Bicycle Photography: Cyclovia Tucson 2011
March 28th, 2011What happens when you throw a streets-closed-to-cars, human-powered mobile party and 10,000 people show up? You get Cyclovia Tucson, that's what!
The second annual Cyclovia drew bicyclists, bladers, skateboarders, runners, walkers, and wheelchair users to the streets of Tucson and South Tucson yesterday.
Cyclovia Tucson was truly an event for everyone -- didn't matter if you were a triathlete in training...
or an around-town cruiser...
If your bike needed some help, it was right there waiting for you. Here's Steve Vihel, owner of There and Back Bikes with his trusty repair stand...
Need a break from the bike riding? How about stretching and toning those cycling muscles with a free zumba class?
Okay, maybe it's not you who needs the break -- it's the kids. Well, send them up the climbing wall!
These kids are still too young for the climbing wall. Or for pedaling their own bikes. But that's not stopping them from having a good time on Cyclovia Tucson...
Want to see more Cyclovia 2011 photos? Pedal your browser over to my Bicycle Stock Images site.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
Related Posts
- Bicycle Photography: UA Criterium 2011
- Event Photography: Fall 2011 Bicycle Swap Meet
- Event Photography: Close-ups at the Bicycle Swap Meet
- Event Photography: A Bicycling Trifecta
- Bicycle Photography: Going Airborne
Bike-tography at the Bicycle Races
March 1st, 2011My previous post described this past Saturday's UA Criterium bicycle race on the University of Arizona campus. This post is about the logistics of getting one's photo gear to and from such an event.
As mentioned before, I get around by bicycle. Which means that all of the photo gear goes with me on the bike.
Since you're rather exposed on a bicycle, you need to protect your camera equipment. You could do it this way, and I have...
Only problem with this system is that if you fall to your left -- or if your bike tips over -- that padded envelope may not cushion your camera. Talk about an expensive mishap.
Plan B: Get that camera up higher and into a padded case like this one. It's a rear rack pack manufactured by Jandd...
I've found this to be a very roomy pack. To the point where I can augment the Jandd cushioning with the aforementioned padded envelope.
In some circles, packs like this are called 6-pack carriers because that's what their owners like to use them for. But let's save the liquid refreshments for after the photo shoot. We've got work to do. And one of the things we'll need to concentrate on is safely navigating the course while the competitors are racing around.
Tip: Do what I did and use the sidewalk as your road. I found that most of the UA Criterium course was devoid of spectators. When I encountered spectators on the sidewalk, I just got off the bike and walked it around them. I also used the empty parking lots for shortcuts from one shooting venue to another.
In a future post, I'll cover how you can bicycle with your camera while keeping the camera -- and your riding -- steady.
Bonus Tip: Enjoy more bike-tography at my Bicycle Stock Images site.
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Bicycle Photography: UA Criterium 2011
February 28th, 2011Saturday was a great day for indulging my passion for bike-tography. I pedaled my bicycle and camera over to the east side of the University of Arizona campus, which was blocked off for the UA Criterium.
This closed-course event drew bicycle racing enthusiasts from hither and yon, but there were plenty of good spots to capture the action. Here are the Category 3/4 Men, lining up for the start of their 35-minute event...
After the start, those Cat 3/4 guys went flat out. Here's one competitor nearing the main entrance to the UA softball stadium...
Okay, so you're not into racing, but you did ride your bike to the UA Criterium. Well, there's a laid-back cruiser ride that's just for you. Just donate a minimum of $15 to benefit the Tucson Tragedy Victims Fund, and you're in.
Among those who pitched in to aid the victims of the January 8 shootings was Ralph Phillips, owner of Fair Wheel Bikes, not to mention the biggest front basket in the cruiser ride...
The relatively small women's field provided the surprise finish of the day. Check out the middle rider in this photo. She's Lizzy Caputo, a 15-year-old member of El Grupo Youth Cycling...
Lizzy was the only female entrant in her youth race and was the winner by default. So, she decided to mix it up with the adults. And she came in third.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
Related Posts
- Bicycle Photography: UA Criterium 2012
- Bicycle Photography: Cyclovia Tucson 2011
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- Bicycle Photography: Swapping and Racing
Bicycle Photography: The Spokes-Hopper
February 10th, 2011Thirty years ago, I was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and growing ever more restless. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, and the place fit like a glove during my college student days.
But two years after graduation, I was longing for a place I reverently called The Road. I'd gotten to know that place during the previous summer, when I did a 2,500-mile bicycle tour through the Upper Midwest and Canada.
Truth be told, I only pedaled back to Ann Arbor because autumn was closing in, and I didn't know where else to go. That was late October 1980. Didn't take long to realize that my non-affiliation with the university made me an Ann Arbor outsider.
In February 1981, Ann Arbor was still quite cold, but I got on my bike and started storming around the city. It was time to get in shape, to make further progress on a goal I'd set during the previous summer: I wanted to bicycle through all 50 of the United States.
Already had four states checked off the list during the previous summer. Michigan, New York, Minnesota, and Iowa down. Only 46 more to go.
On May 3, 1981, I headed out of Ann Arbor and wouldn't see the place again for over a year. During my year-plus on the road, I pedaled through 34 new states and the aforementioned four.
One of the great joys of traveling by bicycle is that you really get to see the country. Close up. After climbing a seemingly endless hill on U.S. 40 in eastern Ohio, I decided to take a break. So did this grasshopper...
Tip: Some of my travel images can be seen in the bicycle, nature, and travel photography portfolios. And you can read about my bicycle travels in Discovering America (12.8MB PDF file).
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Bicycle Photography: El Tour in a Blur
December 17th, 2010One of the great joys of bike-tography is catching cyclists in motion. And when you're shooting a bicycle race, that motion can turn into a blur.
Which raises one of the great photographic questions: Should you freeze the action or embrace the blur? In this shot of El Tour de Tucson 2010 finishers, I chose the latter...
Like what you're seeing? Enjoy more bike-tography at my Bicycle Stock Images site.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
Related Posts
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Bicycle Photography: El Tour de Tucson 2010
November 23rd, 2010This past Saturday was a bike-tography extravaganza for Yours Truly. The 28th annual El Tour de Tucson drew me and my camera to the Downtown finish line for some photographic fun.
First, the anticipation. The top finishers hadn't arrived yet. But Tucson's tifosi were waiting for them...
The 109-mile race was won by Eric Marcotte, a 30-year-old chiropractor from Phoenix. He edged out another 30-year-old, Hector Rangel of Hermosillo, Sonora.
Eric and Hector were followed by, well, a lot of people...
Throughout the rest of the day and into the evening, the 6,400-plus El Tour finishers poured into Downtown Tucson.
As they rounded the final corner, they were glad to be done...
True confession: I can't shoot an event like El Tour without indulging in some photographic artsiness. So, here it is...
Like what you're seeing? Enjoy more bike-tography at my Bicycle Stock Images site.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
Related Posts
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Event Photography: Fall 2010 Bicycle Swap Meet
November 17th, 2010America's second largest bicycle swap meet happened in Tucson this past Saturday.
The fall 2010 edition of our two-wheeled buying, selling and trading extravaganza drew thousands of cyclo-philes to Fourth Avenue. And the bike swap had something for everyone.
So, you say you need some new sneakers for your favorite mountain bike? Gotcha covered...
Or maybe it's a Huret Allvit derailleur for your vintage 1970s bicycle...
Does your taste run toward offbeat bicycles? Then you'd love this pedal-powered couch...
Then there was the mysterious case of the super-tall bike with no owner nearby. Want to try stealing this bike? To me, that handlebar skull is sending a message. As in, "Here's what happens to people who mess with this bike."
You can't have a large Tucson event without music. Here are the Bindle Stiffs, a bicycling band that pedaled down from Phoenix by way of Superior. I've biked the roads they took -- it's a tough route!
Like what you're seeing? Enjoy more bike-tography at my Bicycle Stock Images site.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
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Event Photography: First Thursday Art Walk
August 6th, 2010Yesterday evening was one of those times when the "Yeah, right!" storm clouds stomped through central Tucson. You know those clouds. They throw out plenty of thunder and lightning, but rain? No way.
So, I got on my bike and pedaled over to Main Gate Square's First Thursday Art Walk. This month's event featured work by more than 30 local artists, but, quite frankly, I couldn't find it. Then it occurred to me that it was monsoon season, and what artist in his or her right mind would want to display art outdoors?
Thwarted in my attempt to find art, I encountered music instead. Here's a member of One Heart Beat, a local percussion ensemble...
So there I was, enjoying the drumming, and what's this? Big drops of water falling from the sky? So much for saying "Yeah, right!" to the clouds.
It was time for this bike-tographer to hop aboard the two-wheeler and scurry home. Where the wind was whipping the trees, the sun was making a double rainbow, and the clouds were on strike...
Maybe it will rain tonight.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
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Event Photography: Flags and Memories
July 6th, 2010When I was in my early twenties, I set the goal of bicycling through all 50 of the United States. I accomplished this over a 12-year period, and wrote and published two books about my experiences.
My travels also took me into Canada. During a 1987 ride down the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff, Alberta, I met another bicyclist from Quebec.
In heavily accented English, she told me that she didn't really feel like a Canadian until she'd gone out and pedaled around her country. I said that my American bicycle travels had done the same thing for me.
And that's why the Stars and Strips fly outside my house on the 4th of July...
This is my country, and, thanks to the generosity of the people I met on the road, I've seen it, heard it, and felt from Maine to California and from Alaska to Florida. You can see where I went by visiting my bicycle, nature, and travel photography portfolios.
Tip: You can view more event photography in my portfolio and on this blog. I am also available for event photography assignments in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. I specialize in concerts, festivals, parades, political rallies, and sporting events. To check availability and to request a proposal, please e-mail me or call 520-690-1888.
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Bicycle Photography: Going Airborne
June 21st, 2010The diversity of Tucson's cycling scene never ceases to amaze me. In addition to the wide variety of bicyclists, our two-wheelers are used for a lot more than just riding along the terra firma.
Take, for example, the riders from Southern Arizona Freestyle Entertainment. They treat their bikes like aircraft...
This gravity-defying demo was part of this year's first-ever Cyclovia Tucson. The solar panels behind the rider belong to the Brooklyn Pizza Company, which gets up to 40 percent of its electricity from the sun.
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