WORDS: THOMAS OPSTRUP
CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES STARTT
Cycling photography is an artform and I rate James as one of the best today’s world. You will likely meet him if you are present at the finishline of any major Pro Tour Race today. I have been lucky to work with him here i Sicily. This is an interview I did with him about some of his thoughts on the subject of his work: Cycling photography.
How and when did you start photographing?
I have been working with Cycling photography for nearly 30 years now. I Started the same time as I started cycling back in the mid 80‘ties. But at the time I never thought I would be a sports photographer. I went to art school at Indiana University and got a MA in art history with a concentration in photography, but street photography was my passion and I was inspired by artists like Garry Winogrand and William Klein. But I was a cyclist and was passionate about the sport and so I guess it was just a matter of time before I brought the two passions together. In the 90‘ties I moved to Paris, France because of the artistic tradition and because Europe was the center of cycling. Here I live and have my working base today.
How did you get into cycling and racing?
I actually started running while I was at university. I ran the New York Marathon but I was always suffering from problems with injuries. Therefore I toke up cycling and it just toke off from there.
How do you plan on shooting a race – are you on Moto or standing by the road?
It is a mix – Sometimes I am on the moto sometimes by the roadside. At the Tour de France I am always by the roadside. I try to shoot the start and the finish and some highlights in between.
When you are on a moto the problem is that you don’t always have the time to think. When you in a car you can go ahead of the race and chose a good spot with a good light and you have time to chose you frame for the photo, and just wait for the race to come. On the moto you have to stay 15-20 meters from the break or the pack and you have like 10-15 seconds to shot pictures then you have to move away and let another photographer come in. The representatives from the race organisation orchestrates the order of photographers.
Best advice for people who would like to photograph cycling?
Don’t use cycling photography as a reference. What other kinds of photography are you attracted to? Look to other schools or styles of photography maybe it is fashion maybe it is commercial maybe it is landscape maybe it is crime photography – some other styles that you are interested in as a photographer.
See what you can apply from those styles to the sport. I came from Street and fine art photographing. And I used these styles when I photographed cycling. Through this background and over the years I incorporated into my own style as a cycling photographer.
Elaborate a little more about you style as a cycling photographer?
When I started working with cycling photography, so much sports journalism seemed to be about stopping the action, but for me, cycling is all about movement, so I tried to capture that, often by letting the cyclists blur through the image while…sometimes I use some fill flash to obtain the results, along with a slow shutter speed, or sometimes I just shoot at a very slow shutter speed, focusing on something static like fans or a building, and simply letting the cyclists blur through the frame.
Also, as a cyclist who raced for nearly a decade at a decent level, I know first hand that cycling is not always about winning…in fact most times it is not. As a result, I have worked on a series of photographs over the year that I call “After the Line,” that focuses on the emotions of the cyclists after they have crossed the line. Sometimes they are celebrating victory, but often they are just exhausted and empty…I try to capture those seconds immediately after the race. Probably my favorite image from that series is one of Jens Voigt, moments after winning a stage in teh 2006 Tour. His face is filled with emotion and ther viewer gets more of a sense of wonder and disbelief than a celebration of victory. Framing is also hugely important in these moments as what is included in the edge of the frame can also add tension and drama to the central figure…that is something that street photography taught me, and it certain holds true in this image.
Another project I have worked on for over a decade is “In The Buses”…I love this series because it captures the calm before the storm in a sense as the riders take care of final details before going out into battle. They are rarely seen quiet moment that combine reportage and portraiture. I started this in 2004 and one of the images that really set the project in motion was of Richard Virenque, who is momentarily lost in his own world as fans gaze in. Such images are not easy to obtain, but I have been doing it for so long that I still manage to get a few moments in the buses, like with the young up-and-coming rider Julian Alaphilippe when he was leading the race in the recent Paris-Nice race. I love this picture and I love the way Alaphilippe has created his own little space in the bus, with different jerseys pulled over his seat and of course the stuffed lion awarded to the race leader.
How do you see the cycling scene now and then?
I can be very nostalgic about the past of the sport there was some beautiful action but I really like the present generation of riders. I find them interesting and many of them more educated than most rides from past generations. So I talk to them about different aspects of life that I did not do to the same degree with past generation of riders in general. Because of the effort to stop doping – both from the governing bodies and the riders – I see a higher degree of openness in cycling today.
Name a rider of present generation that you like?
Romain Bardet I really like. He just got a master degree. I sat down with him last season and we never talked about cycling we talked about politics and other aspects of life I really enjoyed that.
Julian Alaphilippe is also a guy I like. He is just an old-school bike racer in the best sense. He courageously is always looking for opportunities and on the bike, he is a tremendous technician. I think he will be one of the greatest riders of his generation.
CHECK OUT MORE CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHY AT JAMES WEBSITE HERE
Cycling in Sicily is becoming more and more popular. With that has followed a growing demand for Guided cycling in Sicily. I had the chance to plan a great ride experience with Alexandre choosing our Rack’n’Ride concept. A very simple concept where you stay at a beautiful hotel for your taste in Catania. I’ll pick you or your group up in the morning outside your hotel. We drive to a selected place and together we have a great bike ride from there. After the trip, we drive back to your hotel and you can relax and go out and enjoy the city.
WORDS: THOMAS OPSTRUP PHOTOGRAPHY RETOUCHING: THOMAS OPSTRUP #best bikes of 2021 In this article you will be presented to what we at Black Road consider some of the best racing bikes of 2021. There will both be aero bikes and non-aero bikes presented here. For the best bikes of 2021 some trends are visible: [...]
CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHY – JAMES STARTT
WORDS: THOMAS OPSTRUP
CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES STARTT
Cycling photography is an artform and I rate James as one of the best today’s world. You will likely meet him if you are present at the finishline of any major Pro Tour Race today. I have been lucky to work with him here i Sicily. This is an interview I did with him about some of his thoughts on the subject of his work: Cycling photography.
How and when did you start photographing?
I have been working with Cycling photography for nearly 30 years now. I Started the same time as I started cycling back in the mid 80‘ties. But at the time I never thought I would be a sports photographer. I went to art school at Indiana University and got a MA in art history with a concentration in photography, but street photography was my passion and I was inspired by artists like Garry Winogrand and William Klein. But I was a cyclist and was passionate about the sport and so I guess it was just a matter of time before I brought the two passions together. In the 90‘ties I moved to Paris, France because of the artistic tradition and because Europe was the center of cycling. Here I live and have my working base today.
How did you get into cycling and racing?
I actually started running while I was at university. I ran the New York Marathon but I was always suffering from problems with injuries. Therefore I toke up cycling and it just toke off from there.
How do you plan on shooting a race – are you on Moto or standing by the road?
It is a mix – Sometimes I am on the moto sometimes by the roadside. At the Tour de France I am always by the roadside. I try to shoot the start and the finish and some highlights in between.
When you are on a moto the problem is that you don’t always have the time to think. When you in a car you can go ahead of the race and chose a good spot with a good light and you have time to chose you frame for the photo, and just wait for the race to come. On the moto you have to stay 15-20 meters from the break or the pack and you have like 10-15 seconds to shot pictures then you have to move away and let another photographer come in. The representatives from the race organisation orchestrates the order of photographers.
Best advice for people who would like to photograph cycling?
Don’t use cycling photography as a reference. What other kinds of photography are you attracted to? Look to other schools or styles of photography maybe it is fashion maybe it is commercial maybe it is landscape maybe it is crime photography – some other styles that you are interested in as a photographer.
See what you can apply from those styles to the sport. I came from Street and fine art photographing. And I used these styles when I photographed cycling. Through this background and over the years I incorporated into my own style as a cycling photographer.
Elaborate a little more about you style as a cycling photographer?
When I started working with cycling photography, so much sports journalism seemed to be about stopping the action, but for me, cycling is all about movement, so I tried to capture that, often by letting the cyclists blur through the image while…sometimes I use some fill flash to obtain the results, along with a slow shutter speed, or sometimes I just shoot at a very slow shutter speed, focusing on something static like fans or a building, and simply letting the cyclists blur through the frame.
Also, as a cyclist who raced for nearly a decade at a decent level, I know first hand that cycling is not always about winning…in fact most times it is not. As a result, I have worked on a series of photographs over the year that I call “After the Line,” that focuses on the emotions of the cyclists after they have crossed the line. Sometimes they are celebrating victory, but often they are just exhausted and empty…I try to capture those seconds immediately after the race. Probably my favorite image from that series is one of Jens Voigt, moments after winning a stage in teh 2006 Tour. His face is filled with emotion and ther viewer gets more of a sense of wonder and disbelief than a celebration of victory. Framing is also hugely important in these moments as what is included in the edge of the frame can also add tension and drama to the central figure…that is something that street photography taught me, and it certain holds true in this image.
ALSO READ CAFE du CYCLISTE REVIEW HERE
Another project I have worked on for over a decade is “In The Buses”…I love this series because it captures the calm before the storm in a sense as the riders take care of final details before going out into battle. They are rarely seen quiet moment that combine reportage and portraiture. I started this in 2004 and one of the images that really set the project in motion was of Richard Virenque, who is momentarily lost in his own world as fans gaze in. Such images are not easy to obtain, but I have been doing it for so long that I still manage to get a few moments in the buses, like with the young up-and-coming rider Julian Alaphilippe when he was leading the race in the recent Paris-Nice race. I love this picture and I love the way Alaphilippe has created his own little space in the bus, with different jerseys pulled over his seat and of course the stuffed lion awarded to the race leader.
How do you see the cycling scene now and then?
I can be very nostalgic about the past of the sport there was some beautiful action but I really like the present generation of riders. I find them interesting and many of them more educated than most rides from past generations. So I talk to them about different aspects of life that I did not do to the same degree with past generation of riders in general. Because of the effort to stop doping – both from the governing bodies and the riders – I see a higher degree of openness in cycling today.
Name a rider of present generation that you like?
Romain Bardet I really like. He just got a master degree. I sat down with him last season and we never talked about cycling we talked about politics and other aspects of life I really enjoyed that.
Julian Alaphilippe is also a guy I like. He is just an old-school bike racer in the best sense. He courageously is always looking for opportunities and on the bike, he is a tremendous technician. I think he will be one of the greatest riders of his generation.
CHECK OUT MORE CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHY AT JAMES WEBSITE HERE
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