Media center Maribor 2009. This muddy CANON 1Ds Mark II went into retirement a long time ago. My CANON 1D series workhorses come and go. I've been using 5 generations of them (1D, Ds, DX, and a couple of Mark versions in between). These photos were shot with an analogue LEICA M6 film camera, already considered old at that time. But it seems like good old stuff never gets outdated, that's why this camera is still on duty.
1st World Cup 2009 was in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Greg Minnaar won his hometown race.The 2009 MTB World Cup season kicked off in Pietermaritzburg South Africa. My first time in Africa. It was a totally new experience and I learned a lot. The typical vegetation isn’t a jungle, it’s rapidly growing timber. The shuttle for the Downhill riders was a lorry. I found out about a South African MTB brand: Morewood, and I met Patrick Morewood in person.
LEFT: Track walk through the timber forest with Sam Hill and Brendan Fairclough. RIGHT: Zulu dance before the award ceremony. High polished Morewood Makulu DH bikes.Houffalize in Belgium was the stage for the 4X and the XCO World Cup.Jared Graves, Dan Atherton and somebody is flipping through a legendary dirt magazine. Gee Atherton was not racing here but working out. La Bresse France, Round 2 of the DH World Cup. Sam Hill manuals through the wooden berm. Busy GT tent: Mick Hannah warming up, Terry giving advice, Marc Maurissen kicking the stand, Kevin Aiello turning on the beat and Marc Beaumont waiting for the warm-up bike. RIGHT SIDE: Does anybody remember Chumba bikes?Airports can be boring. Unless Duncan Riffle shows up and entertains the waiting queue at the car rental office. LEFT: Another 4X World Cup Jared Graves was unbeatable. RIGHT: Kiwis with some unique wind instruments.LEFT: This forecast is hard to believe but true in 2009. RIGHT: Was this the last World Cup we saw Nathan Rennie racing?.Gondola to the Megavalanche start on the Pic Blanc at 3.330m.Two unique moments in 2009. Bumping into Victor Lucas with a self-made POV cam at the quali start. And seeing the legend Anne Caroline Chausson (among other titles BMX Olympic Gold medalist 2008.) at the Megavalanche.4X World Cup in Schladming Austria. The finals by night on the ski slope was great entertainment.LEFT SIDE: German DH, Rampage rider, 4X legend Guido Tschugg. RIGHT SIDE: The eternal battle between Michal Prokop and Jared Graves.Misty morning in the gondola to the DH start. My co-passenger was Danny Hart reading the qualification result list.2009 was wrapped up. Sam Hill won the World Cup in Schladming and became the overall winner. Matti Lehikoinen and Duncan Riffle. Cleaning bikes and packing up. Time to go home.Photos: Hoshi Yoshida
Camera: LEICA M6, 1997
Lens: Leica Summilux 35mm f/1.4
Film: ILFORD XP2 400
2009 wasn’t that long ago... We’ve really only been through a few generations of ‘15% better small bump sensitivity’ since then. Most of the shakeups in the bike industry have been geometry and wheel size related. If you gave these bikes modern geometry and wheel size, but stuck to the 2009 dampers, I think they would still be fairly competitive. Especially under a pro rider with factory techs to dial them in. I bet it would be the equivalent of racing on today’s upper-midrange suspension.
As for grain, if you are shooting 400 or slower film, there will not be much grain, unless pushed in dev. The 'high end' films like Portra, Ektar, and Pro are color films with tight, almost non existent, grain.
I've now gone digital with a Fujifilm XPRO2 and the results are staggering - when I can figure out the settings! Life was simple with the Leica's manual operation (save for the meter). The swing to digital was for monetary reasons, the cost of processing slide film was high and when you throw away about a third of shots due to vagaries in exposure it becomes galling.
Digital is fun and definitely makes things easier. Being able to move ISO around frame by frame is probably the best advantage.
I am massively looking forward to the beginning of the season here so that I can work on it more. I have the right combination of lenses and body. Just need to practice a bit more. Negative film is cheaper than slide to develop and there are some massively sharp options in both color and black and white.