We are constantly getting questions for Graham that vary from camera-technique to race-tactics to wine or travel-tips, and until now those questions have been answered on an ad-hoc basis. Graham is as much a travel enthusiast as he is a cycling photographer, and we felt his enviable experiences could be passed on to like-minded people who want to know the best place to watch a particular race, the best places to eat or drink, the most spectacular climbs to try out... or simply which ISO to use on a sunny day in Flanders!

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Paul - 03/17/2010: Great web, I have followed your web now for years - just gets better. The motor cyclists that ferry you all around and have you clambering around while on the move must be really good? Also it must be hard on the back of a bike in winter. Great job by all. 03/17/2010: Thanks Paul- it's nice to do something I really enjoy, makes life a lot easier... The motorbike drivers are good, very good, but remember: behind each driver is a photographer who taught him everything he knows! GW
03/14/2010: Planning our first trip to the Tour this year. We will be there July 13th - 16th. The stage to GAP is where we will have the best opportunity to chase. Any suggestions on where to view? Thank you very much. Enjoy all your work and commentary. 03/17/2010: Hi Tim, to be honest the stage on July 13th will be better if you can make that - plenty of high altitude Alps to enjoy! The stage into Gap uses the climbs of the Chartreuse, but they come quiet early-on in the stage. Little is known officially, as the route is still being finalized, but I'd say the Cote du Laffrey (south of Grenoble) or Col de Noyer (north of Gap) will be the best places to watch. The race might also cross the massive reservoir of Serre-Ponçon before the finish - not sure yet. You'll only get one chance to see the stage as all the roads are closed or clogged with non-race traffic. So be sure to make a definitive plan nearer the time, using the Official guide, or the newspaper l'Equipe for exact timings. Good luck! GW
Jonathan, Adelaide - 02/28/2010: Hi Graham, While watching highlights of the Tour Of Qatar the commentator said of Wouter Mol. "Short of an alien abduction no one is going to overtake Mol". What is your most memorable commentary moment of any race you have watched? Regards Jonathan 03/17/2010: Ah, Jonathan, I have a simple answer - I never get to see TV broadcasts! I recently watched a DVD of the 2001 TDF for the first time ever - does that give you a clue as to how I can't answer your excellent question? :) Hope all's well down there... GW
glbeach - 03/10/2010: I have a copy of your book "Visions of Cycling" and only recently discovered your website. I was disappointed there are no other or new "coffee table" volumes of your superb work available. Is this something that is in the offing or must I simply be satisfied with the one. I believe it was released with Velonews in 1989 or 1990. Have there been no more since then? Thanks, Gary Beach 03/15/2010: Hi Gary, welcome back to the real world..! In fact I had a quality photo-book published since Visons - Landscapes of Cycling (VeloBooks) - and a Tour de France guide book in 2009, by the same publisher. I hope to do a new photo-book in the next few years, just waiting for the right moment/right subject matter... GW
Liz - 03/14/2010: Hi Graham. Haven't I seen a very similar shot of that bridge before? (Paris-Nice, stage 7, 2nd image.) Did it figure in a previous P-N, or a Tour? Also, re your caption about "Caisse & Euskatel helping Astana & Contador", I think they were helping themselves, rather. Their riders were 2nd, 4th & 5th in GC. Don't you think they had every reason to be up there competing with, not riding for, Alberto? You shouldn't look for Spanish conspiracies round every corner. Luis Leon & Alberto are pals... when they're not racing! 03/15/2010: Liz, I can see your Spanish point of view but the unspoken fact is that Valverde (and therefore Caisse) still owes Contador for last year's Dauphiné - remember, Alberto let 'Valve' ride away on the Ventoux..? - and the Vuelta (Contador stayed away and therefore let Valve win). Phase two of PN's last stage was that Contador, Luis Leon, and Valve conspired to get rid of Kreuziger on the Col d'Eze - when he got back all three Spaniards conspired to make sure the two Frenchies stayed away so Kreuz' could not get bonus points in a sprint and get 3rd place back. Facil, no..? Entiendes..? GW
Susan A. - 03/06/2010: Graham ~ Great site, great work. I'm wondering if you might recommend someone to do a very simple outdoor shoot of very amateur cyclist in or around Colorado Springs sometime during the period 28 March to 2 April 2010. I need about an hour's time of someone with a good eye and a nice sense of style who's experienced taking good moving (close up) cycling photos. Great if you could do the shoot but I'm guessing you'll be busy with more pressing things. :-) Many thanks. Susan 03/10/2010: Hi Susan, you have a very experienced cycling photographer living nearby in Colorado Springs - Casey Gibson. He's not as good-looking as me, and probably a lot richer, but give him a try - you can find him on the Internet somewhere... Graham
Jamie G - 03/06/2010: Graham we met in Waterloo Canada in September for the ride with Lance and you took a picture of my ride with Lance truck outside of the hotel just before we both left for our destinations. I was wondering if you had any of these pics or did you turn them all in. Thank you and have a great year see you August 28th for another ride??? 03/10/2010: Jamie, it's nice you think I was in Waterloo last September, but in fact I have never been there. You must be confusing me with some other cool-looking, tall, handsome, exotic-looking, cycling photographer? :) GW
Nicola - 03/07/2010: HI Graham I hope you don't mind answering yet another question from me. Thanks for your helpful answers thus far. I have recently bought a new Canon 50D with a 24-105 mm lens. I also have a 50 mm lens which I'll probably take to France as well. If I buy one other lens to photograph this year's TDF what would you recommend? Regards Nicola 03/10/2010: Hi Nicola, my honest answer would be to leave that 50mm lens behind as your 24-105 is overlapping the value of a 50mm... If you have the budget, think about a longer lens - an 80-200 for example..? Something that takes you beyond 105mm and gives you the chance to get crisp action shots of individuals, especially in time trials. Good luck! GW
Nicola - 02/28/2010: Hi Graham. I've enjoyed reading your TdF Travel Guide and would like a little more detail about motorhome camping. My partner and I have booked a motorhome and will be following the TdF this year. Will we need to book camp grounds or can we just stop along the road? We should be fairly self-sufficient and won't need toilets/showers or power most of the time. 03/06/2010: Sounds good fun Nicola - you'll have some great adventures! Basically, the motorhome replaces the hotel, so you park up where you want, when you want, within reason. France has a lot of parking areas especially for camper vans/motorhomes, they can be found on autoroutes or main highways and even on country lanes. I think the secret is to find a quiet but safe place, away from the road noise but not too remote either. I suppose it is always safest to park where you see other camper vans, safety in numbers, so to speak. A greater skill is calculating when you need to park the motorhome on mountain passes - one day before a stage, or even two..? Have fun anyway..! GW
Peter Nurkse - 03/01/2010: How does a motorbike driver keep you upright and safe on a day like Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne? I've heard riding a motorbike in the rain is like riding on ball bearings, must have been ball bearings all the way. 03/06/2010: Peter, it's not as bad as you think; a moto weighs almost half-a-ton, so it takes something very slippery to make it slip...that's before you add the heavyweight passenger on! Having said that, you do move around on the cobbles a bit... GW
Eric S. - 03/03/2010: No question for you Graham, just a Big Fan, going way back to the Winning Mag days.I still have about 20 Winning Magazines that I love to read and relive the days of Hinault, LeMond, Kelly etc... Good years of my life. You brought the racing to me with such outstanding photography. Thanks, Eric. 03/06/2010: Thanks Eric, so we're both of a mature age then? A fine vintage if you ask me... GW
Karla O. - 02/06/2010: Graham, I have been reading your TdF Travel Guide and am planning my trip to this year's TdF. We will be spending our time in the Pyrenees as my husband would like to cycle the Tourmalet, Soulor, and Aubisque as well as catch stages 16 and 17. If you were a spectator who did not have access to a motorbike and press pass, where would you position yourself to experience these 2 stages? Thanks. 02/25/2010: Hi Karla, a simple answer is to camp out on the Tourmalet for those days, you'll see the race twice on that mountain and can use the rest-day to ride the climbs yourselves. Nearby towns like Luz-St Sauveur or St Marie-de-Campain will already be booked for hotels, etc, and even Lourdes will likely be filling up as well. There's no easy way to see such important stages of the Tour, so if you are happy to camp out, so much the better. There are plenty of stores/bars/cafes/restaurants nearby to eat, drink and find provisions for the big days. For photo-locations, the higher you go the better the scenery gets, as well as the chance to take great action shots. Just bear in mind the last few kilometres tend to be with crowd barriers, so place yourself just below this area for the best close-up action! GW
ally6 - 02/12/2010: Hi Graham did you take any photos when the Kellogs Tour was on if so would you have any photos of arund Dundee or Perth you could do a print for me for my best man . Having trouble trying to get gift for him. Thanks Ally 02/25/2010: Hi Ally, I was around for the Dundee start way back when, but most of those slides have disappeared over the years. I do have a piper playing bagpipes, but I guess you want something a bit more 'active'?! GW
roberto - 02/15/2010: Hi, `graham, i met you in `california last year - stage Santa Clarita- Pasadena. My question is what were your settings in your camera for the first stage of the Tour of Oman, which was at night, you did not used flash at all, am i correct? 02/25/2010: Roberto, that first stage of Oman was a real all-night race - never seen one in my life! They raced by streetlight only, and we were obliged to shoot with that available light rather than flash. I worked at iso 6400 most of the time, but doubled that for the finish. I was able to shoot at 1/250th of-a-second which was just about enough. I also used flash sometimes from a side-on position, that was at about iso 2500, the mixture of both styles made for a nice balance. GW
Alan B - 02/10/2010: Noting that Nikon has just announced two more lenses for FX, i.e., D3 or D700, a 24/1.4 and a 16-35/4 VRII, as interesting as these may be for some users, I would guess that with your working outdoors, the former adds nothing to your 24-70/2.8 coverage, and even that zoom may not add much to your kit. Or am I missing some advantage of one or the other? 02/25/2010: Hi Alan, personally I have all I need with my series of lenses - 16mm fisheye, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm (all @2.8) - that I no longer even look at new stuff. Nikon seems to be going a bit 'retro', introducing fixed-length lenses again when their zoom optics are too good to beat. They are obviously on a roll, streets ahead of Canon still, and maybe prone to feel they need to introduce new stuff when in fact they do not. The verdict is still out on the advantages of the D3s, and it is interesting to see they recently withdrew all old D3 stock to oblige people to buy the D3s - a hint that early sales were not as good as they hoped? GW
Doug H - 02/20/2010: Thank you again for all the excellent cycling photography and photography technical equipment and technique tips. So now that you have covered both the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman, which do you prefer? Oman obviously has a more varied landscape, but how did you see it and which do you prefer? 02/23/2010: Hmm, good question! I've done Qatar four times and don't really care if I ever do it again - it uses the same routes/roads/stages every year, although the racing is always fast and furious... Oman was a dream destination, but I might not feel the same in four years time. The people are great, much friendlier than Qatar - and the scenery is to-die-for if you can get out into the mountains. I think Oman has a better future than Qatar as it is a real country with real people with genuine sincerity. Can't say enough about the place - it's even 10-degrees warmer than Qatar! GW
Becky - 02/20/2010: Do you always have the same motorcycle driver, if not how many different drivers? You must really have to work as a team. Last year I went to a small bike race- the Tour De Nez in Lake Tahoe, California and they gave free rides on the back of a motorcycle - IT IS THE BEST WAY TO SEE A RACE. One of my fondest memories. 02/23/2010: Hi Becky, I have about three drivers scattered around Europe - an English guy for the northern Classics, Paris-NIce, and one or two other events like the Giro and Dauphine. A Basque drives me in all the Spanish races plus the Tour and Vuelta. A French driver does Milan San Remo, Lombardy and one or two other events in southern France. It's very geographical, logistical - but they are all very good! All three are different too, so they keep me on my toes... GW
Juan Pablo - 02/10/2010: Dear Graham, Fantastic photos! How/where could I find and purtchase quality prints of Colombian riders e.g. Herrera/Parra? Many thanks! 02/15/2010: Juan, best way is to send an e-mail to: enquiries@grahamwatson.com and request such an image. We can then put a choice into our 'By Request' folder, from which you can order a print.. gw
big matt - 02/08/2010: Hi graham - your twitter background photo is amazing - where can I purchase it from - in digital form - is it in one of your gallery? Matt 02/14/2010: Hi Matt, most of my twitter stuff is off-beat - not stuff I put on my web-site updates... However, if you specify which image to my 'enquiries' page at grahamwatson.com, we can put the image in a dedicated gallery for printing. Give it a try! GW
Nicola - 02/11/2010: Hi Graham, I loved your book "TDF Travel Guide". I'd just like a little bit more info about Internet connections. I will be following this year's TDF and plan to buy a small laptop which I will use to store my photographs and surf the net. Should I organise wireless Internet access before I leave home (Sydney Australia) or when I get to France? 02/14/2010: Hi Nicola, best to leave your Internet purchases until you get to France. More and more hotels are offering free internet - the smaller ones - so unless you plan to stay in a remote hotel or hostel, wait until you arrive. There is no central internet system in France, it works out of so many different places - hotels, airports, railway stations and even McDonalds - that you have to spend a few days deciding which system to go for. If you are traveling 'fly-by-the-wire', think about using McDonald's free internet like in Australia... GW

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