25:00.001-08:00

So I went to Italy on Wednesday to shoot a portrait of Francesco Moser. The snow was pretty awful. This was the scene when we landed.

You'll have to wait for Pro Cycling to publish the shots, but in the meantime, have a picture of Moser's little animal friends that run around his vineyard.

What you can see though, is this shot of the set up... Can't wait to show you the portrait.

As I sit here, the snow's now falling in London. I have a flight to Dublin booked tomorrow. Fingers crossed it'll manage to leave Gatwick.

PS Massive update to my website, here: www.tomsimpsonphoto.co.uk

Best of 2011

2012-01-24T02:52:00.001-08:00

So yes, it's been nearly 6 months since I updated my blog. There is a reason for that, and that's that I've been working too hard. Want to see the fruits of my labour? Then check out the slideshow below. 2011 was a good year.

Best of 2011 Slideshow from Tom Simpson on Vimeo.

It's back!

2011-08-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

This summer has been one of the busiest of my professional life so far, hence the scarcity of updates, so, to make up for that, here's a big bumper one.

First off was the Evans King of the Downs, shot for their in-store catalogue. I rode this a couple of years ago, a great route, although I binned it at half time due to some of the worst weather I've ever experienced on the bike. Not so this year: the sun was shining and a great day was had by all.

Following this, there was the Fred Whitton Challenge, the article for which appeared in last month's Cycling Plus Magazine. This was a beast of an event and a pleasure to photograph. Big respect to everyone who finished.

And there's much more to follow, including a gig shot in the pitch black with an infrared camera, and lots and lots of bicycles. Give me a moment to catch my breath...

Rest in Peace, Xavier Tondo

2011-05-24T04:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I heard the news that Xavier Tondo had died as a result of a tragic domestic accident. I met Xavi briefly at the Tour of Lombardy last year, where I was shooting behind the scenes at Cervelo Test Team's final race together, and he was to be their protected rider. I didn't speak to him for very long, but all I can say is that he seemed like an honest, genuine and likeable guy. Rest in peace, Xavi, and my thoughts are with your family and friends.

Interview!

2011-04-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

You can read an interview with me right now on the Newsgrape site! Here's the link right here

Chris Pink, who wrote the article, is far more interesting and inspiring an individual than me. I hope I'll never have to go through what he went through, but he's come out the other side with an amazing positive attitude. Something which I'm not sure I could say about myself if I ever found myself in the circumstances he found himself in. More on Chris soon...

The Lion of Flanders

2011-04-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

That's me in the purple t-shirt just there. I find it kind of hilarious that I'm sat there with a bank of photographers surrounded by probably not far off of half a million pounds' worth of camera equipment, and I'm there with the little Ricoh 35-S I bought second hand for £20. Loads of frames were shot that day, on both film and digi, and loads of people were interviewed for the article due in Pro Cycling. From speaking to the locals, I found out all sorts of interesting things, both about the race, the Flemish people and the town of Geraardsbergen. Look out for the article, but don't hold your breath, it may be some time...

Even got an upgrade on the hire car for the weekend. Sort of felt like a salesman in this thing, though. All I needed was a suit jacket hung up on a coathanger in the back seat.

Say Hello to My Little Friend...

2011-03-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

The other day I went down to Mr Cad in Croydon with the aim of coming back with an old, cheap rangefinder to take with me to the Tour of Flanders, and came back with this: a Ricoh 35-S. A snip at a mere £20. I took it with me everywhere for a weekend, loaded with one roll of Ilford Delta 100, to test it out, see if it was in full working order, and for a bit of fun. Here's some of the shots. Flanders should look great on this little beauty...

Velodrome!

2011-03-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

All my kit laid out ready...

On Monday I was off shooting for Cycling Plus's next issue at Newport Velodrome. It was a long day, with a 5am wake-up call at a friend's house in Bristol to get to the Velodrome for 8am, ready to start shooting at 9am, and finishing up at 12pm. Here's a word of advice: carrying around somewhere in the region of 70lbs of kit, divided between an enormous great Peli Case (well, Storm Case, but it seems that peli have gone and done a Hoover and become a generic brand name...) up and down the stairs of various London Underground stations is very hard work indeed.

The shoot was a challenging one involving lighting almost an entire side of the banking of the track and the four riders on it. Stay tuned to their next issue out in April to see the results.

Belated first post of the year...

2011-01-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

Many apologies for the coverage gap, it's been a busy couple of months.

First off, look at what I've made: a slideshow of images from the Cervelo Tour of Lombardy article I shot for Pro Cycling back in October.

Cervelo Test Team, Giro Di Lombardia from Tom Simpson on Vimeo.

Next, there was a shoot in December for NME, this was of The Big Pink for their Albums of 2011 issue. Here's what the cover looks like:

Here's what the page looked like:

And here's my favourite image from the shoot:

These were shot at the Miloco studio in Elephant and Castle where they were recording their second album. The shoot was very short notice, but luckily I live very close by and was able to get there in time. The set up's not very difficult to guess: just the one light in a 60" umbrella, and that's just out of shot (massive light source, right next to the subject = super soft light). The amount of furniture moved to get this background behind them was enormous, pretty much an entire sitting-room's worth, including a massive widescreen CRT television and some platinum discs off the wall (if you look carefully you can see the stains that they've left). Big thanks to the studio assistant who helped me with the shifting of stuff.

2010-11-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

So I got a phone call yesterday asking if I wanted to go to Switzerland to take photos of Fabian Cancellara. So here I am in a hotel room in Zurich the next day. I flew out of London City Airport for a change (seriously impressive view on take off). I mentioned this on Twitter and found two new followers in the form of a young Polish airline fanatic, and London City Airport themselves. Steady on there, you're an airport, not Kim Jong-Il.

I set off early tomorrow to Fabian's home town of Bern to take some photographs. Shame, as this hotel is super-posh!

Lombardia, Welding and Darth Photographer

2010-10-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Darth Photographer

It's been a busy month. Two shoots stand out as being of note. Firstly, I spent the day with Cervelo Test Team behind the scenes on their last ever race before they disbanded for good, secondly was shooting Pat Joscelyne of Ison Distribution making his own custom frame at Downlands Cycles in Canterbury. Hence the photo you see above. Pat was making a lugged MTB frame using fillet brazing, rather than the traditional welding we all know and love. The first shoot was for Pro Cycling Magazine, the second for What Mountain Bike. Sadly, you'll have to wait to see the photos in the respective magazines, but till then, have a story about shooting Lombardy.

I flew out to Milan's Linate airport from Gatwick on the Friday afternoon. Once at the hotel, I met up with Pro Cycling's representatives Pierre Carrey, Shane Stokes, Steve Farrand and fellow photographer Jesse Wild, who was out to shoot some cover portraits for the next issue. Much fun was had chasing down the Liquigas team hotel, then, after a rather nice dinner at a posh golf club/hotel, it was time for bed with an early start in the morning.

I shot the team at breakfast, then getting ready for the race and heading out for the race. Cervelo were good enough to grant me total, unfettered acces for the whole day, so I travelled on the team bus to the race, taking candid behind the scenes reportage shots. I was even allowed to sit in on their last team briefing, something of a privelege.

After a brief detour to the Madonna Del Ghisallo, we headed to the finish line. This was where I found out that the vast majority of the team had already quit the race. They were not alone. Conditions were so appalling (wet, windy, and very very cold) that just over 30 of the 180 riders actually finished. Xavier Tondo, the team's protected rider was one of them, and looked particularly bedraggled when he found his way back to the bus. After this, it was time for everyone to say their goodbyes.

It was weird to be in this situation, some of the conversations that were had in front of me would have been golddust for cycling journos. But when it came down to it, these guys had been through an awful lot. Luckily, 90% of the guys have new jobs for next season, but there's still that 10%. Good luck, lads.

Look out for the full, uncensored (and therefore far more interesting) story in next month's Pro Cycling, along with a load of photos I'm particularly proud of. Big thanks go out to Geert Broekhuizen, Cervelo's press officer.

Tour of Britain Stage 8

2010-09-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago I went to Stage 8 of the Tour of Britain. Not as a photographer for once, but as a punter. I looked incredibly pro - my bag contained my camera with one lens, a jumper for when it got a bit chillier, and 6 cans of beer. I only took a camera just in case I saw something that leapt out at me. And, sure enough, I only took a single photo. Just the one. And that's it up there. Stage winner Greipel leading Bradley Wiggins through the docklands with Canary Wharf in the background.

Sometimes, they come to you...

2010-09-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Meet Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a gardener. He was sent to come and fix my fence this afternoon - couldn't resist getting a few shots so I asked him. Totally game for it - cracking bloke.

The set up is a 60" brolly on camera left, a 5 degree grid behind and camera right all shot wide open at 2.8 with flashes right near the bottom of the power scale. He's coming back to finish the fence tomorrow, and would you believe it, wants to shoot some more.

Boneshaker

2010-08-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

The new issue of Boneshaker Magazine is out in the shops now featuring an article on Brixton Cycles shot and written by yours truly. Go to their website www.boneshakermag.com and see where you can pick it up from. This is a great little magazine, I'd really recommend it.

The Metropolitan Police do eat well...

2010-08-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Mmm, lamb pasta bake and blackcurrent cheesecake. Tomorrow I go on patrol with the London Metropolitan Police cycle cops. Bring it.

Goodbye Servais Knaven

2010-08-17T09:15:00.001-07:00

Two posts, one day. I wanted to get this online, as Servais Knaven recently rode his last race before retiring. I shot portraits of Servais at the Milram team hotel in Italy just before the Eroica last year. I have to say that Servais is one of the most affable and easy to get on with pro cyclists I've ever shot - a truly nice bloke.

And here he is in his finest moment: 2001 Paris-Roubaix. A proper one, with mud rather than dust.

Fort William Downhill World Cup

2010-08-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

Back in June, myself and my good friend Stu embarked on a roadtrip up to the Fort William downhill world cup to take some photos. It was an epic drive, leaving london in the early evening, camping on the shores of Loch Lomond when we arrived there at 5:30am in the morning, then heading up to the race.

As I'm a bit of a masochist, and wasn't too fussed with shooting loads of different angles, I decided to lug the big guns (studio strobes to the uninitiated. Big heavy buggers they are) around the hill. Big thanks for Stu for helping carrying the batteries around - owe you big time.This was for no other reason than just to get something different. Here's the shots, hope you like them.

When it rains it pours

2010-08-05T05:51:00.001-07:00

Me. Shredding the gnar on a big bike.

Wow, the last two weeks have been a bit on the hectic side. I've been mountain biking in London, Birmingham, North Wales and Lancashire for MBR as well as shooting cycle superhighways in London, a mini-shoot for Health and Fitness for Cyclists, and countless other jibs and jabs all over the place. Have some photos of people standing in while I was setting up some shots.

Crystal Palace

2010-06-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my career, I went and photographed an amateur event. The reasoning was simple: the weather was beautiful and I had a choice of either sitting on my backside drinking beer in my garden or sitting on my backside taking photos of bike racing. As you can see, I chose the latter. I enjoyed myself so much, you'll definitely be seeing me back there again sometime.

Smithfield Nocturne

2010-06-21T08:42:00.001-07:00

Saturday saw the Smithfield Nocturne coming to central London once again, and once again there was a great night of bike racing. I wasn't shooting for anything in particular, and so didn't shoot the women's race or any of the support races – opting instead to have a beer and be a spectator, which doesn't happen often enough when you turn up with a camera in your hand. It was great to just sit back with some friends and watch a race for once.

Come the elite criterium, though, that changed. Two flashes were set up on a particularly tight corner and I spent the hour or so of the race sat on the cold hard concrete peering through the gaps in the barrier with a fisheye lens. The results are pretty different to everyone else's shots from the night, so I hope you enjoy them. Here's the slideshow.

Scotland the Brave!

2010-06-08T10:46:00.001-07:00

Loch Lomond at dawn, from where we were camping

I've just got home from the World Cup downhill at Fort William, where I was shooting photos for, well, pretty much anyone who needs them. It was one hell of an adventure. First up was the night drive, aiming to get as far as we could before conking out. Initially aiming for Newcastle, we ended up carrying straight on and got as far as Loch Lomond, where we were lucky enough to witness sunrise, as you can see from the photo above. There's been no manipulation on that photo apart from a bit of contrast. Stunning.

From there we carried on the drive up to Fort William, where we walked the course and then set up camp for the night. Now, I know Scotland has midges, but I had absolutely no idea it was anything as bad as it would be – it was like a biblical plague! Luckily, there was a Buff given away in the press pack. This was used as a makeshift ninja mask along with a hood and a cap. I thought I was being clever, turns out that the midges were cleverer. At one point I looked down and there must have been around 20 of the buggers sat on just on one of my hands.

Sunday was spent shooting. I lugged the big guns down the hill, set up on some corners and shot away, happily killing the ambient light. Another photographer commented to Stu, my assistant for the day (or as he prefers to be called, my 'flash bitch') 'That's a little overkill isn't it?' No. No it wasn't overkill!

That night we ended up sleeping in a treehouse on a Buddhist retreat in a small village near Lockerbie. It was one of those 'friend of a friend' kind of deals. Thanks to Joe, Andy, and Tom's parents who were kind enough to invite us and let us sleep in that amazing place. Photos were taken on the holga of the retreat itself to use up some film that I shot during the race itself.

A great weekend. Hopefully I'll stop itching at some point in the near future…

Stu: 'Take a photo of me on the start gate. It's as close as I'll ever get to riding down one of these things!'

Gent-Wevelgem Offcuts

2010-05-18T06:55:00.001-07:00

The July issue of Cycle Sport is now on the shelves at newsagents around the country. Included in the magazine is the Ghent-Wevelgem feature I shot back in March, be sure to go out there and buy it. Being just a short 4-pager, however, there are plenty of photos that didn't make it into print, so here they are. Enjoy!

Old man, look at my life…

2010-05-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

So I turned 30 this weekend, and this is a gift from the inimitable Rich Baybutt (and Stu, mustn't forget that). I'm sure everyone who sees this will wonder why the hairy hell I have a picture of myself riding a dragon on my wall, but sod them. Who needs reasons when you can ride a frickin dragon! Awesome birthday, cheers guys.

The Brixton Saga Continues…

2010-05-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm finally tying up the loose ends on the Brixton Bikes project. Above you can see my incredibly technical and difficult-to-work out setup for the shot of Stockwell legend Billy. See if you can work out what I did there… Although the final shot was a little tweaked as I used an ND filter so I could shoot at f2.8 in the evening sunshine for a little DOF on the council estate in the background. Why shoot him in the skatepark? Because the shop is right next to it and sells stuff to cater for any skater or BMXer who may find themselves in difficulty.

Also, wish me well as it's my 30th birthday. Piss up planned for the weekend, existential crisis next week, and putting on three stone for the week after.

Stay tuned for some as-yet unseen portraits of 2001 Paris-Roubaix winner Servais Knaven. Without a doubt, the nicest professional cyclist I've ever met.

Join me…

2010-05-11T05:31:00.001-07:00

Yup, I've gone joined the digital age and signed up to vacuous social networking phenomenon Twitter. I did it on Friday, and so far tweets have included such incisive and informative photographic subjects as Twitter spammers, suggesting that someone start a bike magazine called 'Bike Curious', and well, very little else. Give me a break, I've only just started this… Follow me at www.twitter.com/tomsimpsonphoto.

The Brixton Bikes shoot is going well, with what should hopefully be the last three days of shooting this week today, Wednesday and Friday. Until then, have this little offcut. As much as I love the shot, it doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the shots and the article that goes with it.

Brixton Cycles' very own Maggie.

MBR June Cover

2010-05-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

MBR Magazine's June issue just hit the shelves with a cover photo shot by yours truly. The shoot was in the southern end of Surrey at a top secret location, and (GEEK OUT ALERT) shot with 3 lights, 2 AB400s with 11" reflectors at camera left and camera right, and one on-camera SB28 for fill (OK, GEEK OUT OVER). As is always the way, of an all-day shoot, it was the third frame I shot that was the one that was used.

Also in this issue is their First Look article on the Genesis iOiD, a hardtail offering with an internally geared hub. This was shot not far from MBR Towers in Croydon, and, since it was cropped a bit in the review itself, here it is in all its uncropped glory.

Away from the off-road world of mountain bikes, the ongoing project with the good people at Brixton Bikes is going well, with 4 of the 7 employees having sat in front of the camera.

If it's not raining, get out on your bike. I don't care if you have a job, that's no excuse. Oh, and don't forget to vote tomorrow.

Boneshakers and Brixton

2010-04-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

My equipment taking up all the space in the office in Brixton Bikes

New project on the go over here. This time I'm shooting a portrait project on the good people at Brixton Cycles for the new bike magazine coming out of Bristol called Boneshaker.

Brixton Bikes, for those of you that don't know, is a workers co-operative, started in the early '80s when Red Ken was handing out grants for such things. The result isn't the traditional bike shop, with every employee an equal in the business. Look out for this in the next issue. Distro for it hasn't been totally sorted out yet, but those of you in London will be able to pick it up at Magma Books in Covent Garden. Keep an eye out for it though, it's a great read and looks awesome.

Currently listening to Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry, totally without irony.

Utter lunacy

2010-04-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

I was watching one of the first BMX videos I ever bought the other day and noticed that something as simple as a 360 tyretap and an x-up were usable clips in those days. Then I see something like that. Bloody hell, I'll just be sticking to the race track these days, I think…

Phone photos

2010-04-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

Been a fun couple of weeks. First up, there were a couple of shoots for the June issue of MBR: a First Ride article for the Genesis IOID bike, a fancy looking hardtail with an internal geared hub, then there was a cover shoot with MBR Art Ed, Mr Ben Smith doing the riding (don't worry, my head swelled up a bit, but it's all gone down now). It'll all get posted up as soon as it's gone to press.

Then Saturday was spent in the pub watching Paris-Roubaix. Awesome display of total domination from Fabian Cancellara (who you'll also be glad to hear is a top bloke off the bike), but let's face it, we all knew it was over when he rode off the front making everyone else look like a bunch of Sunday afternoon chippers riding a sportive – didn't make for the thrilling race that the Boonen/Pozzato face-off last year did. But yes, you read that right: I watched it in the pub! In England! This was all thanks to the organisers of the London Classic sportive, with the Alma in Crystal Palace hosting the finish with the race on the big screen. Big thanks to all involved in that, even if I didn't do the ride and made the awful faux-pas of turning up on a BMX.

Cycling! In the pub! On the big screen!

Speaking of BMX, it's quite hard to get your tax return done when the weather's so good and Stockwell looks like this…

Finally, you'll be able to see my photos from Ghent-Wevelgem in the next issue of Cycle Sport. As soon as that hits the shelves, check back for the out-takes.

Paris-Roubaix 2009

2010-04-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

With the 2010 edition of Paris-Roubaix lurking around the corner this weekend, I thought it'd be about time I posted the complete edit of shots from last year's race. These appeared in Cycle Sport the month after the race. All were shot on a Noblex 135u swivel lens panoramic on a combination of Kodak TMAX 200, 400 and 3200 iso film.

Myself and fellow Cycle Sport photographer Richard Baybutt stayed in St Quentin and caught the race three times. The first at the first cobbled sector just outside the village of Inchy, then at the infamous Arenberg forest and then legging it to the finish at the Roubaix velodrome (where, we realised that the race was following the motorway, what with all the cars hitting the hazards and either stopping in their tracks to watch or pulling over to the hard shoulder).

Last year's was a blinder, let's hope that the Boonen/Cancellara rematch makes for as good a race this time round.

The peloton chases the break at the first section of cobbles near Inchy.

Marcus Burghardt poses for a photographer in the Roubaix velodrome.

Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel being interviewed for television before mounting the podium.

TV cameramen check their footage at the finish.

Joost Posthuma leads the break at the first sector.

Sylvain Chavanel interviewed by the press shortly after finishing.

Another Quick Step rider is collared by the Belgian cycling media.

Photographer Rich Baybutt goes native and watches the race from the motorway. When in Rome…

Andrei Thcmil looking less than amused at a persistent journalist.

A policeman surveys the crowds at the Roubaix velodrome.

Photographers await the arrival of the winner. Don't worry, mate, things can't be that bad…

Photographers throng to the finish as Tom Boonen wins his third Roubaix ahead of Filippo Pozzato.

Thor Hushovd finishes in pain after taking a spanking courtesy of Roubaix's cobbles.

A rider from the BMC team is treated for a knee injury as the photographers/ghouls look on.

A fan watches the peloton pass at the Inchy sector.

Ghent-Wevelgem

2010-03-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

Yup, actually made it over to a race this year! Who'd have thought it. As yet, the photos don't have a home, but I should find out where you'll be able to see them shortly. However, such is the etiquette of these things, I can't show you the photos. Apart from that one above, which won't be making its way into print.

The trip itself was remarkably quick, easy and cheap, making it a prime race for British fans to go and see. With the ferry costing a mere £30, and only £60 spent of petrol, this is really worth a visit. Granted, it's no Roubaix or Flanders, but watching a bike race is better than not watching a bike race, and the atmosphere in the bars that line the Kemmelberg make it worth your while (although word from the rest of the new climbs is that you may as well not bother watching from there. You'd probably be on your own).

I'd wondered why I'd not seen scenic photos of the Kemmelberg before, and now I know: because it's bloody difficult to photograph properly. Your average photographer on a motorbike would have to park the bike, hop over a fence and elbow a few disgruntled spectators out the way to get a shot worth taking. So of course that's exactly what I did. Who needs accreditation?

As soon as the article's in print, you'll be able to see the offcuts right here. Hope you enjoy the print version, and hopefully you enjoyed the race itself.

Oh, ok then, pretty sure this won't make it into print. Have a photo of a spectator's chihuahua.

Cobbles, baby!

2010-03-25T08:20:00.001-07:00

Well stone the bloody crows, looks like I might be going to some kind of bike race or something. As much as I wouldn't like to jinx, it, I'm banking on the fact I won't have any visa issues trying to cross the border into Belgium. That being said, I could still get a lemon from the hire car place and end up staring in panic and confusion at a smoking engine somewhere near Dunkirk: every silver lining has a cloud, after all.

This last week has been both action and vomit-packed. I woke up bright and early on Monday morning at 3:45am to drive to Bristol, where I was assisting photographer Conor Masterson on a shoot for the Fire Service. Initially all went well, we witnessed the firefighter training, got to have a go in a hovercraft in Weston Supermare and even ate a roast beef dinner with the firefighters on nightwatch in Bristol Temple Meads firestation (they even got called out during the meal, of course it was abandon food, straight down the polls and into the fire engine. Not before the plates had been put in the oven to keep warm, though).

Then things went a bit tits up. After meeting up with my erstwhile university housemate Chris Hawkes for a curry, I was struck down with a rather nasty dose of food poisoning halfway through the 5-day shoot. Somehow I soldiered on (although there were a few instances of abandoning ship to go have a lie-down). If anyone wants to go for a curry in Bristol, please, for all that's good and holy, avoid this place I know it looks swanky and with reasonable prices, but trying saying that with a mouthful of puke and bumfull of evil. Not happening.

We have three projects on the go at the moment, Ghent-Wevelgem/Kemmelberg this weekend, the ongoing Pie and Mash project, and finally a shoot about a certain local bike shop which will feature in the soon-to-be-released Boneshaker online zine.

The last shot in the Pie and Mash series, taken at F.Cooke's in Broadway Market, Hackney

Pie, mash and homemade grid spots

2010-03-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since my last post, and there's a very good reason for this: a run of frankly the most appalling luck since some bankers in America said 'You know what? We should give mortgages to people who can't afford them!'. There have been even more snapped chains, concussions, stolen credit cards, Indian visa bureaucracy putting a nix on my trip to the Tour of Mumbai, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So to take the bad taste out of my mouth since the India Incident, I've decided to plow my downtime until Gent-Wevelgem into shooting a project on London's most traditional fast food: pie 'n' mash. This morning was the first shoot at Manzes' Pie and Mash Shop on Peckham high street. Manzes is the oldest running chain of pie and mash shops in London, with the first in Tower Bridge opened in 1905. Graham, the proprietor and grandson of Michele Manze, who opened the first shop all those years ago, is now in charge and is taking pie and mash into the digital age with online ordering and 2-day delivery to anywhere in the UK. Not too long ago, he delivered a few pies to a private jet company. Turns out David Beckham wanted a few for his flight to LA…

Knowing that I'd be shooting in a place with poor available light and lots of reflective white surfaces, I decided that grids would be the best bet for this. A softbox would have just nuked everything and made it all rather flat and boring. Also, since this was shot in the middle of the shop on a busy Friday lunchtime, you would have seen more of all the diners eating, taking the focus away from Graham.

The problem was, though, that since I bought a load of Alien Bee kit, I'd have to order the grids from the states, pay shipping and import tax, and at the end of all that, I'd be out of pocket to the tune of around £100. Rather than do this, I decided to make my out of straws and duct tape. to be fair, there were two days of sitting around cutting straws. I made two, one 10 degree, and one 20 degree, and cut 500 straws into four one inch-long strips. Meaning there are somewhere in the region of 2000 individual pieces in these two grids. But on the plus side, the total cost to me was only £3, and they work just as well as the ones I would have bought, only downside is I can't use the modelling lights when I use them otherwise they'd melt.

Welcome to my life for the last two days…

Watch out for the full completed pie and mash story sometime in the next couple of weeks, that and Gent-Wevelgem, where I'll be situated on the Kemmelberg taking photos of people in bars watching bike races. Should be good.

Till next time.

You wait for mud…

2010-02-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

Ferries: brilliant.

The view from the bus. You will look at my holiday snaps, and you'll bloody well enjoy them.

The cyclocrossers out there may be wondering why I wasn't at the Herne Hill race, which turned out to be exactly as muddy as I wanted it to be the last time I was out shooting. The answer is sadly rather mundane. I was on a day trip to the Isle of Wight visiting the home and studio of one Julia Margaret Cameron, a portrait photographer from the 1840s onwards who was rather ahead of her time. Great day out and all, but shame about the cross.

The Tour of Mumbai, eh? Well now that is interesting…

London Cyclocross League: Wilmington

2010-01-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

Waking up on Saturday, and then on Sunday, I realised that chances are my idea of photographing cyclocross racers pre and post race may have to wait until the beginning of the next season. There's no point in doing it when the conditions aren't right. This didn't stop me from turning up to the penultimate round of the London Cross League at Wilmington Grammar School.

Instead of the portraits I decided to shoot the race. Not for any reason, just for fun. But why on earth would I do things the same as everyone else? So instead of that I decided to 'get right up in yo grills' and shoot with a big octobox. Here's some of the results.

Cwm Rhaedr Redux

2010-01-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've been threatening to do this for a while now, and here it actually is: a selection of offcuts and alternative edits from MBR magazine's Cwm Rhaedr Local Knowledge article.

This was a bit of an epic. It was a late night at the Rouleur Photo Annual launch party (leaving at around 12:30am, when I had to pick up MBR's senior staff writerAndy Waterman at 7am to make the long drive to Wales. This took around 5 hours, with the time behind the wheel ably aided by listening to Richard Herring's As It Occurs To Me podcasts.

I've mentioned the riding at Cwm Rhaedr in a previous post, but just in case you didn't: go there. This place is awesome. It's really short at just under 7km, but the descent is something you can keep coming back to. Admittedly it's not particularly challenging, but it is unbelievably fun. The drive back took a mere four hours, and we got home at around 9pm. Still, Wales and back in a day for 3 hours shooting is enough for any man. Anyway, on to the photos.

This is something I'd love to go back to with plenty of time and plenty of lighting. It was like something out of Lord of The Rings up there. This was run in black and white in the mag.

This perfectly crafted berm was on the descent and could be hit with some serious speed.

This wasn't exactly part of the trail, but we stopped off for the photo op. Strangely, I think this photo suits black and white as much as it suits colour.

This was at the beginning of the fun part of the climb when the dull fireroad ends and the fun slate singletrack hairpins begin. It'd be great to shoot this on a clear day with a tilt/shift lens, as there's a great waterfall behind those clouds.

I shot this specifically for the red ferns, but it was run in black and white.

So there you have it. In other news, it seems like my ankle is still a little on the shagged side, so it's off to A&E bright and early to make sure I haven't done any real lasting damage. Also, the Tour of Qatar's off, and it's looking like the Etoile De Besseges is in, that's in a couple of weeks time, but the cyclocross is this weekend, so look out for a post from that.

Sublime to the ridiculous

2010-01-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

Two things of note have happened in the last couple of days. Firstly, the Broken Bells photo was published in NME and came out today, so go and buy it, please. Then write to the editor and tell them how much you like my photo specifically above all the other ones. Then go listen to Broken Bells here

And here's the image in its preferred crop:

Just so you know, that was lit with one umbrella to the right, using the very edge of the beam to make the light on the face a little less flat, then there was a speedlight shot at the wall to make the grey lines and shadows.

And now comes the stupid part. Out riding my BMX on ramps for the first time in many, many months, I slide out and roll my ankle. This is a result of an old injury from 2005, where I rolled it past 90 degrees and somehow managed to not break it, so now I have no tendons or ligaments left on the right side of my right foot and it can roll with barely any force applied to it. I usually wear an ankle brace when I ride as a result, but I couldn't find it when I got home. This is what happens when you think 'what's the worst that could happen?'

Well, I guess this could happen.

Then, I managed to outdo myself. After figuring out that I could probably ride home if I pedalled with my heal, my chain then snapped, sending me knees and elbow first to the tarmac. So, now stranded and injured in North London, 15 miles from home and with no public transport willing to take a bike, I had to stay at a friend's house in Camden. And then I woke up and found out we'd been snowed on again, making my journey home that much more fun. I was not a happy bunny. Luckily, I should be all healed up relatively quickly.

Testing, testing…

2010-01-11T05:35:00.000-08:00

This is the result of a lights test shot late on Friday evening. The idea was going to be put into action for a series of portraits of cyclocross riders in a week or two, however, having shot it, there's a few tweaks to be made to how I want the images to turn out. A combination of this, and a couple of seriously tight gridded lights may do it.

The lighting idea I was trying here is firing a 1m wide octobox through a bedsheet, essentially creating a softbox the size of a double bed meaning an incredibly soft lightsource to compliment the ridiculously shallow depth of field (f1.8, if you're interested). Also, because I was standing in front of it, it gives the same shadowless effect as a ringflash, but with a different, much bigger catchlight in the eyes.

Ok, the geek-out's over, move along…

So there you go. Coming up soon is the re-edit of the shots from MBR's Cwm Rhaedr local knowledge shots, the portraits of cyclocrossers at the end of the month, and in February, the beginning of the road season with the Tour of Qatar (should anyone interesting turn up there).

Almost forgot, buy the next issue of NME to see my portrait of DJ Dangermouse/James Mercer colab Broken Bells. Albeit very, very small…

MBR February 2010

2010-01-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

The new issue of MBR magazine has a feature shot by yours truly. It's the Local Knowledge piece I did in Wales. Here's some spreads in miniature, but I highly recommend you go buy the thing to appreciate the photos in their full glory. Stay tuned for a further post with some alternative processing of the shots. As the we were riding in low cloud, different processing suits different images. The opening shot was a blinder in colour, sadly the majority of shots worked better in B&W, so that's what was run. Ciao for now!

Tom

Triathletes?

2010-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

As it's now 2010, I thought I’d tell you about my first shoot of 2009. This was with Olly Freeman for 220 Triathlon magazine. The idea was that I’d spend a day with Olly for a photo piece about his training regime. We were with him on a Sunday, which is, apart from some sprint intervals, his ‘easy’ day. He trains 6 days a week, with only Saturday off.

This portrait was shot just after Olly finished his first training block of the day.

Myself and my assistant (the Ginger Geordie BMX maestro himself, mr Steve Aitchison
were at Olly’s place in Eastbourne bright and early at 5:30am. We shot photos of him and his housemate stretching and eating breakfast before they headed out on a run with their triathlon club. The plan was for me to follow on a mountain bike and shoot as they went. It all started out very reasonably, but took a turn for the mental when they started doing their uphill intervals. This was one steep bit of fireroad they were running up, and as I was training for the Etape at the time, I was in pretty good shape. Even so, they were running up the thing faster than I could ride up it. Still, we’re talking Olympic-level athletes vs lil ol’ me, so I’ll give them that one.

Olly and his training partner set their heartrate monitors before another uphill sprint interval.

From there we went straight to the pool. The guys were using paddles on their hands so they didn’t have to use their legs to swim – because of the morning’s run, their legs were totally shot. They swam for about 2 or 3 hours, doing continuous lengths. There were one or two breaks for a word from their coach, but that was pretty much it.

Olly, taking a very short break from the swimming,

After the swim, it was back to Olly’s flat for lunch, Scrubs, a spot of Pro Evo Soccer, and then one of the most painful-looking massages I’ve ever seen. Seriously, if that masseur could had a sledgehammer lying about, I’m pretty sure she would have used it.

Cereal and Scrubs: the cornerstone of any elite athlete's training regime.

Sports massage: I'd rather have a 6'x6' rubgy player beat the crap out of me for 45 minutes.

The evening was a relatively relaxed affair, with just a gentle run on the Eastbourne seafront on the cards. My and my assistant bucked the healthy trend of the day by disappearing to Harry Ramsden’s for dinner, before setting up a photo on the freezing cold seafront, waiting for Olly to appear. Although not wanting to stop running, Olly gamely ran past the flashes and then jogged on the spot until we signalled him again. Top lad. Off we drove back to his to photograph him and his mates eating and watching TV in the evening.

At the end of it all, a nice healthy stir-fry and good company. That's pretty much what we all do of an evening, perhaps minus the 'healthy' part, anyway.

It was quite an experience to watch the sacrifices a top-level athlete has to make for their chosen career. The pro cyclists I’ve spoken to have always said they treat it as a job, but, rather than being chained to a desk for 8 hours a day, they just have to ride their bike for 6. In this case, however, the dedication was just that little bit more, confirming what I’d always suspected about triathletes: loonies and masochists the lot of them! However, when you get over the stupid jokes and the sweeping generalisations over their bike handling, you can’t help but respect the commitment that goes with the territory.

Silly Season

2009-12-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting couple of weeks since the last post. Firstly, I was off to Cwm Rhaedr in Wales to shoot a Local Knowledge article for mountain bike magazine MBR (a 7am start having attended the Rouleur photo book launch the night before may not have been the best idea, however I don't regret a thing). The trail at Cwm Rhaedr really isn't particularly long at a mere 6.7km, but dear lord, it's one of the most fun things I've ever ridden. The start's a bit of a dull fireroad climb, but it quickly becomes seriously fun with a series of slate hairpins which quickly lead into a descent that, while not particularly difficult, is awesome fun. Almost halfway between a BMX track and an mtb descent. I would definitely recommend a visit. Despite the awful conditions (we were riding in low-lying cloud. 1/125 at f2.8, 1600iso for the photographers out there) the photos came out really good. Look out for the article in the February issue of MBR.

Then, on Monday, it was a break from the bikes and onto musicians as I found myself shooting photos of Dangermouse and James Mercer's (he of The Shins fame) upcoming new project Broken Bells. This was a quick job at short notice, and will be contained within an issue of the NME in the new year. Despite the notice and the locations, the results were worth the hustle and sweat to get there in time. Seriously, when I went for a beer after the shoot, I was steaming.

Lastly, this morning I was assisting photographer Sam Jones on a shoot for Heat magazine, with the little chappie who won the X-Factor over the weekend. As someone who's managed to successfully avoid watching a single minute of the X-Factor (or Pop Idol, or any show of its ilk), watching the post X-Factor success entourage mania first hand and in full swing was a bizarre experience.

I can tell you, it's been a bloody strange week.

The ones that don't get away.

2009-11-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

Sometimes forces beyond your control conspire to do everything in their power to rigorously screw up your day. Want a simple shot of something standing RIGHT THERE in front of you? That's when your camera mysteriously back-focuses. Got a total one off shot at something? That'll be when your flash misfires.

Then, every once in a while, the heavens will align, Zeus himself (or, if you're not of that affiliation, the Flying Spaghetti Monster) will smile down upon you from Mount Olympus and deign that this will be the time it goes right. This shot of Dave Millar was one of those times.

I was sat down at the top of one of the climbs, and I caught a flash of red, white and blue out of the corner of my eye. The AF-on button got pressed and I managed to get one frame off. This is usually a surefire out-of-focus 'bin it' moment. Not this time. Somehow I'd managed to shoot a photo of a specific rider through a bunch of riders about 30 deep from side to side, and not only is he sharp, he's also perfectly framed by the riders in front of him. I guess sometimes luck is just on your side.

I was shooting in Mendrisio for Cycle Sport Magazine, and although the feature I wanted to shoot didn't quite go to plan, you should be seeing my photos in some upcoming issues. The Dave Millar one ran in the World's edition of Cycling Weekly.

New Cycle Sport Out Now

2009-11-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

The newest edition of Cycle Sport contains a feature I shot at the beginning of October with Chris Froome in London. Not my usual style of photography, but Chris was an absolute gent, and gamely posed for some rather dubious photo ops. This was the day after the London criterium stage of the Tour of Britain, and the streets had been taken over by cyclists in flouro high-vis jackets, hence the slightly odd angles of some of the portraits (it was decided we didn't want the Sky Ride in the background you see).

Good luck Chris with his new team at Team Sky, and go out and buy this magazine. Put food on my table.

By the way, come back and check this blog next week. I'm making a start on some non-cycling portrait projects, and I should have my first results shortly.

Eroica 2009

2009-11-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the winter, as well as recent shoots, projects and updates, I'll be periodically posting up some stories of last seasons races, along with both new and old photos that weren't published. This is the first such post, and the subject, the Eroica race in Tuscany. Or, to give it its new (and far more inferior name), the Monte Paschi Strada Bianche.

This was shot from the other side of the valley, a few kms away. The rest of the race photographers were behind me, ready to take the same shot as they did last year.

This was the first race I'd ever shot from a motorbike, and let me tell you, it's nowhere near as easy as it looks. Imagine trying to focus a telescope on a distant star while constantly being juddered by an earthquake – it's actually pretty similar. The race is made that little bit more difficult by the fact we weren't allowed to overtake the bunch while we were racing on the Eroica's trademark white dirt roads. This lead to a large amount of time being stuck in the race convoy behind the peloton. Can you stop for a second and imagine how much dust gets kicked up in there? I felt like a used vacuum cleaner bag by the end of the race, and my camera was even more unhappy…

Not only was the back of the peloton a dustball, you'd also get passed by riders with only an inch's breadth between you.

Not only was this the first time I'd ever shot from a motorbike, it was also the first time I'd ever been to Italy. Now, ordinarily, I can speak just enough of a language to communicate and get by. Even in Spain, through a tiny, weeny amount of words at my disposal, I can get by. Italy, however, was a whole other story. It's such a flowing language that you can't help but be baffled by it. Luckily, I've been over to Italy a few times this year, and as such, can now almost, slightly understand what people may vaguely be talking about. But back in March, it was all a bit like this:

However, the language barrier was made up by the beauty of the scenery and the sheer lunacy of the race. I'd have wanted at least a few inches of suspension and 2 1/2 of rubber between me and the ground, but these guys were hairing down descents at speeds similar to on the road, the only difference being slightly thicker tyres than normal. At one point I was next to a rider doing 60kph, now that's not massive for a descent, but this was heading practically vertically downwards towards a gravel hairpin. Madness.

This guy was a mentalist. Not only is this a 60kph corner, but he also chased after the breakaway on his own, and unsuccessfully for two thirds of the race.

The best thing about the Eroica, though is the climbs. These old roads were from before people realised 'Hey, if we just edged up the hill, do a hairpin turn, then edge up the hill some more, the road won't be as steep!' The result is climbs that may as well be a stairway to heaven. And not just one, lord no. The damn road is barely ever flat, with the last three climbs, two of which are on the white dirt roads, being every bit as steep as any climb in the Spring classics. At one point, as the selection was being made on one of the last ascents, we were going so slowly on the motorbike infront of the group, I couldn't understand for the life of me how Alberto, my moto-pilot, was stopping from skidding backwards (it's something to do with shaft-driven motorbikes, apparently).

This was the final climb on the strada bianche, and were the selection was made before Lovkvist went and dropped everyone on the way into Siena.

The best bit about the whole race, however, was the finish. Siena is absolutely stunning. You may have seen it in the Bond film Quantum of Solace, which shows the famous Palio Di Siena horse race (a bi-annual horse race through the town's closed streets). We had an experience similar to that of the horse riders: blasting through the town with barriers lined with fans at frankly absurd and dangerous speeds. The finish line itself is in the town square, a natural ampitheatre, and an apt place to finish such a beautiful race.

What you can't see here, is that to the left is the stunning town square. It was damn difficult to see what it all actually looked like and still get a photo of the winner. This shot was fun as Cycle Sport journo Steve Farrand had blagged a spot in the commentary box for me.

That's what the square actually looked like!

I've been to a fair few races over the past few years, and that includes the major classics and Tour de France mountain stages, and I think this was easily the best experience. The route does a figure of eight, and the traffic isn't as stifling as it is during, say Paris-Roubaix, so you'd have loads of opportunities to intercept it (incidentally, although the Eroica has been likened to Paris-Roubaix, it's so hilly, it really isn't a fair comparison. A certain British pro commented to a journo after 'that's absolutely fucking nothing like Paris-Roubaix'. So there you are, from the horse's mouth).

If you want to experience cycling at its best, you'd do far worse than the Eroica. Flights to Italy in March are quite cheap, you know…