Photo Shoot
Occasionally a bike comes together so well that people can’t help but take notice. The angles look just right. The tubes are neither too long nor too short. The colors work together in perfect harmony. Jackie’s Cafe Racer S was just such a bike, I knew it when it was finished, but Seven Cycles also took note. John Lewis, the marketing manager, asked if they could borrow the bike for a photo shoot for use on the web and possibly the print brochure. Jackie was totally fine with her bike being a bit of a celebrity, so I dropped it off on my most recent trip to Boston.
Photo shoots at Seven are in the hands of Kirk Tegelaar. So is the Photoshopping. So are the website updates. So are a million things, but for now we’ll just focus on what happens when a bike is ready for a photo shoot. Before the bike is wheeled into the booth, it goes the opposite direction to the bike workshop where a heavy coat of Pledge furniture polish is applied and the pedals are removed. The chain is shifted into the big ring and dropped down into the cog that makes the chain look parallel to the ground. Finally, the drive side crank arm is put in line with the chain stay.
Without laying so much as a finger print on the bike, he brings it to the photo booth where the bike is suspended in mid air by adjustable strings affixed to the ceiling.
The wheels are rotated util the valves and tire logos are at the top and the. There are a few set angles that Kirk will capture including a standard drive side shot, an angled side shot from the front, and an angled side shot from the rear. The side shot is for the web, the angled images are often used in the print brochure.
With each click of his camera, two huge flashes go off, then he looks at the LCD camera screen to ensure he got what he wants.
When he gets all the shots from all the angles, it’s off to the computer where he’ll clean up the image, namely using Photoshop to remove the strings and hooks holding the bike in place. When clean up is through, he uploads it to the website for the world to see.
Greg Marchand, a frame designer at Seven Cycles, designs bikes all day every day but was sitting atop Jackie’s bike when I returned to pick it up. I deemed this the ultimate family bike, and though he’d probably call it a hybrid, there he sat, grinning ear to ear. Where some might only be interested in the latest and greatest featherweight wireless tour winning bikes, Seven so clearly indulges in designing bikes for the rider, that even a hybrid gets the people pumped. It made me happy to work with such a company, and happier to return Jackie’s cover model back to her.