eneco tour wielerwens

Earlier this summer I found myself surfing the web during one of my lunch breaks and saw a call for cycling wishes (in Dutch, it goes by wielerwens). This initiative was part of the Eneco Tour organisation and Dutch tv personality Fillemon Wesselink. A cycling wish could literally be anything, as long as it had to with cycling. I decided to enter for fun, not even thinking about the possibility of having my wish realized, and sent out a tweet mentioning that I would love to be part of the official photographers at the race.























Fast forward to early August and I got a DM from the Wielerwens-team at Eneco Tour asking me if I was free on August 13th, just a mere five days later. I was given the opportunity to assist cycling photographer Cor Vos (the man is a legend!) for the day. Of course I said yes! I actually counted down the days until that Wednesday in August and I must admit: I was so nervous that day. I’ve been following cycling and its photography for a long time and of course I knew Cor Vos. He’s one of the best photographers in the field. My friend Kim assured me that he was the sweetest guy, but still.

When I arrived in Breda for the day I met up with Dutch tv presenter Filemon Wesselink and his camera team (yes, the whole thing was filmed for their YouTube channel). He explained what they wanted to do so we first got my press pass and photo jacket to give me the all-professional look. Then it was time to go say hi to Cor Vos who was shooting at the finish line. We filmed a couple of more scenes and then Cor assigned me to photograph all riders finishing their ITT. Before I started doing that, we had a quick lunch break and he explained his workflow, all very interesting! I also attended a press conference, shot some images and he gave me some feedback before getting to the real work.

I was handed one of his camera lenses which I got to use on my own body. Luckily, I use Canon as all his gear was Canon too. Another girl had the same wish as I had and she got to shoot the riders in one of the curves leading up to the finish. As I was shooting all the riders that afternoon, Cor made sure to provide me with some tips now and then. My last assignment of the day was to shoot the podium while he would already be selecting images to be uploaded to the press database.

The final part of the day included going through our photos. Cor selected the best and most interesting (the winner of the day, the leader of the day, etc…) images to be uploaded to his photo database. This database can be accessed by press where they can buy images to use online or in their print publications. Seven of my images ended up in the Cor Vos Image Bank and some of them were indeed used online (I have no idea about print publications).

I guess I don’t have to mention how proud this makes me. This was, without any doubt, one of my best experiences this year, if not of my life. I learned so much and to be able to learn it from such a pro blew my mind. I realize that I was very lucky to be a part of this. It probably won’t come as a surprise that my press badge is now stuck in my 2014 jar of happiness?

As a bonus, I included the video report of that day below. Yes, that’s me, in the flesh, talking and photographing.

Many thanks to the Eneco Tour Wielerwens team for organizing this truly memorable day.

all photos by me except for last photo by brigit berman