Plan to ride and photograph not working
 

Had great plans to capture the extraordinary sights and things I come across on my rides, but find myself unwilling to stop and "capture" the sight. I like the rhythm of riding and being in the totally relaxed zone out there, which also enhances the experience of the extraordinary sights. Just not willing to stop and compose. Good thing is that my brain still functions fairly well and remembers most of what I see.

moving action shots!

Traveling with DSLR and I don't like taking hands off bars and looking away from the road either. Thought about go pro or something, but I figure the experience is what I am riding for so will just stick with it.

For me, it’s a balance. On Thursday, during a day ride to get groceries on a three day tour, I ended up behind a horse-drawn carriage driven by two Amish teens. I considered whipping out the camera but instead chose to simply ride behind them, enjoying the sounds of the wheels and hooves on the pavement and watching them lean towards each other to chat. Very intimate moment. Living in the moment without disrupting it to take a photo. I was sad when they turned off after about four miles.

My solution was a compact recorder that I can lift still images from the footage... just finding that section in the footage is the chore.

go on longer rides, like multi day tours or overnight camping trips. Day long rides are typically at a different pace with lots of stops anyway. This lets you concentrate on the journey more than just the forward motion. It is a completely different way of riding. If you couple this with a scenic area, like the C&O or Erie canal, than stopping to read the placards or taking in the sites is more likely to happen.

Sometimes one needs to break out of the "training ride" mentality.

I just shoot pics with my iPhone while riding. Doesn't really disrupt the flow of my ride.

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I can relate to this exactly. In the late 90s and early 2000s I was totally into cameras. Digital was making older film cameras very affordable and also some amazing, beautiful lenses. Walmart was processing color film in store for $1.76 a roll, and I'd scan the negs at home. I had some brassed, bashed SLRs, some quite small, like the Minolta EM or the Yashka FX-3 and FX3-2000, and the lenses and filters!

What I found was I never wanted to stop and shoot.

Now I have a cell phone ready to go and the camera isn't too bad. It even does the "fake" background blur.

But mostly I run my helmet cam.

On the other hand, I had a couple of old, heavy all-metal SLRs with long zoom lenses, that if swing around by the strap could probably kill a bear if I were attacked.
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I spent nearly 4 months straight on the road in 1999. Carried a Mamiya 645 with power winder, metered view finder and three lenses. Talk about heavy. I also had a 35mm with one lens. Between the two I shot nearly 100 rolls of film and developed them all myself when I got home. Talk about a task. I also did my own printing of selected images.

Much of the work taken while between camps looked rushed. Most of the best shots were taken on days off or after the day’s riding was done. When I had more time to think and compose. There were also more people to capture.


These day I have a digital camera that fits in my jersey pocket and my iPhone that I take on tours. I’ll definitely stop to take photos, but not a ton. Stopping can disrupt the moment. But sometimes it’s worth it. This was taken on the Route of the Hiawatha. Coolest bike trail I’ve ever ridden. Lots of tunnels and some high trestles across the Bitterroots.
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I don't get the premise of the thread. You just make choices. That is all.

Got into the riding so much , forgot to stop & take pictures ? It happens..

Once I had made my 35mm camera gear secure & kept dry, it slowed my snapshot spontaneity.






...;)

That probably weighed as much as your bike.
I always wanted one of those. I had three old medium format folders. I also had a Graphlex 4x5 press camera. When extended, one could probably seek shelter in there if necessary.

Somebody's bound to jump on me for this, but if you want to see and photograph the most interesting stuff, get off the bike and walk. Maybe take along some kind of small pack or bag that you don't mind getting a little dirty, and you can bring home souvenirs and sometimes useful finds from the berms and drainage ditches. The world at slow speed and close range is a fascinating place. Even at bicycling speeds you miss an awful lot of it.

:roflmao2:I put the bike on a weigh station scale in Montana. It came in at 90 lbs. The bike itself was a relatively light Cannondale. I was with a group of 12 others, so we split the group cooking gear, which saved me weight. The evening before the trip started we split up the gear. People grabbed the less bulky stuff. I got left with a medium size pot with a lid that doubled as a frying pan. It was bulky, but I’ll bet it weighed less that two fuel bottles that a couple of people snatched up. It definitely weighed less than the full kitchen I carry today.

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From the bicycle mounted recorder to a still shot.

It may not be 4KHD quality, but it prevents stopping & from looking suspicious.

I'm not sure I do photography to ride, or if I ride to do photography. I have been editing photos during the Covid 19 turmoil. I started with 50,000 pictures from 2007 to 2020. These pictures document a total of 2 years of bike touring covering 25,000 miles in 11 countries that my wife and I completed during that period. When I finally got things semi-organized, I ended up with over 54,000 pictures. Go figure:rolleyes: My wife has almost the same volume with her photos. We have have not started on scanning the pre-2007 negatives and slides yet.

Like Happy Feet said, "You just make choices. That is all."
Nebraska--2007
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Later in the day.
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Oregon-- August 2020
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While I can appreciate the rhythm of the ride overtaking the time to stop and compose a photo, I find that occasionally the scene is good enough to make the effort. There'll be a bunch of rides in a row that I never stop and then there'll be one ride where I stop 5 times. It all depends on the time of day, the light, my mood, and the scene. If it all works together, pulling the phone out of my pocket is worthwhile.

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8:08 AM on a February morning in Pittsburgh along the Ohio River.

I use a pocket camera a lot. It fits inside my jersey's right rear pocket and can be taken out, turned on and an image taken without looking into the viewfinder all the while using just one hand. It's a Canono PowerShot SX120 IS. The IS stands for Image Stabilization and it really works.

This was taken whilst riding.

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This was taken whilst riding and pointing the camera rearward whilst still watching the road ahead.
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Cheers

These days, when I bring a camera, I bring a little P&S which rides in my Topeak pack. I have a variety of DSLRs but I've never brought one on the bike (and my cell phone is a dumb phone, so no camera).

For years, though, I rode with a film SLR.... I eventually found a small backpack that I could keep it in, I used to have the biggest worry about getting robbed if the camera were visible, so the backpack seemed to best way to keep it out of sight.

I used to use my parents' ancient Minolta SR-1 camera. I don't remember exactly how I was carrying it, but on a bike ride I dropped it at speed.... Twice. Surprisingly, the camera kept working and suffered only a dented filter ring. Having it in its 1962-era brown leather case probably helped it survive. I got in BIG trouble that afternoon when they came home from work!

There's a balance 'tween riding pleasure and, "Ooh! Ooh! Look a squirrel!" Or flower. For each of us the balancing point is in a different position.

Oh boy. Let's hope the "That is incredibly stupidly dangerous!" people don't read your post. There were a few of them in a thread of a year or two ago.

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Phone camera not the best but always with me

I know what the OP means. Every year, starting in February as the winter rains get the spring growth going, my routes are full of widlflowers, and every year I think, "I'm gonna take some pictures of these!" and every year, I don't. I'm riding by spots where I want to take a picture - like where the blue lupines give way to the white lupines - and I just don't want to stop. I even think, "I'll ride back to the car, and that'll be the end of 'The Ride", and then I'll come back!" and I never do.

I think riding is a different state of mind that I don't want to interrupt.

SHEESH! And just what's so "incredibly stupidly dangerous!" about taking a small camera out of a jersey pocket, turning it on, pointing it rearward and taking an image all the while keep my eyes on the road ahead and one hand on the handlebar? It's no more dangerous and in fact is NOT as dangerous as taking a water bottle out of a seatube or downtube bottle cage whilst riding.

Cheers

Beats me, but there were a couple of people who thought it was death-defying. I’ve taken plenty of photos while riding.