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Was lucky enough to somehow gain accreditation to the Tour Down Under 2007 this year. Hopefully I'll be able to add some nice images to my portfolio and at the same time post some here as the stages unfold.

Nervously picked up my credentials from the Hilton Adelaide this morning rubbing shoulders with photographers and journalists from AAP/News Ltd/The Australian and sat down in the media lounge. Fridge full of drinks, show bag full of South Australian Chocolates and wine, great way to start.

Press conference unfolded at 1.40ish after a briefing. Sure fire way to piss off a room full of Journos is to have the fire alarm go off 3 times in half an hour.

Monday Afternoon


#1 - Defending champion Simon Gerrans smiles during a press conference ahead of the Tour Down Under 2007.


#2 - A puzzled Robert Hunter faces media at in Adelaide ahead of the Tour Down Under 2007.


#3 - Some twat (The Australian Photographer) just *had* to wear an Ochre colour top...


#4 - French team Team Agritubel experiences Australian Wildlife outside the Tour Down Under Village on the eve of the Tour Down Under Classic.

Monday Evening

3000 people in Adelaide filled out the Adelaide Super Drome at Gepps Cross this evening for two events - a track cycling exhibition by some cyclists including Anna Meares and a presentation ceremony where all the teams and cyclists were brought up on stage. I arrived just before 6PM, ushered into the centre section and all the media were advised "Food is coming at 8PM, stay off the track, you can go everywhere else". One of the Advertiser photographers, Ray Titus, had a 300/2.8 perched less than half a metre out from the inner Black line. Lighting wasn't great, had to flash to get any contrast but ambient shutter speeds were just right for panning.


#5 - Cyclists at the Tour Down Under Night of Stars in Adelaide.


#6 - Anna Meares and Kristine Bayley battle out the Women's Sprint Final at the Adelaide Super-Drome.


#7 - Cycling commentator Phil Liggett poses for photographs with the Tour Hosts at the Tour Down Under Night of Stars at the Adelaide Super Drome.


#8 - SouthAustralia.com / AIS riders line up at the Tour Down Under Night of Stars.

Killing some time here this afternoon inside the Media centre; two media conferences today - one with three of the UniSA Women's Criterium Series riders and then another with Team CSC owner and Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis. Also a quick appearance by Robbie McEwen. Its the Tour Down Under Classic tonight and its an absolute scorcher of 40 degrees outside. Anyhow, some photos....


#9 - Inside the Media Centre


#10 -1996 Tour de France Winner and Team CSC Owner Bjarne Riis answers questions at a press conference ahead of the Tour Down Under 2007 in Adelaide, South Australia.


#11 - Predictor Lotto rider Robbie McEwen is interviewed at the Tour Village before the Tour Down Under Classic.


#12 - Predictor Lotto rider Robbie McEwen is interviewed at the Tour Village before the Tour Down Under Classic.

Congrats on the great opporunity and a good start to what it hopefully a prosperous career path for you! A great collection of shots thus far with many more still to come I'm sure.

2nd image is excellent nice angle as well as the oen of the cyclist track with the blurry bicycles

congratulations on getting media accreditation

enjoy yourself NOW because later it's just plain hard hard work and it never ends

it's also important to rememebr if you want more opps you need to proove to the Public relatins people that you can in fact publicise their events by distributing your images into the media and gettign them published

All very good Ronnie, pitty we didn't see you but at shows like this most would be near the finish to get that shot over the line and we moved around a bit. But well done.

You are one lucky dude. just wondering how did you manage to score a media pass ? I thought that media passes are only given to those who are associated with a particular media outlet.

enjoy the tour!

Ronnie - congratulations on your accreditation for the 'TDU' 2007. So where next, Clipsal 500: 1st-4th March 2007 and beyond!

fozzie

First off, sorry to have to chuck more images onto a single page of the thread for those with bandwidth restrictions.

Just finished eating/showering/uploading some photos from the Tour Down Under Classic Tonight. Unfortunately didn't catch up with the minimeet that was there but on the upside they didn't shower everyone in Champagne this year either. Media went in 3 vans that took 40 mins to drive less than a km in traffic, least they were air conditioned in today's heat.

I went straight for the hairpin, got lucky and got right on the edge of the hairpin - wanted to try some off shoe fill flash stuff so setup a clamp and a 540EZ on manual. Shot at f/8-f/16 and 1/250s with output at about 1/8th to try and get a nice surreal, almost photoshopped feel with the second curtain sync. Alot of guess work and alot of full power flashes going off less than half a metre from the cyclists, couldn't imagine that being all too nice for them. Least it was only during practise/warmup. Just when I had got the exposure right for the start, security kicked all the media out of that section only to let us back in 10 mins after the start of the race. Eeejits prolly mistaken a different call over their walkie-talkies.

Spent most of the race panning/shooting the leaders/getting back up close to that hairpin with the wide angle until the end. Blue media (me) are restricted back down 30m away from the finish line while 3ish of the "Red" guys along with the offical photographer are up right on the line. Mark Renshaw took out the Classic this evening.


#10 - My experiment


#11 - The peloton approaches the hairpin at the Adelaide East End Circuit during the Tour Down Under 2007 Classic.


#12 - Team Agritubel at the Tour Down Under 2007 Classic in Adelaide.


#13 - Local Adelaide Team UniSA rider Chris Jongerwaard checks his lead during the final laps of the Tour Down Under 2007 Classic.


#14 - Mark Renshaw, Credit Agricole, celebrates his Tour Down Under 2007 Classic win.

Gallery >
http://ronza.smugmug.com/gallery/2358804/1[/img]

Fisrt shot is the killa!!

Brilliant set! Your obviously very good at what you do!

Alrighty - Smugmug's been "maintenence'ing" for the last evening, checked it before I hit the sack and its back on so I'll show off some images today. First real stage of the Tour Down Under today - from Mawson Lakes to Tanunda through the One Tree Hill and through some rolling yellow hills. Photographers were split into two vans that went out with the convoy on a police escort behind the riders. Green lights all the way to Mawson Lakes (but also stuck at a crawling pace) - got out and shot the riders until 10 minutes before the start and then headed out to keep infront.

My van stopped once at the King of the Mountain at Humgbug Scrub, an average view with unexciting shots but a good chance to get to talk to two other guys, Yuzuku Sunada, a Japanese photographer based in Italy and Shane Goss, an absolute cycling nut with a camera around his neck. We left before the peloton arrived and then pulled onto a spot near some vineyards to get the single "landscape" shot for the day. Few photographers climbed onto the roof of the van (boy did they get owned by the Race Commissaries), me and Shane got a vantage point in the vines while Sara Reed, the Advertiser photographer, laid down by the road. Lotta effort and travelling to do one photo when you're in the vans as you can't overtake the riders. There are 5 photographers who share 3 bikes and they get some nice views of the riders as they go along.

Arrived in Tanunda an hour before the riders - I took a wander around the track, had a chat with a local sports photographer, took a nap under a tree then shot a few of the women and then the finish by Karl Menzies. Result wise, a great day for the Tasmanians, Belinda Goss took out the Women's Crit while UniSA rider Karl Menzies took the stage win. A group of 18 riders broke away to a huge 26 minute gap; looking at the race now it'll be hard for anyone outside of that group really.


#15 - The Navigators Insurance team signs onto Stage 1 of the Tour Down Under 2007 at Mawson Lakes.


#16 - Stage One of the Tour Down Under 2007 from Mawson Lakes to Tanunda rolls through the Barossa Valley.


#17 - UniSA Women's Criterium on the Tanunda Circuit.


#18 - Tasmanian UniSA rider Karl Menzies celebrates his Tour Down Under 2007 Stage 1 victory at Tanunda.

And again...
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/content/


#19 - An exhausted Gene Bates after completing Stage One of the Tour Down Under 2007 in the lead group.

man regular updates your like a news service

the first one in your latest set is really cool
it's very getty images

you got a great reportage style

do you get paid by that website that has published your photo?
congratulations on going pro

Still a long way from going "Pro" hehe Wendell; when I get to eat off the millions of dollars I make behind the lens I'll let you know. Thanks though - am starting to really use flash alot more this week.
Stage 2 involved a freaking early start for all the riders/teams/photographers; the entire convoy went out to Mannum on the Murray River a solid 80-90 minutes outside of Adelaide. Convoy ended up being 30 mins late to push out from the Hilton; in the words of the driver "I've seen better organised Kindy parties". Likely due to the error of on one of the teams - usually on most stages the riders casually ride to the start location - today, being so far away, bikes were loaded up onto a truck and the riders go in vans. Apparently one of the teams didn't quite realise this and were caught out with a heap of unloaded bikes 15 minutes before departure. Mannum put out a show for the riders, after driving through long empty roads to get there - I daresay the entire town was packed onto Main St.

Freaking ugly overcast day today; went through some beautiful scenery on two photo stops that would have looked ace with a nicely polarised deep blue sky but heck, you can't win them all. The riders rode 80 odd kilometres before reaching a loop around Hahndorf of about 10 km where they'd complete a few laps. The original plan was for the photo vans to zig zag in between areas of the circuit through the centre of the said loop - last year our driver did 6 stops taking roads in the centre of the loop to get to the other side ahead of the riders. Unfortunately the field split and the lead group near on lapped the peloton - that was the size of the gap. We got one shot in on the Hahndorf loop then decided to head into town to shoot the finish.

The Belgian team Chocolade Jacques (been spelling it Chocolate Jacques for the last 3 days, frick) placed one and two over the line and had 4 spots in the top 12 riders in the breakaway. Made for a nice finish with both riders Steven Caethoven and Pieter Ghyllebert (getting these off the results sheet, ain't that good yet) throwing their arms up.


#20 - The Blur of Colour - Tour Down Under 2007 cyclists ride toward Hahndorf from Mannum.


#21 - Ag2r rider Samuel Dumoulin wins the King of the Mountain of Stage 2 at the Tour Down Under 2007.


#22 - Team CSC rider Stuart O Grady leads the peloton on the second stage of the Tour Down Under 2007 as they approach Hahndorf.


#23 - Race commentator Jimmy Jacques watches as the Peloton rolls through Hahndorf on their final lap of the Hahndorf area circuit.


#24 - Chocolade Jacques rider Steven Caethoven celebrates after winning Stage Two of the Tour Down Under 2007 from Mannum to Hahndorf.


#25 - Chocolade Jacques rider Steven Caethoven after winning Stage Two of the Tour Down Under 2007 from Mannum to Hahndorf.

What great images mate!

Well done. Having media accred sure gets you in the right places, but, you still need to have a high level of skill to get shots as good as this!

Real nice!!!

Ronza, one of the good things about the Tues and Sun is they do so many laps which gives plenty of opportunity to try out new techniques and angles. Saturday at Willunga is not bad either because they go past 3 times...Keep up the good work.

wow that is sum full on stuff man! WD!!

A long, dreadful day today - first rain in ages here in Adelaide and that sure made things difficult. First time in race history its come down; one of the photographers in my van said he'd never ever shot a race finish in the rain either.

Stirling to Victor; day started with the media not getting the police escort nor the convoy, nor a car park at Stirling. Mike Turtur just cracked the proverbial shits at the drivers for coming onto the race route to find a park. The race route went through the hills with no real overtaking shortcut; so photostops had to be timed well to avoid be stuck behind the convoy without a route around them. We stopped at what we thought was 60km down the race route (and 2km from a shortcut); that ended up being only ~20km down race route (driver didn't reset the counter at the start of the race route, rather including the drive from Adelaide). That left us behind the convoy for the next 20km doing 50km/h and no photos We aimed to shoot King of the Mountain as well and forego anything in between, driver decided to follow a police car that we discovered later on, was organising a different bike race. Needless to say, we missed the KOM shot and got stuck behind the convoy once again. Tried to salvage the day by heading straight to Victor 90 mins ahead of the riders - another wrong turn and bad traffic and we ended up arriving only 50 mins ahead of the riders. The riders today were 40 mins faster than scheduled. A hurry to run to the finish to try and get the shot, luckily did make that.

Rain was coming down hard in Victor; the photographers on Bikes got absolutely drenched as did their filters making it nice and foggy. Couldn't see carp through my viewfinder as it fogged up as well. Greg Decantes (http://www.descantes.com/) 20D got a bit of water in it despite his weather proof gear - 20Ds + Water = alot of continuous shooting once its switched on. Mark Gunter (http://www.pbase.com/gunterphotograph) had his 580EX LCD turn into a nice fishtank as water seeped in. Luckily my gear is weathersealed but if Canon (or any company) can figure out how to weather seal a flash gun, I'd imagine it be popular.


#26 - SouthAustralia.com / AIS rider Gene Bates signs into Tour Down Under 2007.


#27 - Team New Zealand and manager Jacques Landry prepare for the third stage of the Tour Down Under 2007.


#28 - Stage 2 winner Steven Caethoven prepares for the third stage of the race.


#29 - Australian Team CSC rider Matt Goss finishes third across the line at Victor Harbour


#30 - Team New Zealand rider Scott Lyttle looks somewhat bemused after crossing the line at the third stage of the Tour Down Under 2007.

Ronza, welcome to the real world of cycling. Rain gives us the sh*ts, as the wet rubber punctures easier..just what you want to do in the wet, change a tyre.. The wet weather does offer some good opportunities though, such as the spray comming off the tyres and the cyclist when they are rocketing down the hills. as for the weather proofing of your flash gun - you have to umprovise on that one - glad bag I might make it to the Willunga section tomorrow, shoot the start and then I am undecided, do I go for the Willunga Hill or do I get them comming down Penny Hill, where if it is dry they crack 100 km/hr.
Sunday should be good and Fozzie and I should be able to catch up with you becuae it is not as chaotic as the Tues night. Bit of a bummer that you were not able to get as many shots as planned but that too is part of the circus!! At least you get a good chance to talk shop with fellow photgraphers..

Alrighty - one day behind due to a birthday commitment last night so a nice stack of images awaits on my hard drive to process.

Stage 4; its a circuit around Willunga that goes through areas including the McLaren Vale (winieries) and then also Aldinga Beach (a trendy, rather expensive hub of "shacks"). In the history of the race; its one of the most critical stages for the teams and riders. The riders complete three laps of a large circuit around Willunga affording plenty of photo opportunities by cutting through and meeting up with them again.

Rain was the order of the day; it bucketed down in droves much like the day before. Unlike Stirling to Victor Harbour stage though; I did manage to squeeze in some photos and our driver knew exactly what he was doing (different one) so despite the rain; I was a happy-ish sorta guy. First photostop was by Aldinga Beach on the Esplanade, the riders go along with a backdrop of cliffs and oceans behind them. Pity it wasn't 30°C and cloudless otherwise it would have been picture perfect. A kind man let us up onto the balcony of his holiday home to shoot down. From there were raced to McLaren vale to get a few shots by the grapes Repeat for the second lap then onto Willunga Hill for the King of the Mountain.

The KOM stage at Willunga is massive, draws the biggest crowd outside of the start/finish of any leg. I had my shot setup 30 mins prior only to have some punters rockup with 350Ds + Kit Lenses and stand infront of me - like wtf Nailed my favourite shot of Renshaw for the entire week at that spot though. By this stage it was absolutely bucketing down and the riders were split up quite heavily. I shot them all to get Karl Menzies (tour leader) who was somewhere at the back of the pack and in doing so - missed my ride out of Willinga Hill. Ran back to the car park to find no Media Vans waiting; thought I had gone to the wrong spot but then it clicked - the bastards had gone off without me The drivers have to absolutely race down the hill before the public get in their cars to have any hope of making the finish and with The Advertiser photographer, Sarah Reed in the car, sacrifices (me) had to be made. Spent a lonely 20 minutes up there barking on the mobile to organise a lift out of there.

Karl Menzies lost the Ochre Jersey, a Swiss Rider Martin Elmiger snagged it with a 1 sec lead over Menzies.


#31 - Signing in each morning is less of a chore with the tour hosts.


#32 - Riders along the Esplanade at Aldinga Beach on the fouth stage of the Tour Down Under 2007.


#33 - Belgian Wim Vansevenant leads the Peloton through McLaren Vale on the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under 2007.


#34 - Cyclists pass through McLaren Vale on the fouth stage of the Tour Down Under 2007.


#35 - Mark Renshaw, Credit Agricole.


#36 - Stage 4 Winner and Chocolade Jacques rider Pieter Ghyllebert refreshes at Willunga.


#37 - Even the podium girls struggled to keep dry back stage.

so since this is a tour
does the press camp out or get hotels rooms
whilst travelling with the cyclists

or do you go home every day and trek out to where the cysclists are?

format is very different to a static sports event liek gymnastics in a stadium
logistically must be hard to cover

wendellt wrote:so since this is a tour
does the press camp out or get hotels rooms
whilst travelling with the cyclists

or do you go home every day and trek out to where the cysclists are?

format is very different to a static sports event liek gymnastics in a stadium
logistically must be hard to cover

The "tour" is somewhat misleading - everything is within 90 minutes of Adelaide and the entire convoy of riders/officials/media come back to Adelaide each day.

There are 5 stages + the "Classic" and four of them are outside of Adelaide. Everything is based at the Adelaide Hilton though; all the riders/teams/international media stay there, the conferences are there, the media centre is there, the convoys leave from there and its all directly across from the "Tour Village" at Victoria Square. The stage "ends" are all within 60-90 minutes drive of Adelaide though so no one spends a night outside of Adelaide (Im not sure theres a hotel big enough outside of the Adelaide CBD to house all these people anyhow). Generally most stages finish at around 3PM and everyone is back by around 4.30PM to the Hilton.

Logistically its a bitch - the event team literally went into tears and hugged each other when Jimmy Jacques (the commentator) finished up today handing over the final trophies. Something like 7 media vehicles; 28 team cars and a dozen official cars head out and back each day. Apparently a heap of SA Government employees caught the bus to work this week as their cars were commandeered and stickered with TDU paraphernalia.

well it must of been quite a ride no pun intended

so were you shooting officially for that website you have your image published on or are you a contributor

excellent work by the way i can see your street reportage style has heavily influenced your sports coverage
your coverage has a strong reportage feel to it and thats great