For nine years often at the end of my commute i felt myself teetering on the edge of anger and rage – Delayed buses / packed tubes / cramped spaces / fume and sweat choked air / squeezed in / disagreeable odours / thoughtless people…
True, there were some cool moments:
But they were few and far between. I finally took the logical step and began cycling to work last summer.
Here’s five reasons why cycling to work is AMAZING:
1. Fitter
2. Healthier
3. Cheaper
4. No more morning traffic jams
5. Faster
You’ll also feel happy.
Here’s eight things that really make the cycle-commute work for me and made the transition much easier:
1. Work place with proper changing/shower/locker facilities – sht facilities prevented me for a number of years from taking the leap.
2. Charles Tyrwhitt non-iron shirts
3. Strava – track your routes, how far, fast you’re cycling. A brilliant and free app. No brainer. Even if you’re not particularly competitive, it’s surprisingly interesting to compare your times with colleagues, as well as tracking your own progress as you cycle more.
4. Proper clothing: Definitely buy base layers for the cold weather and some decent winter gloves. I mainly buy from:
- Rapha – amazing kit but v expensive – check out the clearance section of the website
- Wiggle – the dhb brand sold exclusively through wiggle is excellent. Also much cheaper than highstreet stores.
- Amazon – the Sub Sports Thermal Compression Base layer saw me though winter
5. Decent lights: The Moon Comet are amazingly bright and usb rechargeable.
6. Tough tyres with grip – everyone I know uses Continental Ultra GatorSkin
7. Water proof bag – i use the Overboard 20 ltr backback is cheap, highly visible, and just the right size.
8. A decent camera – i have quite got the answer to this one yet…
Photography on the go
Now that I cycle all the time I’ve been wondering what it means for my love of photography.
Iphone 5?
The iphone 5 that i use for work is the logical choice for photography on the go. It is no imposition to carry. I’ve tried the iphone 5 for pictures on the move, but i’ve never produced output from a camera phone i’ve been happy with – the lack of low-light capability, or subject matter isolation or quality pixel data means i can’t get the photos i aim to shoot:
– high contrast, with challenging light. Usually early morning or late night.
– a sense of cinema/drama – shallow depth of field and compressed perspective
– strong colours
The files are also not suitable for manipulation and the, iphone haptics don’t work for me – it’s easy to use but I don’t enjoy using it for photography.
Here’s an example of what i mean – great scene – there was a massive moon (center image), shining over Greenwich and the Thames. It was a very clear and beautiful evening. But the output was very disappointing – mainly due to the poor low light performance (In good light if you’re after high depth of field almost any modern camera will do the job):
Closer crop on same scene – total mush:
E-M5?
The ‘lost’ scene above was a turning point on the iphone 5 experiment. I want my passion for photography to be more about the story and less about the gear, but as convenient as I find the iphone it still feels like the limiting factor in the story-telling… For this reason, I’ve been carrying my e-m5 in my back pack ever since i took the shot above, with some stunning results:
But, the E-M5 is a bit big and heavy, especially for longer weekend journeys as it won’t fit in the saddle bag… so i’m wondering what i do next. All I want is medium tele, high iso, wide dynamic range, large sensor, fast lens, in a tiny package with E-M5 quality output… I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1 with 12-32mm lens – Silver
