-
-
Prudential RideLondon 2013
Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th of August was the inaugural weekend of RideLondon, a new annual event to celebrate and promote cycling in the capital.
I was aware this was happening because all over central London yellow notices had been posted on bus stops warning of us road closures and diversions this weekend.
Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle
I knew that on Saturday afternoon there was a professional rally at 5pm around St James’ Park but I didn’t realise there was anything to shoot in the morning when I had plans to be in town. So imagine my delight when I spotted hundreds of cyclists swarming along the Victoria Embankment.
I had stumbled upon the Saturday morning RideLondon FreeCycle, an 8 mile traffic free route passing landmarks likes St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. I could see from the participants that this was fun for all the family.
The Photographic challenge
Shooting this event was a spur of the moment decision as I was on my way somewhere else. My first idea was to capture the cyclists at ground level as they whizzed passed. Except they weren’t rally cyclists on a tour de Londrés, they were families and friends enjoying a leisurely day out.
I love this shot of friends on their folding bikes, enjoying a natter on a summer’s morning; it captures the relaxed atmosphere beautifully. Without this kind of detail though many of my first shots contained too much grey tarmac to make a visual impact. Also, I still don’t have a DSLR which would allow me to capture that blurred effect. Sigh. So I had to get creative by shooting at different angles, as well as looking for shapes and patterns. I also appreciated the pedestrian crossing because there were great shots when the cyclists had to stop for those on foot to cross.
Still I left the shoot feeling a touch disappointed with my results because nothing looked great on my small LCD screen. Once I’d down loaded my work, I started to either spot or conjure new images, as if by magic. From my previous post Its all about the crop, I knew had the ability to create new images in this way. But I also discovered shots like the one below.
This shot was pure luck with timing and choosing an interesting angle. In another, an aerial shot, I had captured a young woman taking a photo of her boyfriend whilst cycling. I’ll leave you to discover it in this week’s gallery. As always, click on a photo for a better view in gallery mode.
-
2 thoughts on “RideLondon 2013: conjuring images as if by magic”
Leave a Reply
viewing your blog and think it is the best one to date for me.
Love Jo xxxxx
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2013 19:25:57 +0000
Hi Jo,
Aw, thanks so much. Its been a year since I’ve started this blog and taking photos so regularly for it has really helped my work. So its great to see you think that too.
Tanya xxxx