Dominique Powers – Chasing Gravel – a foray into gravel race photography
Dominique Powers – Chasing Gravel – a foray into gravel race photography
It was two weeks into the pandemic when I turned to the bicycle as more than a means of transportation for the first time. I never could have imagined at the time how vastly it would change my life, both as an athlete and as a photographer. Living in Los Angeles during the pandemic the roads never shut down, and so I took to the mountains almost every day. In May of 2021 I got my first gravel bike and never looked back. I learned that the sport of cycling is a beautiful one both in the aesthetics of it, and also in the people it brings together. Being inspired by the sport and my LA cycling community I started to yearn to create photographs of cyclists and looked for what I felt was missing from imagery around the sport. The result was The Leaders of Gravel, a portrait series of 15 women pushing the sport of gravel cycling forward, hosted on The Radavist. I photographed it from a love of cycling and women’s sport, and it indirectly centered around the first bike race I ever partook in, SBT GRVL. At the time I was so excited to be racing alongside these amazing women I was photographing. When the 2022 race season rolled around it felt only natural to continue in my journey with these athletes and spent the summer photographing races for the first time.
The first race of the 2022 gravel season at the Sea Otter Classic and I was quickly reunited with so many of the incredible women I had met and photographed the summer before. In the time since last seeing these ladies in person I had spent countless hours with their photographs, choosing my selects for the series, editing, formatting. There’s an intimacy to taking portraits and I find that I can quickly tell if someone is dropping pretenses or putting up walls when in front of the camera. Before I even pick up my camera when with a subject I start with a conversation, to let them know that I am not just a voyeur to their lived experience, that we are here creating these images together. I invite them into this space of creation with me as a peer. There are moments when a subject lets their guard fall and their eyes soften, they breathe deeper, posture relaxes. To capture this moment, when they let me in, is always what I aim for.
It was almost surreal finally seeing the ladies I had photographed the season before in their element, on the startline of the 2022 Sea Otter Classic. It was the first bike race I ever photographed, which was quickly followed by Paris-Roubaix Femmes the next weekend- talk about diving into the deep end. I felt like a balloon the whole day, buoyed by seeing these incredible strong, capable, badass babes ripping it up on the course. I *know* these women, I kept thinking, now more than ever am I invested in their success and growth.
Races like Unbound, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and Vermont Overland filled my photography calendar for the summer, and I got to dip my toe into cyclocross working with the nice bikes CX team at the two US Cyclocross World Cup races this fall, and then ended the season with the rest of our gravel family at Big Sugar in Bentonville, Arkansas. Photographing races provided a new perspective to the sport, and a unique challenge for someone who likes the control and calm of photographing portraits. There are so many logistics involved with documenting a race- where on course would I go, what does it look like, where will the sun be at approximately 11:45am when the riders pass this spot, will I want them front-lit or backlit, which side of the street will I stand on? Street-view on google maps was my best friend, and when the races went on undocumented dirt roads I chose my photo points based on how easy to access a spot is, and what the elevation profile on Strava showed for that point on the course. I quickly learned that I needed a copilot on race day for me to have the mental capacity to juggle it all and get around the course safely.
Big Sugar was the cap-off to the season we all needed. A chance to reunite before the gravel community disassembled for winter. I carved pumpkins with Amity Rockwell and Maude Farrell, who had been two of the first women I photographed for The Leaders of Gravel. I got to hang out on the finish line with writer Betsy Welch, just as we had at stage 3 of the Tour De France Femme. To top it all off my sister Gretchen raced the Lil Sugar and finished right into my arms, as I was waiting in the finish chute for the lead Lifetime Grand Prix women to come through.
While there is no singular body of work from this year that I can put a nice bow on like I had last year, there is a different fulfillment from being a part of the race experience. I got to stand on start and finish lines with my friends, new and old. Cheering my face off from behind my camera as they cranked up hills, through mud, over countless miles, I was able to hold their tired sweaty bodies when they crossed the finish line and tell them how extremely proud I am that they went out and gave it their all. Best of all, I had the honor and privilege of capturing the history of this sport as it is being made.
It was two weeks into the pandemic when I turned to the bicycle as more than a means of transportation for the first time. I never could have imagined at the time how vastly it would change my life, both as an athlete and as a photographer. Living in Los Angeles during the pandemic the roads never shut down, and so I took to the mountains almost every day. In May of 2021 I got my first gravel bike and never looked back. I learned that the sport of cycling is a beautiful one both in the aesthetics of it, and also in the people it brings together. Being inspired by the sport and my LA cycling community I started to yearn to create photographs of cyclists and looked for what I felt was missing from imagery around the sport. The result was The Leaders of Gravel, a portrait series of 15 women pushing the sport of gravel cycling forward, hosted on The Radavist. I photographed it from a love of cycling and women’s sport, and it indirectly centered around the first bike race I ever partook in, SBT GRVL. At the time I was so excited to be racing alongside these amazing women I was photographing. When the 2022 race season rolled around it felt only natural to continue in my journey with these athletes and spent the summer photographing races for the first time.
The first race of the 2022 gravel season at the Sea Otter Classic and I was quickly reunited with so many of the incredible women I had met and photographed the summer before. In the time since last seeing these ladies in person I had spent countless hours with their photographs, choosing my selects for the series, editing, formatting. There’s an intimacy to taking portraits and I find that I can quickly tell if someone is dropping pretenses or putting up walls when in front of the camera. Before I even pick up my camera when with a subject I start with a conversation, to let them know that I am not just a voyeur to their lived experience, that we are here creating these images together. I invite them into this space of creation with me as a peer. There are moments when a subject lets their guard fall and their eyes soften, they breathe deeper, posture relaxes. To capture this moment, when they let me in, is always what I aim for.
It was almost surreal finally seeing the ladies I had photographed the season before in their element, on the startline of the 2022 Sea Otter Classic. It was the first bike race I ever photographed, which was quickly followed by Paris-Roubaix Femmes the next weekend- talk about diving into the deep end. I felt like a balloon the whole day, buoyed by seeing these incredible strong, capable, badass babes ripping it up on the course. I *know* these women, I kept thinking, now more than ever am I invested in their success and growth.
Races like Unbound, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and Vermont Overland filled my photography calendar for the summer, and I got to dip my toe into cyclocross working with the nice bikes CX team at the two US Cyclocross World Cup races this fall, and then ended the season with the rest of our gravel family at Big Sugar in Bentonville, Arkansas. Photographing races provided a new perspective to the sport, and a unique challenge for someone who likes the control and calm of photographing portraits. There are so many logistics involved with documenting a race- where on course would I go, what does it look like, where will the sun be at approximately 11:45am when the riders pass this spot, will I want them front-lit or backlit, which side of the street will I stand on? Street-view on google maps was my best friend, and when the races went on undocumented dirt roads I chose my photo points based on how easy to access a spot is, and what the elevation profile on Strava showed for that point on the course. I quickly learned that I needed a copilot on race day for me to have the mental capacity to juggle it all and get around the course safely.
Big Sugar was the cap-off to the season we all needed. A chance to reunite before the gravel community disassembled for winter. I carved pumpkins with Amity Rockwell and Maude Farrell, who had been two of the first women I photographed for The Leaders of Gravel. I got to hang out on the finish line with writer Betsy Welch, just as we had at stage 3 of the Tour De France Femme. To top it all off my sister Gretchen raced the Lil Sugar and finished right into my arms, as I was waiting in the finish chute for the lead Lifetime Grand Prix women to come through.
While there is no singular body of work from this year that I can put a nice bow on like I had last year, there is a different fulfillment from being a part of the race experience. I got to stand on start and finish lines with my friends, new and old. Cheering my face off from behind my camera as they cranked up hills, through mud, over countless miles, I was able to hold their tired sweaty bodies when they crossed the finish line and tell them how extremely proud I am that they went out and gave it their all. Best of all, I had the honor and privilege of capturing the history of this sport as it is being made.