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Two islands, two wheels, one camera


If you ask an cycle tourer why they like cycling they will certainly tell you that they love the feeling of discovery and adventure that cycling affords. They will also tell you that they like the connection with place and people that cycling facilitates. If you ask a travel or documentary photographer the same question you may well get very similar answers. As a cycle tourer and photographer myself, as soon as I learned about Nick Hand’s travels I felt compelled to interview him for WeAreOCA.
Nick’s personal qualities are a summary of a character ‘wants list’ in any photographer interested in photographing people. Good-natured, patient, respectful, a good listener and with a firm and contagious belief in the value of his photography. Nick has found a personal style, a theme – traditional trades in heritage & arts industry – and a method – cycling – that he likes and enjoys. As a result his multimedia ‘photofilms’, as he calls them, have a real soul to them.
Nick Hand and his photographs and tales from the saddle, collected over 5,000km cycling around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, remind us of something we often forget: that we should photograph that which we love and feel passionate about.
You can see some of Nick’s photofilms on his website and buy his book of conversations from the delightfully named publisher the Dept of Small Works.


Posted by author: Jose

12 thoughts on “Two islands, two wheels, one camera

  • A fascinating project, and quite inspiring in terms of how the use of quite straightforward audio and pictures can tell your story. I found his website really interesting – so many things to explore and a ghreat resource.

    • You’re right Eileen. Nick found a straightforward, uncomplicated way to engage the viewer and elicit emotions. He can make the multimedia presentations on the way, with a minimum of fuss, technology and gear. And they work.

  • Fabulous story. Have just looked at a number of the ‘photofilms’ on his site and they do really convey a deep sense of humanity of the various individuals and their strong passion for their passtimes, whether its cycling related or not. I watched and listened to a number of artist/makers stories and found them very inspiring, it kind of emphasised to me the importance of trying to identify the things you are passionate about and working with them.

  • This was really a nice video, thanks.
    The informal conversational style, and the location was also different from others…
    More importantly for me, this couldn’t have come at a better time, since this is exactly what I’m working on (as Nick call it, photofilms) for PWDP right this moment.
    Nick’s photography style, the sound, and speed of the films on his site is interesting to look at in an analytical way too.

    • Dewald, why don’t you give us a flavour of your ‘photofilms’ and post one when it’s ready? I’m sure other students would like to see what you do.

      • Jose, I’ll add a link of one I did as part of starting to explore the concept..
        I’d be looking at doing something similar for the assignment, but waiting for the thumbs-up from the people in power.
        One of my co-teachers here is in the Chinese Tea trade, so I found Nick’s work on the coffee and tea trade enlightening and interesting… The sound and final image sequences were striking, as it added such a beautiful final element to the film.
        Something many of us can also take away from Nick’s work is the basic-ness of it. No fancy transition work, no fancy fonts…
        I’m intrigued by the speed he chose for some of the ‘slides’, as some feel very fast, others not.
        The link I’ve mentioned above:
        http://dewaldbothaphotography.weebly.com/the-moving-still.html

  • Beautiful photographs, subtly lit and textured. A real pleasure to view, and the audio track provides an intriguing background to the shots. What a treat! Can we have a study visit to Nick’s work?

  • Some excellent stuff here – too much to take it all in – I liked the interview of the Buddhist Centre in W. Ireland because I visited there once about 20 years ago and photographed too; someone told me I should be doing black and white but I did colour and the work was used – the interview with Billy Bragg was good but would have liked to hear him play – liked the flute maker – Heligan Gardens produced some good photographs as well as making a good document – as someone doing PWDP I find this kind of work encouraging – so much talent out there!! am left wondering how Nick approached all the people he features and his manner of research beforehand because I am sure he did not just happen to run into all these folks!!

    • Amano- I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner but I’ve only just spotted your comment. The answer is that it was a mixture. Some people I had identified before the journey, not many though. Also, my wife, Harriet, looked out some people as I was on the journey and we used a Google map to pin them as I went. Sometimes though I would just stumble across people and knock on their door and introduce myself. Also some artisans would recommend friends further on my journey. This was often a good way to meet people because they would call them in advance and they would be expecting me. The hardest thing was arranging a time or even a day to visit in advance, because I was cycling I never quite new when I would arrive. Thanks for the kind comments.

  • So enjoyable to watch and such variety. It really puts narrative and illustration into context and I am going to keep going back to Nick’s website. Agree with Amano re wanting to know more about the process.

  • Great interview Jose and some great images too. I can’t look at he website at he moment as I’m on an iPad and it won’t work but I’ll check it out later. What nick said about audio really resonated with me. I presented a audio slide show for assignment 5 of DPP last month and Ives just completed another one for assignment 5 of P&P.
    P&P here; http://vimeo.com/42549485
    DPP here ;http://vimeo.com/38349724

  • Hi there,
    Absolutely brilliant! Very inspiring for all of us OCA photographers.
    Thanks for taking the trouble to give us this opportunity to see great work,
    Rob

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