Blurred Spokes
Before sunrise. A crisp bite in the air. It is Winter, and cyclists are assembling for a group photo. There is a certain "buzz", for these athletes of the spirit and of the corporeal are about to begin an odyssey that will cover 2000km - in relay - throughout Victoria. Some will leave before the journey is over. Others will join at various points along the route. There are also those who will depart, then return.
Your not-so-very-athletic correspondent is one of the team leaders, which invariably means doing the major part of driving the vans, as well as bicycling along the highways and byways. Oh, and taking pics, too (when not dealing with the inevitable "challenges" every day).
Photographically, there were many tough decisions to be made... starting before the journey even commenced! First: neg or tranny? Both! I need prints for their ability to be processed almost anywhere, in case of media (newspapers) to be fed. Also, for our own (instant) gratification. Not to mention the re-assuring feeling, knowing that I've got some usable shots in the "bag". And, slides are necessary for the presentation I will give in New York City, a few weeks later. Besides, I can get higher quality scans from trannies. Then, I can size them appropriately for use on the Internet, and so forth.
Next, what speed? Seasonal conditions may very well mean low light, so, ISO 800 it will be. A roll of Kodak T400CN ("Black and White" film, processed in C-41 colour negative chemistry) was thrown in for good measure. This has very wide exposure latitude, fine grain (particularly when overexposed) and will be oblivious to any colour casts/ mixed light sources.
My tranny film of choice was Agfa CT Precisa 200. With its neutral colour palette, moderate contrast and suitability for pushing up to two stops (albeit with increased grain and weakened Dmax), I had the confidence of being able to handle the indoors "available-darkness" shots. This film also copes better than average with the discontinuous spectrum, and peak in the green portion of the spectrum, which characterises fluorescent lights. As anticipated, many of the pics had to be taken indoors, with fluoros the predominant (sometimes only - yuk!) light source.
To continue my series of Nature's Beauty slides, I packed some Agfa CT Precisa 100, which I rated normally as it was possible to use a tripod or handhold successfully under bright conditions.
What camera system? Though I have some delightful optics available in my Canon FD series, those lenses and bodies are big and heavy! So it'll be the Olympus OM-1N and OM10, even though the build standard isn't nearly as robust as that of the Canon gear. Which lenses? Hmmm... photojournalist work dictates having lenses which afford compositional flexibility. So it's the Zuiko 35-70mm, f/3.5 (constant) and Star D 80-200mm, f/ 3.9 (also constant). This longer zoom is somewhat on the heavy side, but I must live with that. A couple of primes (Zuiko 28mm, f/3.5 for those wide-angle people pictures and expansive scenics, as well as a Zuiko 50mm, f/1.4 for really dim light situations) make me feel better.
My (large) camera bag is by now getting quite full: it has a borrowed Pentax analogue spot meter in there at all times. But I still need to cram in more kit! A flash unit, spare batteries and sync cord are insurance in the event of totally woeful light indoors.
With fixed schedules to adhere to - involving up to five meetings/ presentations/ ceremonies per day - and the logistics involved with teams of riders, there would invariably be jumping in and out of vans, and/ or swapping vehicles. Another reason to keep the camera gear manageable!
Whilst I'd hoped for opportunities to take "action" photos, alas, operational requirements and timing were against this; maybe next year... Most satisfying for me was capturing the joy, enthusiasm, spontaneity and unbridled exuberance of the schoolchildren. This required being part of the experience itself (to soak up the emotional energy), yet still being attentive as a photographer to everything that was going on around me, to catch the action/ emotion at its zenith point; for instance, when the children were signing their names on the banner.
My rule of thumb, which usually holds true regardless of the film format being used, is that there will be one, or at most two, really good pictures per roll of film. In exceptional situations/ circumstances, this figure may increase, but only slightly. Thus, I was very pleased that the number of images I was quite happy with went as high as 14 out of three rolls.
*** CAPTION:*** Posing for the camera, these fit specimens look remarkably fresh after 47km in the saddle.
