Singletrack Magazine has always prided itself in the quality of its photographs and the skills of its contributors. In this day and age when everyone is now a photographer and your phone is always to hand to snap whatever catches your eye, it’s easier than ever to take a good picture. But a really great picture is one that makes you stop and look again, wonder at the situation, marvel at the trail or the characters in it and to really feel that you’re there. The last year has seen some great photography, and here we have three images which are all brilliant – in different ways:
Chipps – Saracen Factory workers, Issue 114
This image captures everything that you don’t expect when you think about a factory in China – the workers look happy, and the frame looks like it is being treasured rather than slammed through an assembly line. It’s also a great composition, with crisp subjects on a darker, intriguing background, It’s a picture that invites you in. The lovely clear light catches the detail on the workers’ clothes, which also bear another glance. Detail, story and personality – it’s all there, it’s a great shot.
James Robertson – Jason Miles, Issue 112
Even if you’ve never been in the world of cold and pain that Jason is experiencing in this shot, you can probably imagine it. You can probably also imagine the smell of him, and the mud droplets coating him. The warmth of whatever is in that cup, the steam brushing your face, the liquid slightly burning your lips and the slight taste of mud as it washed a bit off your top lip on the way in. It’s tempting just to stop and cradle the cup and absorb its heat rather than drinking it up and carrying on with the ride. This is a shot that captures hard UK riding and racing perfectly, and puts us right there in that moment.
Pete Scullion – Cover Shot, Issue 111
That blue! That hole! Is it a cave? A pot hole? Is the rider going to fall in? It’s a long way down – or up. How is the photographer going to get out? But let’s just go back to that glorious blue, and that silhouette that’s framing it, that little lip of sunlight catching the rocks just in the right place to draw our attention to the rider. It’s one of those perfectly framed, perfectly timed shots that has us wondering just how many tours round the hole the rider made to get it. It’s a stunning shot, and it made a cover that had us all sitting back for that extra moment of appreciation.
