I’m guessing by now that you’re pretty tired of seeing photos of Rhonnda the Honda so I’ll start out with a pic of RedIII from a few months ago. You see, the reason for the article today is to talk, not about the bikes, but about the people who immortalise them digitally, the photographers, and one photographer in particular.
Right from the beginning of my addiction to motorcycle road racing, photographing the races was an integral part. The very first meeting I attended, the Australian TT at Laverton Air Force base in Melbourne, was recorded by me on film (well, it was 1976 and digital photography was just a glint in someone’s eye at that stage). I had just bought a new camera, my first Single Lens Reflex camera, actually, and, apart from a test film of general family stuff, the first serious photos that I took were motorcycle road racing ones at the meeting where Kenny beat Ago.
The camera was a Praktica LTL, a big, solid, heavy brute of a camera, manufactured in the old East Germany. Screw mount interchangeable lens, TTL metering, manual drive. I teamed it with a Tamron 300mm preset telephoto lens.
Absolutely basic but it got the job done.
Now film was expensive as was processing so I learned very early on to pick my shots carefully and get the best value from each snap as possible. And so, for the next 5 years, I went to the races and took photos. Later I put the camera down in favour of a microphone but I still accumulated around 3000 photos of motorcycle road racing’s golden age, the era of Hansford, Willing and Woodley, what more need be said?
There were many photographers in the day, some professional, working for magazines and papers and many freelance, selling their product to those who needed it. I was privileged to work alongside the GREATS of the day, the late Bill Meyer, probably the greatest of them all. There was ex-pat Kiwi, Greg McBean, the closest person I have ever met to an artist with a camera, Lou Martin and Ray Petrie (both Victorian experts behind a camera). Even in his day, Robin Lewis was held in high esteem by his peers, probably the best road racing photographer who worked almost exclusively in black and white. We are indebted to Rob for his exquisite documentation of the life and career of Kenny Blake, they were great mates from the Adelaide Hills. Bernie Summers was a great multi-tasker, dividing his time between photography, racing his own bikes, writing article for REVS magazine and also selling advertising space in the fortnightly newspaper. How he managed that still amazes me!
Then, of course, there was my good friend, John Small, fellow Canberran and member of CRRC, the man who took what is arguably the most famous photo ever taken in Australian motorcycle road racing, the Graeme Crosby wheelie shot.
The scaling back of my photography at the track coincided with the arrival of motor drive cameras and the first of the fully automatic SLR’s. I remember being amazed when Len Smith (another extremely talented snapper who is still taking great shots today), showed me his brand new Canon A1. What a revelation that was. Of course, since then, film has died and digital has taken its place, which is a shame as far as I am concerned.
But, in my occasional series about photographers, this article is not about a road racing photographer but one who works in the real and unpredictable world of taking photographs on the road. Who hasn’t been on a group ride and had one of the group rush off ahead and then stop by the side of the road so that they can take some photos of the rest of us to immortalise the ride? Sadly, the enthusiasm of the photographer often exceeds their ability as taking photos of moving bikes is a very delicate art and bears little, if any, relation to taking shots of a bike at rest.
So, if this has often been your story, take heart. There IS a photographer who not only has the enthusiasm, but also the skill to make YOU look YOUR best when you’re profiling it on your favourite road. His name is John Keogh and that’s what he does. Every weekend AND during the week as well when his schedule allows, you can find him standing on the side of the Putty Road, the Wollombi Road, the Old Pacific Highway, Macquarie Pass etc, taking photos of the bikes as they pass by. You’ll recognise him if you see him, as a dedicated motorcyclist himself he rides to the site, parks his bike on the roadside, drapes his Keogh’s Vision Photography sign over the seat and then stands there for hours making us mugs look good (and, believe me, if he can make ME look good, he can do it for ANYBODY!). He won’t even mind if you wave or, if you go down the road a bit and turn around for another pass so that you can show him your better side. 🙂
As you can see, his photos are top class and worth putting straight up in the pool room. And he won’t rip your arms off on price, either. A great product at a great price, how good can that be?
John can also be found on Facebook
I should also mention that John does events photography as well. I have had great service from John’s business and I have no hesitation in recommending him.
small e says
Good piece Phil, and thanks for the kind words re my Croz shot..to be included in your Hall of fame is humbling. I too thought Greg McBean close to an artist. I aspired to take photographs like his. Some of my happiest days were loose with my film slr OM1 on the infield of Oran or Amaroo or many other tracks.
I guess we amateur snappers back in the 70s were lucky in having such relative freedom of movement on Oz circuits as compared to the OH&S digi whippersnappers of today. Provided we used our common sense we were able to find that unusual angle or perfect background and get as close as our puny telephotos would allow us. We walked that extra mile so to say. Of course the riders did the hard work but boy after a day hiking around a racetrack you felt pretty buggered..even as a young bloke.
Your trannie of Laverton is a familiar look for a lot of my old Kodakchrome & Extachrome slides these days. Maybe there’s some forgotten magic moments are stlll to emerge from those in those little yellow boxes.
Phil Hall says
All true, every word of it. Yes, we were SO lucky, you just had to be nice to Jan and it was hunky dory from there on. As for being buggered at the end of the day, oh, boy can I agree with that one!!! Good to hear from you, mate, thanks.