What was the last photo that was taken of you?
That was three days ago in Davos. I did the cable car tour with my mates, 10000 metres in one day. I took a funny selfie of myself in front of a cow. With my smartphone. As a memento.
What is the difference between a normal photo and a souvenir photo?
Clearly, the emotion it triggers in the viewer, who is usually in the picture themselves.
Almost everyone has a smartphone. You get the feeling that people are constantly taking photos of everything, including themselves. Why do people spend 5.99 euros on a photo with you?
Because these are pictures that you can't take yourself. You can't take a selfie while you're hurtling down a steep descent on a mountain bike at 60 kilometres an hour. And of course the location always plays an important role in our pictures. We try to combine action and landscape in our pictures. And in such a way that it also looks good on large monitors or prints.
Sounds like a simple formula.
There is no formula. The effort we put in is extreme. It's all about capturing emotions. And that only works in the right places. The steep ramp at the salt mine at the Salzkammergut Trophy, for example. Or the legendary Pas de Lona at the Grand Raid. Something happens there. These are classics. You know them. But we are sometimes at twenty events in a single weekend. It's always a huge challenge to find the perfect photo spots.
How should the picture be?
That's the thing. There is no real answer to that, because tastes are different. One person wants a landscape, another wants a picture of the destination. Some subjects are photographed with four flashes. Others without flash. Moving pictures, for example, look dynamic. But there are people who think it looks washed out. That's why we put together photo packages. They include everything. Photo flat rate for 19.99 euros.
How is it possible to photograph twenty events at once?
First of all: it's pure stress. Many people think we're going to spend the whole day lying around in the grass taking photos. The logistical challenge is huge. We are mountain bike freaks. That's why we specialise in mountain bike events. But that's what makes our work so difficult compared to - let's say - a running marathon. We often ride the entire race route on our bikes weeks before the race to find the best photo spots. On the weekend of the event, there's no time for that, so every move has to be perfect. We always ride in the opposite direction, i.e. in the direction of the photos. Once we've found a spot, we record the GPS data. We also always look to see if we can use one spot for two motifs. There were 15 photographers at the Salzkammergut Trophy. Two days before the race, we cycled all the routes. There are seven different ones, the longest of which is 211 kilometres long.
How do the images get onto the website?
That's also real action. Immediately after the race, all the photos are uploaded to the team leader's laptop, often over 100,000 images. But we've also had a million pictures in one weekend. All the processes are still running on the laptop during the journey home in the car. Later in the office, a programme recognises the start numbers and sorts the images accordingly. It's stupid when it was muddy and the start numbers can't be recognised. Then we have to sort them by hand. We may then have to quickly hire additional helpers. The athletes are keen to see the pictures on our website the very next day. Speed is super important for the order rate. A few days later, emotions have already cooled down a bit, which is immediately noticeable in the ordering behaviour. The drivers are sitting around 8pm having an after-work beer. After a race, we usually sit in front of our computers until five in the morning. Our weekend in the summer - if we're lucky - consists of Wednesdays. After the season, I always feel totally burnt out.
What is the actual order rate?
In the worst case, single figures. In big races like the Cape Epic, however, half of the participants sometimes order.
Can you make a living from it?
In the meantime, yes. But the problem is of course the seasonal nature. It really pops in summer. In winter, it's dead time, but the office, computers, employees and vehicles still have to be paid for.
Will bikers still be buying photos in twenty years' time?
We are trying out a lot. Will people want video clips in the future? What do bikers want to remember their race with? I think the photo will survive. First-class, emotional pictures taken by skilled photographers. No clip can replace that. You can look at a picture in peace. A video is too nervous. We look to the future with confidence.
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