Photoshoot with the Canberra-based gravel cyclist, Steph Skinner
The first image from the photoshoot with the wonderful Steph Skinner
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM [ISO 4000, 70mm, f/5.6 and 1/160] with a Godox AD300Pro II flash)
Steph Skinner is a Canberra-based gravel cyclist who has only been riding since 2019 but has already completed the Hunt 1000 from Melbourne to Canberra and the 4300km Tour Divide in the US. This year she is training for the legendary 1900km Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan that has over 30 000m of climbing. They are impressive achievements for someone who only started cycling in 2019 for the daily commute to avoid paying for parking. I felt very fortunate that she agreed to let me take a series of environmental portrait shots of her.
I contacted Steph through the internet to ask if she would be able to help me out with an assignment for my Photography Diploma at the Canberra Institute of Technology. I explained in an email that I needed to take some portrait-style photographs of someone for one of my assignments. I had come across Steph when I was searching for cyclists who may be able to help me. My subject didn’t have to be a cyclist but I wanted to photograph someone outside so I decided to look for a gravel cyclist to pose for me. In reading an article on the Attaquer website about Steph on how cycling allowed her to explore places in nature, I realised that sentiment resonated with me because that was a similar feeling that I had with photography.
Steph had never met me before but we exchanged a few emails to discuss ideas and on a very cloudy first day of March, she came out to Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve at 6:45AM to pose for a complete stranger to help me out. (We had actually planned to meet the day before, at the same time, but when I arrived at the ridge at 6:30AM, the low cloud and misty rain meant that I had to postpone it. I phoned Steph immediately, hoping that she hadn’t left her house yet and she immediately offered to try again the next day.) Before dawn on an overcast Sunday morning is normally not the ideal occasion to first meet somebody but it was immediately clear that Steph was a really genuine and nice person. She was very patient with me as I worked out how to do this style of photoshoot, which was completely new to me. Nothing was too much of a bother for her and she made the whole experience so wonderful for me. She made me feel completely at ease and I hope that she enjoyed the experience as much as I did.
I was more than happy with the photographs and I hope that they show just what a lovely person Steph is and how at home she is on a gravel bike.
Many thanks Steph, you were awesome!
