The British Backcountry Winter Opener has quickly established itself as the event to kick off the upcoming season, however with the dreaded C-word putting a slight dampner on plans for the usual film premieres and social events, it was up to the workshops to carry the torch for 2020.
Edinburgh in November is not renowned for snow so Blair and Gavin who run British Backcountry had drafted in mountain biker Naomi Freirich as another fast moving model for the day. Now Naomi is a 3 x UK 24hr and 2018 European 24hr MTB Champ which I took to mean that she’s a badass on a bike… and was not wrong there, she made hills look flat with the speed she powered up them time and time again, just so we could get the shots we wanted!
While a lot of photography can be learned through reading and practice, it’s always good to get some external input and discussion with other photographers to evaluate critical elements. Having missed a few opportunities to attend one of Nadir Khan’s photography workshops in the past, it was good to get booked on and spend a day working on images with no client pressures on style or speed of delivery! Nadir’s delivery was very relaxed and took time to get a handle on our level before diving in to any technical elements. With a range of experience across plenty of sports and client types, Nadir had loads of information to share with the group and looked at the wider environment rather than just focussing on only the sport elements.
We spent the whole day out on the hill working at different areas to get a variety of images from the misty woods, single track and exposed hill tops. It also helped it was dry, not too cold, with an insane cloud inversion hanging over Edinburgh the whole day. The sunset looking southwest over the Pentlands with the clouds rolling in like reverse waterfalls was epic, it was hard to make a bad image.
Thanks again to Blair & Gavin for organising the day, Nadir for delivering an enjoyable & informative workshop, Naomi for her top bike skills and Alan, Chris & Ian for good company in the Pentlands. Roll on winter now and COVID getting smashed out of existence…