Photographer: Peter Haynes

Peter Haynes definitely gets around the place – armed with four or five cameras, most of the time! After shooting some new photos of our man Frog, we caught up with him for a Q&A to find out a little more about this trails rider and shooter.

BIO

Name: Peter Haynes Hometown: Kettering, Northants / Farnham, Surrey for uni Years shooting BMX photos: Ever since I started riding bikes, taking my mums camera out and about with me. So about nine years maybe Where you can see my photos: My website, Flickr and a few other little blog features I’ve had. Ride 118 had a little feature also, stoked. Nikon or Canon, or…? Nikon, Olympus, Minolta, Lomo, Bronica, Yashica…

What are you doing today? What’s the plan? Uni work today, wish I could go riding in the woods as it’s nice and sunny outside and the leaves are coming down. But I destroyed my elbow – dislocated and two fractures – a few weeks back at the Melbourne jam, so no bikes for a long time, this also makes taking photos pretty tricky.

Okay, what are some of the trails spots you’ve shot photos at? I’ve got my camera out at most sets of trails all over the UK, not that they ever see the light of day. I try to get at least one photo I’m happy with whenever I take my camera out.

What are your stand-out favourite trails spots? Riding wise Winch backline, Melbourne monster run, Loughbrough Deville line, Spooks Cobra just as long as I’m going fast then it’s a treat.

Jack Smith, three… Crow!

And are there any others you really want to take photos at, that you haven’t been to yet? Brighouse looks amazing, like a green paradise. I would have loved to have gone to P5 back when that place was running good. America would be fun, not just for trails but just getting lost and ending up in a crazy trailer park in the middle of nowhere. I watched Gummo the other day and I want to go there so much right now.

For you, how does shooting photos at the trails differ to shooting, say, street, indoor parks, contests, etc? Being in the woods means not having to worry about your flashes getting destroyed by a little kid or someone sending a triple flip and all the sketchy people you might come across in the street. So I am more relaxed working in the woods when a chilled sessions going down. I try to not leave anything at home which usually means I’ve got every format covered by four different cameras, I hate feeling like I could have taken something better on a different camera so I just bring everything. It’s annoying.

Ideally… film, or digital? I’m still a long way off being about to rely 100% on film so I use digital a lot more for BMX photos. For snapshots having a compact film / 35mm SLR is the best, the feel of them and waiting to get your prints back is the best feeling. Having access to C41 developing and printing at Uni has moved my photos forward no end, spending hours on a final print can be painstaking but when you’ve got that print up on the wall its all worth it.

What tips would you give to people wanting to take better trails photos? Keep it simple; get dialled on a 35mm SLR then move on from there. Digital is a big help but it might also make you lazy. If you’re having fun then keep at it. Get a loan also, this stuff’s going to get pricey.

Frog boostin!

What’s your favourite trails photo of all time? Photos of people going high and looking stoked. Keith Terra’s photo of Foster jumping over someone maybe at Posh, it’s in black and white and printed with the film border. Bancroft’s photo of Martyn Tabling doing a big no-hander through the BBQ smoke and sun light. Then just snapshots on phones of the work people have been putting in and building stuff, that gets me super excited to go take photos and maybe do a one-hander.

Do you prefer shooting trails in the woods, or out in the open? Melbourne last year in the field was great if there was a nice sunset, it’s tricky sometimes in the middle of summer when it’s so green and you have to get really technical with flashes to pick the rider out of the leaves. So as long as I get a photo I’m happy with and the rider likes it then it’s thumbs up all round.

What about dirt jumping contests – how do you see those? Jams are hard work and I’m not too great at asking people to redo things for the camera so contest is just luck. Reading the course almost like a rider would and looking for the best lines and spots. Being a rider means you notice things the average person wouldn’t see, bank to wall and sandy dirt in a wood. Being a rider and photographer you have almost six sets of eyes, noticing changes in light, shade, angles and viewpoints, I don’t know how my brain keeps up.

If you were going to, say Catty Woods or Bar End, for a photo shoot for one day with just three riders – who would you pick, and why? Robbo, Lima, Matt Priest are three from the UK they’re all nice guys and all would make a nice photo on any jump. But then I could add into the mix Derek Gerard, Foster, Aitken, Stauffer, Doyle anyone I know will blast out of a jump and I’ll have to rethink the whole shot because they’ve gone too bloody high!

Louis, Wingham.

See more of Peter’s photos on the fadeawayfast.com website

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posted by Patrick Best
on 21/11/08