Round 2 of the Central Cyclocross League's 2017 season was hosted by Luton Cycle Club at the Milton Keynes Bowl.
I've photographed cyclocross here several times in the last two years as two or three clubs tend to hold their round at the Bowl.
This time the weather was great, bright and sunny and although I did drive through some rain on the 32 mile drive, by the time I got there it was warm and dry, so much so that I had to take off my sweatshirt after the first race.
A few people commented as they walked past that it was perfect weather for photography and you know what? I said, actually it isn't.
As a photographer light is everything, after all, photography is just recording light bouncing off objects, right? But you need the right kind of light for the subject you are photographing. As a sports photographer I am well used to the vagaries of British weather. I shoot in all weathers, all year round, that means sun, rain, fog, snow and everything else nature throws at me. The most difficult lighting is bright sun.
If the rider is riding straight into the sun and directly towards the photographer, then you get some great light, all parts of the rider are nice and bright and you can use faster shutter speeds. The same applies if the rider is cycling at 90 degress to the sun and the photographer is shooting with the sun behind their back. As soon as you introduce angles the whole thing goes to rack and ruin. I now have to decide how to expose the cyclist who has part of themselves in bright sunlight and the rest in dark shadow.
Take the image at the top of the page, taken on Saturday at CXL R2 in Milton Keynes. The side nearest the sun is in harsh sunlight and is very, very bright. The rest of him is on dark shadow, there are harsh shadow lines on his right forearm and across his face, it doesn't look great.
