Exploring the countryside: Photography on Two Wheels

There are a few constants in my life – one of them is riding the bicycle. Another one is photography. Very often the two are combined. I will head out cycling somewhere (usually on my own – this is not really a social activity, especially when I am taking photographs) with the camera strapped over my back. Sometimes it’s where I’ve been before or sometimes its somewhere new.

If you check the route I took on Strava or Komoot you’ll see that there are lots of places where I slow down, pause. Sometimes I might even turn around and head back the way I came. There may be momentary diversions. My cycle rides are basically meanders. This is the story of one such meander.

It took place on a Sunday towards the end of May. I had taken the train out to Hitchen in Hertfordshire, north of London, to be closer to the countryside. My plan was to ride further north before turning about and heading back towards Stevenage and then the train home. Along the way I would explore the country lanes of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

It was the perfect day for cycling and photography. There was a breeze to blow me along (except when I turned in the wrong direction) and to push the clouds across the sky. The lighting would change minute by minute – once glorious sunshine and then dark clouds threatening (and briefly delivering) rain.

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Slow down

As I cycle along if I come upon something I will slow down. Whilst keeping an eye on the road, I’ll note my surroundings. Do they have potential for a photograph? Sometimes I will cycle on a little bit further before I decide. Then I turn around and head back down the road to where I think the best photograph is.

On one part of today’s ride I cycled under an old railway bridge. Beyond it I found myself on a road running through some pine forests. The sunlight was breaking through the trees lighting the undergrowth carpeted with ferns and dotted with brightly coloured rhododendrons. I cycled along a little bit more, admiring the view before stopping and turning around to make this particular photograph.

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Adding miles

Occasionally I may even head off in a different direction to make a photograph, adding extra miles to the ride. I’ll notice and feel motivated enough to photograph it to make the diversion.

A little later on my ride I noticed a water tower rising on the horizon. As I cycled along I watched it, observing how it sat in the landscape, beneath the sky. My ride would not pass in front of the tower so it would mean a short diversion to photograph it. It would add a couple of miles to my route and a small climb. I changed my plans and headed up the road towards it.

Here is one the photographs – a dramatic view looking up at it with the sunlight breaking through from the top left.

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Stopping

Then there are the occasions when I seem to stop for ages. These are usually a place I think might be interesting to observe in more detail. Sometimes I might have planned beforehand. At other times, though, I will come upon them in the moment. I will decide there and then to pause, to photograph; to simply spend time wherever I have chosen to be.

On these occasions I am aided by the use of a physical paper map. They show me a bigger picture and not just the route I am taking. On this ride whilst checking the map I noticed a church stood alone up a track away from the road.

So I just had to go look for it…

And then, as I often do, I wandered around the church and the churchyard, noticing little details. Here an old keyhole in the door to the bell tower, and there some wonderful lettering on a grave.

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When I head out cycling with the camera I become lost in the space I ride through (always keeping an eye on the traffic!). It is a spontaneous and almost organic action. When I can I pause to notice and create the images you see here (and on many of the other pages in my website). The photographs are of a fleeting moment (I might not visit this place again) but I hope I capture a sense of what I saw and how I felt when I stood there on the roadside.