CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHER & WATCH COLLECTOR
RUSS ELLIS
"My job involves chasing bike races, and knowing the exact time is super important to me. I must be at certain spots at specific times and being late is not an option so I always have a watch on and it’s always calibrated to the exact time."
GET TO KNOW RUSS ELLIS
6 quick questions to Russ
#1 How did you get into photography in general and cycling photography in particular?
I got into photography when my daughter was born because I wanted to be able to document her growing up, so I bought a camera and taught myself how to use it! As I got better, I started to shoot more, including street and landscape photography. I was also a keen cyclist and used to do local races, it was at one of these races that I realized that it was a rich environment for photography, I could do portraits and landscape and storytelling style work in one place.
I started to shoot these local cycling events and post the images on my newly created Instagram page. My work was quickly noticed by a few magazines, and I was offered some commissioned work to cover some bigger races, the first of which was the 2015 edition of Paris Roubaix! I was hooked, I was booked for some more big jobs including a campaign for Team Sky and that was it, I quit my day job in IT and became a professional freelance cycling photographer.
#2 What do you enjoy most about your work as a cycling photographer?
The freedom of working for myself and doing something I love and being paid for it. Cycling and Photography are my two hobbies, and I now make my living doing them both so I feel like I don’t actually work .. I do what I love and get paid for it. I love being part of the cycling circus and travelling around the world doing what I love.
#3 You’ve mentioned the importance of not standing where everyone else is to get a unique shot. How do you find those different angles or moments?
It’s getting harder and harder to do that tbh as there are a lot more photographers doing this now than when I started around 10 years ago. I guess it’s just something I have always tried to do so it is just natural to me, I will actively move if too many of us are in the same spot. I guess I just have what they call in the photography game “a good eye” .. I am not sure it’s always working but I am always trying!
#4 Is there a specific race or stage that you always look forward to capturing?
Paris Roubaix is my favorite race to photography each year, it is beautiful and chaotic and the moment the race hits the cobbles its none stop action and as a photographer that is all you can ask for!
#5 What's your relationship to watches and how do they fit into both your everyday life and work behind the camera?
I got my first mechanical watch back in 2000 when I was 23 years old, it was an Omega
Seamaster and I wore it every day for years, I gradually built up a collection over the following years and have just always loved collecting watches of all styles and designs. My job involves chasing bike races, and knowing the exact time is super important to me. I must be at certain spots at specific times and being late is not an option so I always have a watch on and it’s always calibrated to the exact time.
#6 Of all the Bravur watches, is there one that stands out as your personal favorite? Why that one?
The Grand Tour I chrono that I have is my personal favorite, I love chronograph
watches, I love working and spending time in Italy every year at the Giro and pink is also
probably my favorite colour so this model ticks all the boxes for me, Bellisimo!
