Bronica

I need to find some real people to take photos of. Statues are great and everything but they don't make much converstaion. Taken with the new Bronica and Provia 400x slide film — my first attempt with transparency.

Headless, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Hands, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Beards in cycling

lx18, originally uploaded by LondonCycleSport.

The beard is not a popular facial accoutrement in the world in cycling, which in my mind is a shame and something I am attempting to at least partially rectify with my own attempt at hirsuitedness. Being fair it's only now, after six weeks of avoiding the Gillette Mach 3 that it's beginning to show up on the photographic radar. I've got a long way to go, but if I can get something like Sean Eadie, Belov from American Flyers or even the late, great Sheldon Brown going by the summer I would be a happy man.
The photo above id from yesterday's cross race at Wilmington School in Kent. I did ok, not great. Ninth place is my worst result of the season, but it was a good field so not unexpected.

Photo ©: Mike Gladu/www.velodrome.com

Rutland Vs Roubaix

While the world's best cyclocrossers were racing at the World Cup in Roubaix, the best of rest were racing at the Rutalnd Water National Trophy. And so was I.
I had visions of getting lapped after 25 minutes, but a long lap and heavy conditions conspired to keep me in the race till 53mins in. Not bad when the guy that lapped me was Rob Peeters who seven days previous was racing to fourth place in the Belgian National Championships. For some reason he hadn't been given a ride at Roubaix so he came to England for what was apparently the only UCI level race in northern Europe this weekend. Crazy. I didn't have a bad race by my standards and beat two of the people who beat me two weekends ago in Colchester, so I was quite happy. It was also, in my humble and inexperienced opinion, one of the best courses we've raced on this year. Certainly more palatble than Roubaix — how much running????

Cwm Rhaeadr

Sweeeeeettt Berm!, originally uploaded by TomSimpsonPhoto.

If you've got the current issue of MBR (the one with me on the cover) you'll have read about the Cwm Rhaeder trail in Wales. Despite a horrific hungover after going to the Rouleur photo exhibition the previous evening it was one of the best rides I had in 2009.
The photos were all run in black and white in the mag, but our snapper Tom Simpson has just posted some of the unused colour shots on his blog and they look great. Go and check out his BLOG!

Brake Blocks

brake blocks, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

The second part of my weekend photo job was taking pics of my cyclocrossing club make Kevin with all his bike stuff in his bike room at home. These brake blocks weren't part of the shoot, but I liked them anyway.

Cafe St Germain, Crystal Palace

Cafe St Germain, Crystal Palace, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I had a job for Cycling Active magazine shooting (as in photographing, not picking them off with an air rifle) cyclists from my club, Dulwich Paragon at Cafe St Germain in Crystal Palace. It was a surprisingly good turnout given the rain - about 30 riders I guess - but I was quite happy to go home afterwards, the weather was getting progressively worse when the guys set off and hasn't improved since - thanks for showing up guys!

The forest

the forest, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I love being in the woods. Even when it's dark and dank and wet and cold. The thaw is on it's way but winter still has a grip, meaning another couple of months of dark and damp. Who cares, the woods are the place to be.

More snow riding

More medium format scans

Delia Beddis, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Looking at the neg I din't think this shot was going to be anything special, but I love the light in it. The sun's just coming over the hill behind lighting my clubmate Delia and the trees but not the ground. It looks almost like I've used an off camera flash but I didn't.
I love this medium fomat stuff, the detail is amazing and when the Provia 400x I just ordered shows up, that should be in a different league altogether to this 800iso print film.

The result of a 1hr mtb ride in croydon

My head didn't even touch the ground, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

It's still freezing. In some ways I'm almost glad I don't have to ride the Nationals this weekend.
Almost...

UPDATE: Nationals are almost certainly cancelled!
UPDATE 2: Video of yesterday's ride (bit crap because I was having too much fun...)

UK Snow - MTB'ing in Croydon from Mountain Bike Rider on Vimeo.

Dorking Jan 2nd 2010

Dorking Jan 2nd 2010 1 of 5, originally uploaded by Edwin Bartlett.

I went riding with my mate Ed (who snapped this photo - nice eh?) on Saturday. It was my first time on an MTB in weeks (blame the weather...) and although it was cold, the conditions could not have been better - firm, crisp and above all fast. I really wish I lived closer to the trails so I could ride off-road more often without the hassle of getting in and out of London.