Phil O'Connor Guest Speaker at May Pedal Club Lunch

 

Phil O’Connor has enjoyed a career of over forty year at the top level of sports photography with cycling as his speciality. His own experience as a racing man has given him an insight which is only available to a participant in the sport, but clearly he has full technical expertise which sets him apart from the ordinary cyclist holding a camera.

His talk was based on a screening of about forty of his own favourite photographs. These pictures, which can be seen here https://philoconnor.smugmug.com/Pedal-Club-2024, mostly speak for themselves, but there were certainly some revealing comments. In one sense it may be obvious to the consumers of cycling photographs, but how many of us have realised that, back in the eighties it was possible to park on the famous climbs (on the day of the race, not days in advance) and then to get pictures where the background is not cluttered with motorhomes? Phil also pointed out that, however good sunglasses and helmets may be for the riders’ health, they are terrible for cycling photography.

Naturally, Phil started his career with film, but was keen to embrace the many advantages of digital photography as they became available. Given the difficulties of working with film it is striking just how well Phil (and his predecessors) did with their relatively primitive equipment.