Behind the scenes - Geoff Waugh photographer

Geoff Waugh has followed all aspects of cycle racing, from working for Trek, snapping the UCI World Cup mountain bike races, and to local and international races including the Tour de France. His portfolio of clients goes beyond cycle sport, but that is his great love.

PTN: When did you begin your photography career?

GW: I suppose when the editor at my first magazine job put a Nikon FM into my hands and I learnt on the job the next day. That was 1981 and I have been running my own business since 1989.

Geoff Waugh at the 2008 Rouleur Annual Launch standing with pictures from the Koksijde World Cup Cross

PTN: Do you remember your first event?

GW: I don't really remember my first event but do remember the first picture I had published from a bike race. It was when the Milk Race came to London and the route took it down Southwark Street and right past IPC magazines where I worked.

At the end of Southwark Street the road sweeps left to go onto Blackfriars Bridge and I took a shot from a rooftop garden. It was a reflection of the pack in a mirrored building on the opposite side of the street. It looked like a hall of mirrors with huge calves, distorted bodies and big feet! I think it went into Bicycle Action. And I got the bug. One of the early successes was a front cover of MBi (Mountain Biker International) when it was insert inside Bicycle mag.

The pic was of Tim Davies racing at Eastway (London cycle circuit) in his Schmoo colours. (looking like a rhubarb and custard sweet was essential in the early days!).

PTN: What role do you think photography plays in sport (or life?)

GW: Of course photography plays a role in sport. A huge role despite the move towards moving images on websites etc.

I can think of some classic images: Cassius Clay shaking his glove down at Liston, Frankie Dettori jumping of a winning horse, thar boat sinking in the boat race (don't laugh!), Bob Beaman breaking the long jump record (I was working at the '91 World Athletic champs in Tokyo when it was beaten by Mike Powell. A photographer shot an entire sequence of the jump and it was run in a strip across the front page of the newspaper the following day - nice journalism). Vinnie Jones squeezing Gazza''s tackle. Horses crashing through the high fences at the Grand National. Images like these, if you pay any sort of attention, are seared into the memory and live on longer than the moving image.

We need photographers to propagate images that show both the beautiful and the ugly sides of sport. Not everyone can be on the baking slopes of the Ventoux, but seeing an image of a rider's face contorted in pain and bathed in sweat may help them comprehend what it takes to be involved.

PTN: There are many snappers out there now with their hi-tech digi cameras, what marks out a professional from them?

GW: The digital evolution has brought about many changes. A complete re-working for many photographers It has its pros and cons like everything. You will have heard the 'expression: "everyone's a photographer these days". Well, I think everyone is a director too.

The instant viewing is irresistible for most of us, and it has made it easier for everyone to experiment. What separates a professional from the pack is that they produce the goods when conditions are far from ideal. Shooting trannies (slide film) at a dark, wet race wasn't easy at the best of times and it is easier with digital but still no walk in the park. Consistency and reliability are what buyers look for.

One of the worst bits to come with digitisation, in my opinion, is the amount of web-journos, who have designed a site at home and arrive armed with a digi cam, backpack, keychain and skinny jeans to scam a pass and stick their cams into a rider's face in a berm or wherever. Usually they don't look about them and that hand appears in my carefully framed shot!

There are more photos chasing less work but we can all learn from each other. Just don't undercut OK?!! Web sites in general haven't cottoned on to good photography yet and most are prepared to use anything they can get their hands on or produce themselves. They are hardly given the same respect as when in paper print. Look at what the Guardian does with its centre spread images. Stunning. Web images are often cropped or too small. Still, it's early doors compared to newspapers and magazines so it still may happen.

PTN: What is your favourite venue to snap at and why? And your least?

GW: That's hard because the word 'venue' implies racing and that's a small part of what I do. I prefer the word 'location'. So in that respect, I have been very pleased with material I have shot in locations that produce graphic and contrasting colours.

Pic by Geoff from the 2008 Lincoln GP

PTN: What gets you excited when you go out to take pictures?

GW: Provence, France, Moab, Utah, Cairns, Australia all fit that brief. It really comes down to the light and it is more predictable there than on home shores. On the racing front I have re-discovered my roots and have an urge to shoot some grit and sweat in Belgium. Any 'cross race where it has rained overnight or is raining on the day gets my vote. I'm still waiting for that illusive snow race. Vail, Colorado is great for shooting XC racing amongst the tall straight and white-trunked aspen trees and I enjoy the challenge of getting a good night image from a 24 hour race.

Great light, mud (for cross), good trails, famous (saleable) faces

PTN: When you are snapping what targets do you set yourself?

GW: Well, it gets harder and harder but I always try and get a different take on it. I try and move away from the pack if at all possible (eating curry the night before helps!). I will try and shoot into a harsh light or at an odd angle to see what comes out of it. Nine times out of ten it won't won't pay off - but there's that one time. It is rewarding when a peer says to you: "I saw you in that field miles away and wondered what you were doing until I saw the shot" One year I won a big prize and didn't attend the awards presentation. Malcolm Fearon (Numero uno mtb race photographer) told me later he walked in saw my shot that "that's that, game over". It is that sort of praise from someone who understands the game that is gratefully received.

PTN: How do you go about composing a picture?

GW: That depends on where you are shooting. For instance there will be less options at a track than outdoors at a road or mtb race where various factors can be included to add to the composition of the image.

There is the rule of thirds which is a sort of baseline from which to work but it is often worth breaking that rule. Often a powerful picture can come from a central composition. (the reverse of this the autofocus image where the sensor is in the centre of the frame and so that's how the picture ended up).

I often place a rider in say, the bottom third of the frame and then counterbalance him with a tree or some other feature- the chasing pack for example - in the opposite corner to form a diagonal composition.

I believe composing pictures happens over time as one's experience grows. Lifting the camera to the eye is not enough but is how we all start out. I've been working on a sort of signature look to my pictures for a few years but I need the sun to shine more regularly here in Blighty!

PTN: What camera's and lenses do you use?

GW: My first SLR was a Pentax K1000 with 50mm lens. Yeah! Since then I have only used Nikon equipment. FM2s, F3s, F4, F5 and now I currently use a D2Xs and a D200. My glass ranges from 10.5mm fisheye through to 300mm 2.8 telephoto (it's not a zoom OK?!) I still shoot film on a Bronica SQ, a Fuji 645 and Horizon panoramic. When I am feeling trashy I have a Holga and a Lomo that meet my mood.

PTN: What bike do you ride and where do you ride it?

GW: My main ride is a Giant Trance full susser with Reba Black Box World Champ fork, Cross max wheels etc. I own a Kona Explosif hard tail because I wanted to go back to steel. I have Kinesis cross bike and a Lemond Fillmore single speed road bike for days of self loathing. I am pimping it out with a Brooks saddle, tool wrap and eventually leather bar tape. Hell-oooo!

The crosser takes me down the Lea towpath and the mountain bikes to Epping, the North Downs, Wales, wherever the trails are good.

PTN: Do you have a Tour story?

GW: Yep. In 1993. Rominger v Indurain era. I did three days in the Alps, me and another photographer traveling seat of the pants class; finding floors to crash on and living on bread sticks and coffee. That year the race went over the Col de la Bonette when Robert MIller put in such an awe-inspiring display.

We had a second tier press pass for the car which meant we were able to travel behind the race. We had worked out on the map where we could stop shoot some stuff and then burn off down this side road to ambush the pack later on. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the point we couldn't see the turn. It was full of spectators. So we were trapped between the breakaway and the peloton.

We had the race commissaries waving those table tennis bats at us but we couldn't do anything. Will Fotheringham told us next day there was an official ticking off in the Press room for 'team zero' as we had Christened ourselves, although we never went in there. Anyway, at the foot of last climb we were amongst the straggler and I was at the wheel. Suddenly I saw one of my heroes, Phil Anderson. The moment was to much and I leant out and shouted 'come on Phil!" He gave me a withering glance and simply responded in deadpan Aussie. 'Yeah, right". I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

Website - www.waughphotos.com