How to become a MTB photographer? Part I

How to become a MTB photographer? I'm asking the question more than providing the answer, but as an established adventure photographer I wanted to share my tentative beginnings into this genre.

I've been photographing mountains for a few years; climbers, hikers, skiers, campers.... And with some modest success. But I started riding in the summer of 2013 and immediately realised my portfolio (and my life!) was missing the raw kinetic energy of hurtling down a dirt track.

I've always loved the mountains, but landscape photography doesn't do it for me. I shoot landscapes, but it's usually as a by-product of whatever else I'm doing. I want to capture excitement and fear and all the other emotions that go with moving on ground that is just a little bit too steep! And I realised that even skiing doesn't allow you to get the lens so involved in that frenetic moment.

Thanks to the welcoming people involved in this sport I got a break - the guys who'd sold me my first bike at Cyclewise hooked me up with Madison to shoot a couple of their events at Whinlatter Forest. I can't imagine this happening in some sports, where you may need to spend years infiltrating a certain clique, so being given a chance as an 'outsider' meant a lot.

So here are a few shots from that first event; a demo night for Light and Motion, two words which sum up adventure photography, and a challenge to really get my teeth into! Playing with light is what photographers live for. As a newcomer any feedback on these images would be greatly appreciated - some of them are probably cliched, some may not feel authentic, coming from a beginner's eye. But I hope you like them....

www.danielwildeyphotography.com/