Graham Watson

RichN95.

Graham Watson, the photographer, has retired. If you have been following this sport for any length of time you will have grown up looking at his photos. The photos thread is full of his work.

http://www.grahamwatson.com/view/viewmain.html

Rodrego Hernandez

Great photographer, went down in my estimation when he re-named the Lemond section of his website with a derogatory term during the Armstrong troubles. Good photographer, awful person.

salsiccia1

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Great photographer, went down in my estimation when he re-named the Lemond section of his website with a derogatory term during the Armstrong troubles. Good photographer, awful person.

Don't know enough to say awful person, but on everything else +1. Totally unnecessary, and looks even worse now as LeMond was proved right.

Hinaultscrapcousin

This is possibly one of the best cycling photos I've ever seen:

http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Ga ... -nT6tqc8/A

Hinault putting the power down and Kuiper clinging on. The determination on Hinault's face is incredible.

yorkshireraw

Hinaultscrapcousin wrote:

This is possibly one of the best cycling photos I've ever seen:

http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Ga ... -nT6tqc8/A

Hinault putting the power down and Kuiper clinging on. The determination on Hinault's face is incredible.

Agreed, awesome shot. I rode the cobbles last year and imagined this was exactly what I looked like. Probably wasn't though.

Richmond Racer 2

YorkshireRaw wrote:

Hinaultscrapcousin wrote:

This is possibly one of the best cycling photos I've ever seen:

http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Ga ... -nT6tqc8/A

Hinault putting the power down and Kuiper clinging on. The determination on Hinault's face is incredible.

Agreed, awesome shot. I rode the cobbles last year and imagined this was exactly what I looked like. Probably wasn't though.

Now, now, dont be modest

weekendcyclingfan

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Great photographer, went down in my estimation when he re-named the Lemond section of his website with a derogatory term during the Armstrong troubles. Good photographer, awful person.

Took great shots pre-internet when all you had was Winning magazine. Over shadowed now by other guys with much artistic approach to their photographs, Tim de Waele being the pick of the bunch.

ddraver

The Guy Frenchie wanted to be...

Vino'sGhost

ddraver wrote:

The Guy Frenchie wanted to be...

hahah totally

simon_e

Mitch Docker had a chat with him last October (49 minutes):
https://lifeinthepeloton.com/2016/10/28 ... -the-lens/

weekendcyclingfan wrote:

Took great shots pre-internet when all you had was Winning magazine. Over shadowed now by other guys with much artistic approach to their photographs, Tim de Waele being the pick of the bunch.

Photographers like Tim de Waele or Ashley & Gered Gruber bring very different ideas to photographing the same sport. If you listen to the interview Graham describes how he is invariably there to work to a client's brief (usually teams, sponsors etc) and I understand where he's coming from. The variety available nowadays is amazing, IMVHO the disappointing bit is how little value people attach to good quality images.

And as a long time film dabbler, I have an idea of how merely getting sharp, well-exposed images wasn't anywhere near as easy back then. He would use a medium format Bronica, calculating fill-flash ratios or balancing DoF with shutter speed while on the back of a motorbike navigating hairpin bends or dodging enthusiastically driven team cars in freezing rain or 30 degrees heat.

simon_e

double post :roll:

weekendcyclingfan

Simon E wrote:

Mitch Docker had a chat with him last October (49 minutes):
https://lifeinthepeloton.com/2016/10/28 ... -the-lens/

weekendcyclingfan wrote:

Took great shots pre-internet when all you had was Winning magazine. Over shadowed now by other guys with much artistic approach to their photographs, Tim de Waele being the pick of the bunch.

Photographers like Tim de Waele or Ashley & Gered Gruber bring very different ideas to photographing the same sport. If you listen to the interview Graham describes how he is invariably there to work to a client's brief (usually teams, sponsors etc) and I understand where he's coming from. The variety available nowadays is amazing, IMVHO the disappointing bit is how little value people attach to good quality images.

And as a long time film dabbler, I have an idea of how merely getting sharp, well-exposed images wasn't anywhere near as easy back then. He would use a medium format Bronica, calculating fill-flash ratios or balancing DoF with shutter speed while on the back of a motorbike navigating hairpin bends or dodging enthusiastically driven team cars in freezing rain or 30 degrees heat.

True. Watson had a book out in the early 90's which described his process. He hated riders wearing sunglasses as the eyes always told the true story of how a rider was feeling on a given day.

Ashley & Gered Gruber's shots are simply stunning but they seem to fit the instagram / artistic genre and less about how a specific race panned out through the stills.

jimmythecuckoo

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Great photographer, went down in my estimation when he re-named the Lemond section of his website with a derogatory term during the Armstrong troubles. Good photographer, awful person.

Can't get beyond that to be honest.

Do your job and do it impartially.