Nicky 
Sometimes I never quite know where the next shot is coming from. It literally stops you in your tracks. Like this photograph, which I hadn’t planned on taking but which was a story just waiting to be told. I rarely blog from my Flickr stream either, however just felt like doing something a little different this time. We will return to our exciting winter themes in just a little while.
I happen to love taking photographs of bicycles, which are important forms of transportation. I think bicycles make amazing subjects and in fact I have so many bicycle photos now I really ought to make an album devoted to just bicycles. Maybe one day. Meanwhile my own bicycle is stored in our garage… though we don’t have a car, the bikes only get an airing in good weather. What got me with this particular urban Road Warrior was riding in all weathers.
So for my shot Transportation I was coming home from work after finishing work late and as usual the dirty bikes in the bike stand in Union Station caught my eye. I pass this spot often and there are usually people in front of the bicycle stand waiting for their train so getting a shot isn’t always easy, plus the light is never quite right. This evening as it was fairly late there were no people near the cycles and I had a clear shot for a couple of minutes. I could see it in my mind’s eye and it was too good to miss. The bikes were there, waiting for their owners and bathed in bright light – it’s usually quite dark there. Always having my smartphone in my bag if it’s not in my hand I took my shots. I wanted to capture the fact that the bike was really dirty from all the snow and ice and generally bad weather we’ve been having in Toronto. Bad weather rarely stops the intrepid road warriors from riding in Toronto…since for some it’s their main mode of transportation. Bikes are part and parcel of the urban downtown life.
As I was preparing to post it to Instagram I played around with a couple of effects. I always like to give the story just a little “something”. In this case I found that using a little radial blur put the focus right on the road warrior and made the shot jump out at me. Of course, the detail was already there (thanks to my Samsung Galaxy Note 3) but I was pretty pleased with the detail of the mud splashes, mud-covered tires, wheels, spokes and seat and general “winter wear” on this great Road Warrior.
Via Flickr:
Bike covered in winter sludge and splashes at Union Station
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