Interview with Mountain Bike Photographer Seb Rogers

Seb Rogers lives at the foot of the Mendip Hills in the United Kingdom with his partner and four year old daughter.  He has been shooting mountain bikes professionally for nearly 13 years. I came across his website randomly and after spending time browsing through his portfolio I thought it might make for a good interview.  Below are excerpts from my interview.

MTOBikes: How long have you been biking for and what got you started?

I’ve been riding for 18 years. I started riding in 1990 as a way of taking my mind off an upsetting end to a relationship and just kind of forgot to stop.

MTOBikes: What do you like most about biking?

Physical and mental freedom. Oh, and singletrack. The fast, twisty kind.

MTOBikes: What is your most favorite scenic trail?

That’d be the one a couple of miles from my house. Views for 50 miles in all directions and some of the best singletrack in the UK.

MTOBikes: How many bikes do you own?

Three.

MTOBikes: What are they?

A ’94 Fat Chance Yo Eddy!, a custom Independent Fabrications singlespeed and a Kona Humuhumunukunukuapua’a. I haven’t bought a bike since ’98 because my shed’s full of a constant rotation of magazine test bikes.

MTOBikes: When did you begin photographing bicycle related images? What motivated you to start?

I’ve actually been taking pictures longer than I’ve been riding, but it didn’t occur to me to put the two together until a friend of mine – who was a regular contributor to one of the UK’s mountain bike magazines – went to Greece with me in 1994. I took some shots of him riding, he wrote some words and we sold the feature as a package. It was way more fun than the bike shop job I had at the time…

MTOBikes: What do you like most about photography?

Art and science rolled into one. What’s not to like?

MTOBikes: What camera do you use?

A Nikon D3, D300 or D40X.

MTOBikes: What lens?

Anything from a 10.5mm f/2.8 to a 200mm f/2.

MTOBikes: What are your favorite lenses?

The 14-24mm f/2.8 and 200mm f/2. They’re both big, heavy, expensive and impractical… but optically outrageously good.

MTOBikes: How do you choose your shots?

That’s a whole subject in itself. But mostly I’m looking for impact, relevance and originality.

MTOBikes: How do you setup for shots?

That’s another whole subject in itself. Spot a potentially nice bit of trail. Stop, check it out. Walk around a bit, get the camera out, figure out the angle. Try a couple of shots. If it’s working, stick around until I’ve got ‘the’ shot.

MTOBikes: Mountain biking is such a hard subject to shoot, especially with the DOF you utilize, focusing on the biker would be so hard. Are you extremely fast/skilled or do you setup for shots and focus on an area and wait for the biker to enter the focused area?

Autofocus is much better than it used to be, but I still use manual pre-focus most of the time. It’s generally more consistent, and you don’t end up sticking the rider slap in the middle of every shot.

MTOBikes: What gear do you take with you when you go out? Assuming it is quite a bit of gear. Obviously you must pack light so what is your preferred equipment?

If I’m riding a fair bit I’ll take the D300 with 10.5mm f/2.8, 14-24mm f/2.8 and 50-150mm f/2.8 lenses, plus a flash and radio trigger. On shoots where I can work on foot I’ll pack the (larger, heavier) D3, 16mm f/2.8, 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 80-200mm f/2.8 and two flashes. It all goes in one of several Dakine or Fstop bags.

MTOBikes: What camera, lens, pack, etc. would you recommend to someone who is just starting off and would like a SLR camera.

Any of the current crop of dSLRS with a standard zoom will do the job fine if you’re just starting out, and there’s a good range of backpacks around too. The best way to choose is to spend some time at a good dealer trying out different cameras (and bags) until you find one that ‘fits’.

MTOBikes: Is it safe to mountain bike with a dSLR camera or can the rough ride cause damage?

Yes. And possibly. But in over a decade of riding with lots of expensive gear, the only breakages I’ve suffered have been when I’ve been off the bike and walking around on two feet. Go figure.

MTOBikes: Is there a good pack/case to use?

Tamrac, Kata, Lowepro, Fstop and Dakine (amongst others) all make good bags. Try a few out for size!

MTOBikes: Where do you see yourself/business and where would you like to be in five years?

Pro photography is tough right now (and that’s before you take into account the wider economic picture). Rates are down, competition is up and clients expect more for less. Just surviving is a challenge, but I’m proud to say that the past three years have been my best ever. I’d like to continue to set new standards over the next few years… and keep a roof over my head in the process!

MTOBikes: Ten years?

We’re going to see a lot of changes in the way that imagery – both still and moving – is used. There’s going to be a convergence of TV and web, and that’s going to change the way that media companies commission content. Where do photographers like me fit into this? That’s a good question…