Graham Watson I am not...

After taking a look at the photographs that I shot over this weekend, I realize that Graham Watson may have some talent. How hard could it be, I thought? I got a camera, I went to a bike race, I pointed and clicked the button at the riders as they come streaking by, and wonderful sports photos should just happen. Right? What, you mean I have to know about lighting, shutter speeds, and actually have some subject and "composition" in the photograph? Composition? I thought that was only a dreaded English class task!

Well, I can tell you as a first-hand-absolute-authority on the subject, that IT'S NOT EASY, AND I HONESTLY STINK AT IT!!! It's a good thing that I do something else for a living, because I would be one skinny guy if I had to eat based on my talents as a race photographer, but since this is my blog, I am going to publish some of the shots anyway! HA!

I will spare you the endless stream of shots of the sidewalk, road (with no cyclists in view), back wheels of cyclists, blurred out cyclists, etc, ad nauesum...

In the following photos are some of the folks that I know and race with in the B'ham area at Saturday's Criterium at Spain Park. As you can see in the shot, there are cyclists, and they are racing, and they are outdoors, and they are at least conservatively dressed...well conservative for some circles... Why do my pictures not fetch $90 dollars for an 8x10 print like that Graham guy?

Here one of the Steel City Cyclists is holding off the attacks of the entire group with a valiant effort. Actually, the most valiant effort may have been to not look sick in front of the camera, and I know my vast readership appreciates that...

The corner was fun to watch, and since I was watching and not snapping photos, Bo was lucky to have his image anywhere in frame... By the way, he was doing 56mph by my estimates...Dang fast! If only he hadn't ended up with a flat tire as a result of all the speed!


This is what happens when you get well educated but extremely tired people together while trying to take down a shade tent in the wind. For those of you that can't tell, he is trapped inside the framework of the awning. Good stuff...I wonder if he is still there? I should go check...



This is my best shot of the weekend's Criterium races. I call it, "Riders From the Storm" using a weak rip off of the Doors tune from...uh...a few years back. Of course, many artisans follow an unwritten rule regarding the lack of actual creativity in order to make a quick buck even faster. They would call it a "Tribute to The Doors". I, however, am not that lame...pretty lame, but not quite that lame... Well, I might be that lame if you wanted prints of my most artistic shot of the race, in which case, they are $249.99 US/$5.99 Canada - excludes shipping and handling.

Check back tomorrow for more on the Century ride.