I picked up my new Roubaix bike at Omer & Bob’s in Lebanon two weeks ago. Breck spent hours helping me choose the right bike for my body shape and riding plans, and Richard fitted the bike and my new shoes. (These were the most expensive shoes I have ever purchased, and fitting them to the pedals so I would not torque my knees the wrong way took an hour.) I’m finding this bike is a great way to exercise in early spring while the trails are too wet for my mountain bike. I purchased a rack and “trunk” which I can quickly attach to the seat post so I can take my DSLR along without carrying it on my back. My trusty LX3 (used for the shadow image in the show below) rides in the small under-seat pouch with emergency tools when the rack in not installed. I expect I will ride both bikes throughout the summer and fall.
I asked the class to produce a photo essay on a subject of their choosing as the first photography assignment of my Spring Photo–SLR course. I like to challenge myself to also do the assignments so I figured I would showcase my new bike with a photo essay. (This is a great way to improve your photography–give yourself photo assignments.) While I was doing this essay I thought about what I planned to teach in upcoming classes: depth of field, using shutter speed creatively (to show motion, for example), focal length as a creative tool, lighting, macro, and composition. So I worked to incorporate examples of these topics in the essay. The toughest challenges were photographing myself riding toward the camera (a tripod and a setting that would take a photo every second until I stopped the camera helped) and making photos from the moving bike without crashing.
The photo essay I created follows. I minimized the use of Photoshop in creating this essay, although all the images were shot in RAW and processed with Adobe Camera Raw (in Bridge, which for my style works much better than Lightroom). Only one image is a composite of several images–me riding through the covered bridge along River Road in Lyme. I attempted to use shutter speeds appropriate to my objective in each photo–either freezing motion or blurring it. I expanded space using a wide angle lens. I made some shallow depth of field and macro images using a 50 mm f/1.8 lens that I discuss HERE. And I practiced an important rule of photography–“have fun out there”.
