Tales From the Towpath: A Sunny Sunday Cycle
I’m not a spiritual person, but sometimes you wake up, see the sun and just ‘know’ that you need to get out with the camera. This is a quick blog post about the power of doing just that! It's a little bit about cameras, a little bit about cycling and even a little bit about life - but nothing too deep, just some thoughts. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon read.
I’ve been working pretty much constantly for a few months and knew that I was feeling a little bit burnt out. As a photographer and videographer, my work tends to get busier in the build up to Christmas with conferences, events and business burning through their marketing budgets. So when I had the opportunity to have a rare Sunday to myself, with no editing to do and no jobs booked in, I knew that I was going to get out with the camera and just take some pictures for myself!
It was a beautiful autumnal day in Birmingham with a slight chill in the air - the kind of day that I absolutely love and perfect for taking the bike out. I had no intention of going particularly far, or particularly fast or even trying to take particularly good photos - it was more just the act of taking photos. I decided to cycle down one of Birmingham’s many canal routes in the hope that the autumnal colours would be in full bloom.
Deciding which camera to take is always a challenge. I’m privileged to have a number of cameras to pick from but there is one in particular that doesn’t seem to get enough use, the Fuji GFX 50 S II - a beautiful Medium Format camera that produces incredible images and small enough to through in a backpack and cycle with, the perfect camera for my needs. It’s not a particular fast camera to use but then again, this little trip out was never meant to be rushed.
With the camera safely packed up, I hit the road, well, the towpath more accurately as I made my way out towards Birmingham’s Spaghetti Junction. This might not sound like the most picturesque of destinations but I do have a soft spot for the more industrial feeling areas. The light was beautiful and the warm autumnal tones made a nice contrast with the grey concrete and old factory buildings. The GFX has great dynamic range and it would come in very useful to balance the bright sunshine and the deep shadows.
The riding was fairly light going and the towpaths were pretty quiet, apart from the occasional person fishing or fellow cyclist. It was nice just to clear my head and concentrate on just looking for images. It almost feels like some form of meditation when you are simply focused on looking for little scenes to create images from, freeing you from all of the other stresses of work, money and life in general. Even better, I had no intent on even making ‘good’ images, I just let my mind wander and if something caught my eye, I’d stop, take out the camera and grab a picture.
I had no real destination in mind, I was simply just following the towpath. I’d occasionally nod and say hello to passers-by but I was mostly just looking ahead and seeing what potential images I could see. The further out of the city I got, the more the scenes changed from industrial, to residential and eventually to countryside, or at least what a city-dweller like me would class as countryside. It was so nice to just keep going, mile after mile until the towpaths went from grey concrete to soft wet mud - a challenging cycle but great fun and the smell of the wet mud and grass made me realise how much I enjoy being out of the city!
The bike was holding up well too, for now at least. For those interested, I was riding a Canondale Topstone 4 - a very capable Gravel Bike that has been ideal for getting around Birmingham on and was proving to be more than adept at a bit more ‘off road’ action. As I bounced over tree routes and narrowly avoided wildlife, I was deeply concentrating on what I was doing and it felt good to be immersed in the act of just being out on the bike, exploring a little bit of nature and only stopping if something caught my eye.
As mile after mile went by, I was so wrapped up in what I was doing that as I started to get into a bit more of an urban area again, I wasn’t entirely sure where I was. A quick look on google maps revealed I was in Tamworth! I’d managed some 15 miles on the Birmingham & Fazeley canal through varying terrain. I now had a choice, get the train home or cycle back? It wasn’t even close, I was enjoying myself so much that I immediately turned around, got straight back on the towpath and made my way homewards.
I stopped off to grab a coffee on my way back at a little canalside pub. The locals barely lifted an eye at my mud covered legs and sweaty face. I scrolled through the images on the GFX, not particularly impressed by any of them but also completely unbothered, this was more just the joy of taking images with no pressure at all whether they’re any good or not. It was so relieving to not have to consider clients' opinions or whether they would ‘do well on social media’ - these images were just for me.
As I made my way back into Birmingham, with the best of the light starting to fade behind clouds, I felt my front wheel become a bit ‘unresponsive’ and a quick inspection confirmed my worst fears, a puncture. Even though my tyres are ‘tubeless’ I’d not got a pump on me so with about four miles to go, I ended up walking and half-carrying my bike so as not to damage the front tyre. This should have ruined my day but I was so full of joy from just being out with the camera, that I barely noticed the inconvenience.
As I slowly made my way home, I couldn’t help but feel this was exactly what I had needed, a bit of downtime. It’s strange but I get so much joy from photography but it really helps when you are doing it for yourself and not with a client's expectations looming over you. It was great to use the GFX and I loved editing the images and pulling so much from them. I will definitely be making use of the big medium format camera again.
When I got home and got cleaned up, I started to think about how life is a little bit like that towpath (bear with me!). We’re all on our own journey, sometimes it’s easy going, other times it gets a bit muddy. Sometimes you’re so focused on not going in the water that you end up in the brambles. You never know who you will meet on the journey or what you’ll see. Ultimately, it’s about finding those little bits of enjoyment and even if it gets a bit more challenging and you suffer a puncture, it’s about making sure you take time for yourself and enjoying the little moments while you can. At the end of the journey when your legs are hurting, you’re out of breath and you’ve struggling through the mud, you might even end up in Tamworth…
Feeling slightly deflated…
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About the Author - Ross Jukes is a professional Photographer and Videographer with over a decade of experience. Working in both Digital and Analogue formats, Ross has worked with international clients, had his worked published numerous times and exhibited his work extensively. With a passion for all things photographic, Ross combines his experience, enthusiasm and dedication to his art form to create engaging and educational content for the photographic community.
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