In the field.img855, with story by harrietsfriend on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

It isn't often you get to see the action within the field, up close.

Taken during the Pro, Cat 1, Cat 2 race in the Union Terminal Criterium in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA in 1984. These riders are chasing the leaders after cresting the rise and thundering down the straight-a-way. Approaching speeds in the low 30s (50 KPH) the closeness of the riders increases their speed as they share a draft with the rider in front of them.

Separated by mere inches, they must trust the rider in front to maintain his distance with his rider in front. One wrong move and everyone goes down, as there is no room to avoid a crash. It's safer than you think, as these are experienced riders and even at this speed and closeness the bicycles are extremely nimble allowing very quick responsiveness, but like a moth to a flame, the tifosi (fans) expect accidents at nearly all events. It's quite unusual for any racer to have not been involved in some incident either on the road, in training, or at an event during the long racing season. Fear of the crash in usually worse than the action itself, and one gets used to it and accepts it as part of the ritual of racing. There were no incidents in this race, but many, in the earlier lower category races, riders with less experience.

Taken with my Hasselblad 500C with a Zeiss 500mm F8 Tele-Tessar on Kodak Tri-X panchromatic 120 roll film. Shooting at 1/500th a second (actually closer to 1/400th) at F11, overexposing one stop to lighten the faces. Shooting a sport event with a Hasselblad isn't done much, as it is extremely difficult to follow sport action with a medium format camera, and double so with a lens this long. As you can see the actual point of focus is extremely narrow. In order to place the focus critically, I waited for the action to come to my focus point, the line in the road. Timing is everything as I wanted to go beyond news reporting, to a level of art coverage.

Feel free to download, just give me photo credit.

eugene spiegel

This was shot while I was a freelance photojournalist and an amateur racer with the United States Cycling Federation.