flow, style and tricks on all wheel sizes
Published: 25/08/12
Saturday Snaps with
Christoph Laue
Who is Christoph Laue?
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I am a freelance photographer from Stuttgart, Germany. My main focus lies in sport photography.
Years shooting:
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Five
What got you into taking photos?
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My first apprenticeship as a graphic designer was my first step into photography. I always wanted to take photos like the ones I saw in magazines. The combination between both mountain biking and photography still inspires me.
First photography related memory:
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Definitely related to mountain biking.
Best photography experience:
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I met a frog at a shooting and we ended up as pretty good friends after that... One of my best moments was when I got my first publication in Freeride magazine Germany.
Worst photography experience:
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I don’t think that there are any bad experiences worth mentioning. In general though, event cancellations because of bad weather is really annoying, especially when you have spent a lot of time traveling there.
Advice for taking a great photo:
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Try to understand what aperture, shutter speed and ISO do to your picture. Perspective is also really important to make a picture interesting.
Three favourite photographers:
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Puuh, difficult to say as there are so many good photographers out there, but three photographers who influenced me in particular are Andreas Gursky, Sterling Lawrence and Harookz.
Photography highlight/achievement:
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Three covers photos for Mountainbike Rider and one in Decline Magazine, and various pictures in many bike magazines around the world.
Why do you take photos?
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Because I'm addicted to photography and I love to work with people to create something new.
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Top photos:
Riders: Paul Ehm and Mr. Frog
I found this frog during a shooting and decided to feature him in the picture. It felt like 100 shots later until he finally co-operated and I captured both rider and frog in action.
Read the full frog story here.
I wanted to take a picture that captured a different moment to the usual long jump photos. The landing is particularly interesting because you can see the athletes facial expression as well as the sand spreading around.
The picture was shot with two strobes on the right and left of the athlete.
Rider: Nico Scholze
Nico had learnt a really awesome new trick from the FMX scene: Cordova Flip. This was probably the first Cordova Flip to be done on a mountain bike.
This shot featured on the cover of Decline magazine in May, 2012.
This picture was taken in a brickworks area. It took lots of attempts for Nico Scholze to land the trick but it was totally worth it when it finally worked out.
The picture shows our favourite moon spot; the only problem was getting Jonas Janssen back on the ground... To tell you the truth, the picture was taken right after Red Bull Berg Line in Winterberg. The spot was so ugly that I decided to take a night shot using water to create a starlike atmosphere.