Hey all, so here’s my first scans of the portraits I shot during this year’s Redhook Crit!
Yes, these are 4×5 film. Ilford HP5, exposed with a Sinar 4×5 camera with schneider 150mm lens.
The race was almost rained out after the qualifying heats, and parts of the course kept flooding and being cleared all through the afternoon. Due to weather conditions and safety concerns, both the women’s and men’s races were not only bumped up in the schedule, but the lap count was drastically cut as well. The rain seemed to really become an issue. Our plans of informing the women to come sit for a portrait got totally scattered. After I was all set up in the driest place I could find, realizing the time crunch I was in turn trying to grab any woman racer I could, and get them to sit for me as they were coming back in from their qualifying heat. I scoured the cruise terminal building that was set up as a prep/staging area for the racers, and was struggling to find my rain soaked and exhausted women racers out of a scattered pile of spandex, carbon wheels, and ladies that had came back in and changed into dry street clothes. The rain had made everything harder and more chaotic than anyone could have imagined.
“Are any of you ladies racing?!” and “Would you mind coming to sit for a portrait for me?”
I was able to shoot 13 portraits. 37 women registered, 31 showed up and raced the qualifier, 28 women raced the final race, and only 18 women finished and placed.
So all in all, I didn’t do too bad with just 13 of these amazing women sitting for me. I wish I could have taken portraits of all of them. I wish I could emphasize how much the women of the cycling world coming out and crushing this incredibly hard event, despite the weather conditions, despite a crash during the women’s race that left a racer with a broken collarbone, despite having to travel across the country, overseas, or from their home on the other end of Brooklyn, these women are amazing. I’m honored I was able to shoot them.
-JP Bevins
