5 Questions with Jude Bytheway, Cycling Photographer

Our shop isn't just a place to have a great brew - we want to provide a place to showcase the best in cycling and coffee and be a destination whether you're out for a ride, visiting the area or headed out for your coffee break.

Our first shop 'Exhibition' comes from cycling photographer, Jude Bytheway.  We met Jude through our partnership with Alba Development Road Team and clicked with her right away - we wanted to find a way to showcase Jude's great photography work, and what a better place to start than with her incredible imagery of Alba?

We posed a few questions to Jude - some cycling, some coffee - so without further ado, take it away Jude...

What inspired you to pursue a career in photography? What inspires you now?

I want to capture emotion. I have been inspired by a disparate range of photographers including Don McCullin, Raymond Depardon, Dorathea Lange and Graham Watson. They all engage with emotion. 

I care about photography and I care about cycling so I combined the two. Taking the leap to making photography a career came about when I allowed myself to realise that I could. 

I am inspired now by continuing that process. Each time I don’t achieve what I want, I can explore where the scope is to improve. It’s also a great motivator to see my work out in the world. Finding Petit Yellow Velo at a time when I was collaborating with Alba and they were embarking on work with them was wonderful serendipity. 

How do you think the story of cycling changes when viewed through the lens of a camera versus experiencing it in person or on television?

People sometimes say that photographers are ‘not really looking, they just see the world through their camera’. When I look through my camera I am really looking. I have to take in where to be, what’s happening, what is likely to happen, what that means to the cyclists and the spectators, what shapes I can find, and importantly where the emotion is. Then there are the technical aspects of how to achieve the outcome I am seeking. Watching it on TV is less immersive while easier to keep track of the action - you don’t always catch all of that while you are shooting. Being a spectator is special, there is a different sort of excitement to it, but for better or worse I can’t spectate any more without a camera. 

Tell us about your work with Alba: how did it come about and what has been your approach when capturing the team?

I was looking to work with a women’s team. I was impressed by the ethos of Alba. I spoke with Eilidh Shaw and she put me in touch with Bob Lyons. We shared the vision that being integrated with a team changes the photographs. It enables a different sort of photography than shooting the race from the side of the road. I want a connection with the riders. I want to bring curiosity to what I do, I want to show something of who they are as people and cyclists, I also want to show all the behind the scenes work and camaraderie that goes into the performance. I spend time with them, I see the long hours and hard work they, Bob, Elaine and the mechanics put in, and I hope something of this translates into the pictures.  

If you could choose any cycling moment ever to have been present to photograph, what would it be and why?

I would like to have been at the first ever women’s Paris Roubaix in 2021. It’s an amazing race. I’ve not photographed it yet. I’d love to, even though it has a reputation for wrecking cameras as well as bikes. I’d want to have been there for the excitement, the joy, and the demonstration that women’s cycling is formidable. 

Coffee break time…if you could travel anywhere in the world to have a coffee at this moment, where would it be, who with and what would you be having?  

I’d love a coffee with Orla Chennaoui. She’s a brilliant and capable journalist, role model, and cycling enthusiast. I’d have an americano and a pastry in Copenhagen. It's a great city and is handy for this year’s track cycling world championships. Orla talks about the approach “What would you do if you were ten times braver?” for me, that was cycling photography as a career choice.

Thanks, Jude! 💛

Jude's superb collection of Alba Development Road Team photos is available to view at our shop throughout September - so if keen to see some of her work close up, then pop into our shop at 16 High Street, Crieff.

You can follow Jude on Instagram here.

Also - we are excited to soon be offering some of Jude's work to purchase. To be first to know, sign up through the form below. By doing so, we'll send you an email as soon as they are available!
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