Taking Shots – Part 1
In the last few years I have used this blog really as a linking device to my Flickr account where all the images are displayed – so as we approach the summer I thought I might actually start to write something – a few posts about what I do, when I do and why I do it. This is Part 1 and at this stage, if I am honest, I am not really sure how many parts there will be … it could end at 1 or it could rumble on and on and on.
Let’s start with what I do. I follow bike racing and take pictures, that is clear enough, but let me explain that a little further into the reasons and the passion behind all this. It all started back in the early 1980′s when I was growing up in Wigan, a traditional heartland for the sports of football and rugby. I was never a rugby fan or player in my early years, it was football and cycling that drove me forward at that time – I played footy as school and for local teams and rode my bike on adventures at weekends. I was fortunate to live opposite a passionate retired bike racer who used to take us watching the Kellogs City Centre races and that is where my real love of cycling was born. I was hooked – however as I grew up, during my days at college, I started to play rugby league and eventually worked hard enough to sign a professional contract with Oldham RLFC, playing in the equivalent of Super League – but it was in the time of winter rugby (when hard really was hard) and it was in the days before SkyTV and the money came into the sport. I worked my normal job during the day, then high-tailed it over the M62 three or four times a week to train and play for the ‘Roughyeds’ … sometimes playing in the snow in far flung places as Hull, Barrow or Workington on a Tuesday night, getting smashed about the field, cut bruised and drained, arriving back home after midnight and then having to be at work for 9am the next day was “challenging” to say the least. But I was young, I was living the dream and I loved it.
But all the while I still rode my bike. I got my first proper road bike in 1986, saving all my money from a part time job whilst at college … stacking shelves at Morrisons, all the while dreaming of the road bike I had seen in Oliver Somers bike shop in Wigan. Eventually I had the money together and I bought the ‘Peugeot Galibier’ yellow road bike, which I still have to this day – I loved it, it was very near the top of the range for the time and was just the best thing ever. The other year, I had it restored:
So we now fast forward over the rugby league years, through the traumatic back injury that ended my career and through the years of rehab to get my spine and lumbar region into some kind of shape again – not particularly pleasant times and I still suffer to this day from it – regular sports massage seems to help keep it under control, but rugby is a hard cruel sport and your body pays the price.
My love of photography started when I got my first proper camera – for my 21st birthday – it was a really good Olympus camera and I started by taking landscapes and general stuff – nothing really that good, but some of the shots I still have – remember this was in the days of film, so no digital images back then ! Over the years I got more and more into the event side of things, and as the digital imagery started to become more and more available, it was time to start cataloging things properly.
My camera and kit was being upgraded as we went along, moving on from the 35mm Olympus to the Canon range and the current body and lens that I shoot with now – it probably time to upgrade the body again, but the 450D has never let me down and has shared some great times so no great pressure to do it really.
I think that will do for Part 1 – a brief history and background to start with, hopefully it has set the scene and you might be interested in reading Part 2
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