Assignment 1 Completed

I've spent the past week on the back of a super plush BMW motorcycle documenting the Paris Brest Paris ultra-endurance cycling event. It was truly a surreal experience. The wind, rain, and cold weather made for the most challenging Paris Brest in history...bad for the 5,000 cyclists on the course but good for me, the photographer. The roadside carnage was unreal. At one point Stephan (driver) and I drove non-stop for over 24 hours...only taking breaks to shoot and refuel. We didn't sleep for 50 hours and shot on through the night. My last tally was nearly 8,000 photos captured. My risk of using untested remote flash equipment paid off and I am pleased with my nighttime pics in the country side and small villages of western France. What an epic adventure this was! I have the utmost respect for these athletes who pushed themselves beyond what most people think would be possible. Look for some pics in some cycling mags and galleries that I will post links to soon.

Now, I'm off to Zurich for assignment #2, Sweet Swiss Passes.

Cheers,

G

Time for enjoyment?

It's been a busy week but I have taken time off to enjoy France. If you followed my www.ribbonofroad.com journey, you might remember Jamon, the Frenchman who I met in the back of a Llama truck hitching through the Andes. I cycled with him across Peru and Bolivia for 2 months. He's from Paris and has laid out the red carpet for me this week. Wine, cheese, family, local Spiderman hotspots...it's been amazing.

Stephan, who is driving the motorcycle for the shoot, just dropped in too. He's kept himself occupied by leaping from pylon to pylon in Paris.

Camera's Rollin'

This is the official Seattle Randonneur club photo. It's the club I ride with when I'm in Seattle. Of the 5,000 international cyclists here for the PBP this year, Seattle has the largest group from North America...cool stuff.

I've taken about 2,000 pics in the past few days and the race hasn't event started yet!

You can see the live photo stream of events around Paris and registration here:

http://www.seattlerandonneur.org/

Click the Flickr link on the right hand side for photos.

Gregg

Let the PBP Begin!

I've made it to Paris, got bumped to first class on the way and then lost my luggage in London. Paris is still one of my favorite places in the world. Yesterday, I cycled down the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triomphe...just like the final day of the Tour de France except they didn't close the streets down for me and I decided to do it in the middle of rush hour. I also did a practice photo shoot of some of the Seattle riders yesterday. The sunset at the Eiffel Tower was perfect.

The race actually starts Monday.

G

Bike Friday

My new Bike Friday folding bike was finished just in time... This is Dave, the guru at Bike Friday, and me picking up the bike in Eugene yesterday...1 day before I leave for Europe from Seattle...today:)

Gear Sort...I'm off

It's amazing how much gear one needs for a 1 month photo shoot, bike tour, motorcycle tour, hanging out with friends tour of Europe. I was lucky to consolidate an entire garage into a few small bags. I'm going to miss summer in Seattle!

G

Wine Delivery By Bike?

For my part time wine gig at Northwest Cellars I only signed up for wine slingin' but when my friend Dave from Dutch Bike Seattle offered me access to his coveted Bakfiets transport bike I decided to kill two birds with one stone; super-fun wine deliveries/tastings and givin' the dogs a workout for my upcoming Swiss Passes photo-tour. After my final delivery, I picked up Stephan and cruised him through downtown Seattle.

Have Camera(s)...Need Practice

With a bunch of new camera gear on my doorstep I've been trying to practice as much as possible for Europe. This week, I found myself hanging out on top of a high-rise building in Seattle taking pics. of the super-cool guys who dangle off the side of it to clean its windows.

Paris Brest Paris Preparation

It's been a pretty wild week getting ready to dash off to Europe to shoot the Paris Brest and the Swiss Alps piece. My floor is covered with photo-gear, wireless transmission devices, course information, and other logistical stuff. There are 5,000 competitors in the race and over 600 are from the States.

I've also been practicing shooting while tied into the back of a motorcycle with Stephan. We've been tearing up the streets of Seattle during the past few days. Key piece of gear...the helmet. Only a few will give you adequate coverage yet allow for a camera to be held up to your eye for shooting. Stephan and I spent a few hours at the local moto-shop trying on helmets with various lens and camera configurations to make sure that they will all work out.

August/September Photo-Assignments In Europe

I'm pretty stoked for a couple of new photo-gigs in Europe.

First, I'll be in Paris shooting the Paris-Brest-Paris bike race. The really cool thing about it is that I'll be shooting from the back of a BMW 1200GS super-touring motorcycle. The really, really, cool thing about it is that my dear friend and expert pilot, Stephan, is coming to Paris to drive the moto over the 750 mile course.

After a week in France, I'm heading over to Switzerland to shoot a 10-day tour through the Swiss Alps for a magazine here in the States. I'm going to hook up with my good friends from Central America, Ruth and Horst, who have since moved to Switzerland. Together, we should have a pretty epic time and eat lots of chocolate along the way!

Hasta,

G

New Road

Since finishing my 2 year RibbonOfRoad bicycle trip earlier this year, I've been fielding a lot of "what's next" questions about the future direction of my life. In response to these emails and phone calls, I've decided to publish a blog about my current noodlings, whereabouts, and adventures. To make a long story short, during the past two years I've taken a lot of photos (30,000 or so) while pedaling through the Americas. I've spent the past few months sorting, cleaning and organizing those photos for a coffee table book that I am going to call "Postcards from the End of the World". Hopefully, I'll have the book sorted out sometime in 2008. I've also decided to pursue photography full-time. I've been warned not to quit your day job when starting out in photography--but that's kind of tough to do when you don't have a day job to begin with! My solution has been to reconnect with my old boss in the Software world, Bob. In the past few years he's started a really cool wine company and I've decided to sign-up for a part time gig there, slinging high-end, custom wine. So that's what I'm up to in a nutshell. Future posts will be added as the road goes on.

Cheers,

G