Simon Keitch Photography Blog

Wilfred Emmanuel Jones; entrepreneur and founder of the The Black Farmer brand photographed for the What I’ve Learnt section of British Airways Business Life magazine.

Danish professional cyclist Lars Bak photographed for the new issue of Cycle Sport Magazine. It’s never ideal photographing an athlete during a big race; I was sent out to a team hotel on the 2011 Tour of Britain route to photograph Bak and I know from past experience that the subject will be tired, have very little time, and will have no clothing other than the standard team issue tracksuit and race kit. After arriving on location, scouting and ultimately setting up a studio in a conference room and waiting all evening I was eventually told by one of the team soigneurs that Lars was too fatigued and had already retired to bed. It’s frustrating to leave with nothing in the can but with a guarantee of an early slot the following evening it didn’t feel that my time was entirely wasted so I returned to the hotel nice and early the next day hopeful that we could get an outdoor set-up in while it was still daylight.

More waiting followed and it transpired that Lars was riding back to the team hotel after the stage for some extra training (that’s a 180KM of racing, then around 60KM or so from the race finish to the team hotel) so it was looking like it was going to be pretty tight. Fortunately when Bak did arrive we talked him into doing the shoot before dinner and we managed to squeeze out the last few minutes of daylight after finding the only clear view from the grounds of the motorway-side hotel (looking out over the motorway in fact, to the hills beyond). I’d taken along a few options on wardrobe as an alternative to the team issue clothing and we went with a formal coat for both style and warmth (professional cyclists are notoriously sensitive to the cold…). We managed to get nearly 25 minutes with Lars Bak in the end; three set-ups, one outdoor, two indoor, and three wardrobe changes plus a little conversation; not so bad. Big thanks to Ed Pickering and the rest of the team at Cycle Sport for the assignment and doing such a nice job with the layout.

Out takes:

Mary Quicke - Quickes Traditional

Mary Quicke (MBE) of Quickes Traditional; the Quickes family has farmed at Newton St Cyres in Devon for over 450 years and are now the largest traditional cheese maker in the United Kingdom. While researching the subject I came across some pictures of their enormous cheese store and knew straight away it would be the perfect location for the portrait. When arriving on location without the benefit of a prior tech-scout things can often change completely; concepts originally thought to be possible actually aren’t, and new unforeseen opportunities arise, but on this occasion the final portrait looks exactly as I planned it thanks in part to a series of 360 degree panoramas I found on a food blog called FX Cuisine; you can see one of the cheese store HERE.

The store is pretty impressive and definitely one of the stinkier locations I’ve worked in for sure. It was a great pleasure to meet Mary whose love and enthusiasm for both cheese and farming is immediately evident and it’s no surprise that the end product is so good with that kind of infectious attitude. Check out Quickes Traditional online at www.quickes.co.uk where you can find your local stockist, or call in to the farm shop if you’re in the area.

In September last year I headed to Spain for a few days on location at the Vuelta a Espana for Cycle Sport Magazine. As well as shooting portraits for a handful of interview features my brief also included shooting a 14 page photo feature  - Vuelta Unseen – capturing some of the behind the scenes goings on and other moments not normally seen in the regular television and photo coverage. I’ve finally gotten around to making an edit from the huge number of photographs for a web gallery which you can see above or in glorious full-screen goodness at my portfolio site here: Vuelta Unseen Gallery

Issue two of Privateer magazine arrived in today’s post and includes a feature I shot for them last year at the 2010 TransWales mountain bike endurance race; a seven day stage race in the heart of Wales. I actually shot this assignment just over six months ago so it’s great to finally see the photos go to print. In addition to producing all of the photography I also wrote the introduction for this piece which probably took me longer to finish than the time I spent on location in Wales… In the (paraphrased) words of David Sedaris: me write pretty one day.

The magazine is quite a thing to behold; more coffee table book than magazine, beautifully printed on nice thick paper stock and with each feature getting plenty of space (this one running a full 15 pages in total). Privateer is the sister publication of the now firmly established Rouleur road cycling magazine so if you’re at all familiar with Rouleur you’ll know what to expect in terms of style and quality.

Out-takes:

You can order a copy or subscribe to Privateer at: http://www.rouleur.cc/privateer

The new issue of FourFourTwo football magazine is now on the newstands featuring an article I shot for them recently about the Royal Marines Amateur Football Club. This was an interesting feature to work on; the RM AFC team’s home pitch is based across the road from the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, close to Exeter in Devon although the team draws players from the camps at Taunton, Plymouth and Chivenor also, with a high player turnover as training exercises and deployments dictates a different line-up each week and a player pool of around 50 individuals in total. The assignment brief called for me to attend one of the team’s weekly matches, with a fairly long shot-list including a full team portrait and documentary images and while I’d ticked all the boxes, it wasn’t really working for me and I knew there had to be a better way to photograph this subject and so I arranged to meet up with Colour Sergeant Richard Hope a few days after the original photo-shoot to try a different tack. I set up some lights at the edge of the pitch and then we ran through a few different ideas; some keepy-uppy, some kicking the ball, and the static shot which made the final double-page-spread opener above. Big thanks to FourFourTwo designer David Robinson for assigning me plus Art Editor Anth Moore for doing such a nice job with layout and reproduction.

Out takes:

Long distance runner Jo Pavey photographed for the cover of Asthma UK Magazine.

Jeremy Hunt photographed for the current December 2010 issue of Cycle Sport Magazine. This is the last of my portraits produced on location at this year’s Tour of Britain to go to print and was another hotel conference room set-up with nothing but a dark and wet car park outside the team hotel and very little time available with the subject. I’d been warned beforehand to allow for plenty of time at the location as there was a chance that Hunt may forget and sure enough I was met with a blank face when I introduced myself as he entered the lobby with the rest of the Cervelo cycling team, but he graciously agreed to a sitting after dinner. When we got to the photo-shoot it became quickly clear that Hunt was having a tough week; red eyes (‘these will need to be black and white photos; I look good in black and white…’ he said as sat down) and it transpired he’d slept between checking into his hotel room and coming down to the restaurant for dinner.

The straight-on set-up on white seamless was looking good (image above runs full page within the feature) but the red eyes were making me worry that the images would indeed need to be converted to black and white plus it was clear that Mr Hunt wanted to get back to bed or maybe just fall asleep in his chair right in front of me so we quickly moved to the second set-up on black in team jersey. Jeremy has a great profile and this angle negates the red eyes, while the black background suits him I think. Lionel Birnie did a great job with the words and the interview gives a good insight into Hunt’s personality and his 15 years and counting career. The feature also touches on the implosion of the Cervelo cycling team that Hunt’s been a member of for the past two years and was originally contracted to for 2011; fortunately since the interview went to press the Sky cycling team has announced its signing of Hunt for next season.

Out takes:

Saxo Bank team pro cyclist Richie Porte photographed for the November issue of Cycle Sport Magazine; the 25 year old Tasmanian rider has had something of a breakthrough year this season with a three day stint in the pink leader’s jersey at the Giro d’Italia and held on to seventh place overall at the end of the three-week race which was also his very first Grand Tour.

When I caught up with Richie he was sitting in second place in the general classification at the 2010 Tour of Britain and with only a twenty minute window of opportunity at the team hotel between massage and dinner and nothing outdoors but a dark and wet carpark I took over one of the hotel’s dull but empty, private and appropriately sized conference rooms which I turned into a field studio; we got through two set-ups and two outfit changes plus a little conversation despite the tight time-frame and I was impressed by Porte’s relaxed, honest and frank attitude which I’ve found to be fairly typical traits amongst the Australians I’ve met and photographed in the past. The interview written by Gregor Brown is a great insight into Porte’s background and his struggles as an Australian coming to Europe to make it as a professional cyclist and as ever the feature is best appreciated in print so pick up a copy if you can. Thanks as ever to Deputy Editor Ed Pickering for assigning me and the magazine’s art department for doing such a great job with image choice and layout.

The Lowepro Pro Roller X200 on location

After years of using a backpack to carry my core equipment I finally relented recently and bought myself a rolling camera bag, at which point my back gave a little sigh of relief. Even with what I consider to be a very lightweight kit I’m travelling with at least four bags these days, plus my backpack was starting to look a little overpacked and so with a week-long foreign assignment ahead of me involving trains, planes, and automobiles as well as a different hotel every night I figured it was high time I did myself a favour and ordered one up. I’ve always used Lowepro bags and although not generally a brand loyalist I will stick with what I know works and as I’ve had no complaints with the Vertex 200 AW I’ve had for the past three years or so Lowepro were the first company I looked at when shopping around, and  I eventually went with the Pro Roller X200 as it’s the largest roller bag that Lowepro produce that still meets the airline carry-on luggage size allowance. I always carry-on my main bag as it’s the most valuable (practically and financially) and thus ensures that regardless of what the baggage throwers do with the rest of my luggage I’ll always have the most important items when I arrive at the destination, and true to Lowepro’s claims I’ve had no problems at check-in and the bag fits perfectly in the overhead compartment.

Lowepro Pro Roller X200 fully loaded

One of the first things I noticed was only three memory card pouches; not a big problem as there’s plenty of space in the larger pouches but with four in the Vertex 200 I was surprised to see less rather than more in the Pro Roller. Otherwise the extra space and sturdy casing are all good and I was pleased to see that the Nikon SB-800 speedlights fit in perfectly with the head in the vertical position so less space is wasted (update: I have since replaced my aging SB-800 strobes with SB-900 models and I’m sad to say that they’re far too big to fit in the bag in this way). There are also two pockets on the front of the bag; one large one for a laptop which happily swallows my 13in MacBook Pro and a smaller pocket which comes in useful for holding paperwork/tickets etc, and each pocket is separated into two compartments.

Pro Roller X200 Handle Tripod Mount

I appreciate the little details and the Pro Roller has a few nice touches such as the tripod mount built into the handle (pictured above); not something I’ve had the need to use but it’s good to know that in a pinch I’ll have something to hand that would serve as a tripod, or as a lightstand for that matter. Another feature I haven’t used but appreciate having is that the interior of the bag actually unzips from the main case to become a simple backpack so if you’re flying on a smaller plane with tighter carry-on limits (such as some domestic flights) the case can be checked in and the smaller and lighter interior carried on as normal.

Pro Roller X200 TSA Lock

The three-digit TSA combination lock (above) works well and is yet another handy integrated feature; once the combination has been set the self-retracting cable can be pulled out and through the hoops built into the zips and then locked back into the unit. It’s ocurred to me that this could be used to also secure the bag to an immovable object although I’m still to think of a situation where this could be used that would not result in the bomb-squad getting called out. The wheels have a wide spacing which makes for a pretty stable roller bag and the large rubber-tread wheels roll and grip well even when taken off road. They’re also fastened with a standard 4mm Allen key which should make for simple replacement when the time comes.

Lowepro Pro Roller X200 Wheel

So I’ve had the Lowepro Pro Roller X200 for long enough to have given it a bit of a beating and so far it’s done very well. I really like the fact that my lighting bag – a Lowepro Magnum AW – sits perfectly atop the X200 and clips on to the handle so it doesn’t fall off. Probably not something the manufacturer recommends but it does mean a total of two bags that I don’t need to carry through airports on my shoulders anymore.