Turbo Talk: Russ Ellis Cycling Photographer
Gareth: “Russ, welcome to ‘Turbo Talk’.”
Russ: “Haha, what's going on in the world?”
GW: “Is my hair okay?”
RE: “Haha, yeah, the world isn’t over yet.”
GW: “We have to ride together on turbo trainers and video chat now... Which solves two problems: 1. social distancing 2. the fact that you’re in Perth, Australia.”
RE: “Haha, I guess so. The last time we rode together was in Mallorca. I was on the Island with the Le Col team shooting the new WIGGINS collection, and randomly bumped into you on the way to Formentor.”
GW: “It was brilliant, I swear I see more friends in Mallorca than when I’m back home.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
RE: “The first shoot I ever did with you was in Monaco, at the Team Sky Villa (9th February 2016).”
“I was basically doing a ‘day job’ in I.T. back then.”
“I'd been taking a few pictures at local bike races and doing a few bits and bobs for various magazines. I was very much a ‘weekend warrior’.”
“I decided to set up an Instagram account, and then yeah, I got a call from you asking if I wanted to be involved with a Team Sky cycling campaign.”
“I was like, “YES!” (obviously), and then you said: “Right, we’ll fly you out to Monaco.”
“I met you guys at the Sky villa and within 20 minutes we were sat with Froomie, G and Luke Rowe. You were doing interviews while I was taking pictures behind the scenes.”
Here’s me ‘photobombing’. Sorry, Russ, I’m always in the way ;)
“It just kind of went from there I guess. We went to Paris Roubaix, the Track Worlds, shot a Wiggins campaign in Manchester Velodrome, the Tour de France, Revolution Series, British Cycling track training session and a few other bits and bobs.”
“And yeah, that’s how we met.”
GW: “We were looking for a photographer to lift the quality of our cycling campaigns, we came across you on Instagram. You'd shot a Hill climb event in your local area, and you captured the emotion of the riders and how much suffering they'd gone through. You caught the very essence of a hill climb so perfectly. I was like - “we have to get this guy.”
“You nailed the Monaco shoot, but what's more, you did it with such a great attitude. You are just a pleasure to work with. I guess that's why people keep asking you back.”
“How did your career and life change afterwards?”
RE: “After Monaco, I sat down at my desk job. That same day, I had a chat with my boss and said: “I’m probably going to need to take a few more unpaid holidays.” He basically said, “Look, why don't you just go for it?”
“So I quit my day job.”
“After we’d been and shot the Tour, Fran Millar (Team Sky) emailed me: ‘We really like the work you did on the Sky campaign, we’d like you to work with us directly.”
“I met up with Fran, she asked If I could photograph all the Team Sky portraits. That was something I'd never done before… so I rang the Director of Photography (Andrew Wiggins - no relation to Sir Brad 😉) from the WIGGINS shoot that we did up in Manchester, to ask him about lighting.”
“Then I shot the January training camp and started shooting races, then Specialized got in touch. It just kind of snowballed really, it went from strength to strength. More people wanted to use me and I never looked back.”
GW: “What are your biggest career highlights so far?”
RE: “I guess just being lucky enough to work embedded in Team Sky (now Ineos), and just being there when all the guys were winning the Grand Tour’s. I mean, I was at the Tour de France three times with Chris winning, I was at the Giro when Chris won; I was about a kilometre from the top of the Finestre when he came round on his own... Effectively, he won the maglia rosa from nowhere. It was a pretty special day. I was at La Vuelta with Chris winning, the Tour when G won it, and then Egan last year.”
“So just being around the guys for those sort of events, really. It’s just awesome.”
GW: “They always say, ‘never meet your heroes’, but every cyclist I've had the pleasure to meet and work with proves otherwise. Who do you have a great relationship with, someone you really respect, who gives you their time and makes you feel included?”
RE: “It seems like a bit of a cop-out, but I've not met any cyclists that aren't friendly. Considering how many Grand Tour’s Chris has won, and he’s still just, like, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”
GW: “Yeah, he’s so gentlemanly, well mannered and respectful. I really admire that about Chris.”
RE: “They’re all just really friendly and have time for you. Probably because they all want nice pictures of themselves. Haha.”
GW: “Haha, I think that might have something to do it, but mostly, It’s probably because you are such a nice guy, who wouldn’t want to be friends with you?”
“Your dreams are a reality, and then all of a sudden COVID-19 comes and completely transforms our lives and the world as we know it.”
“You know, we had the spring classics ahead of us, which we both LOVE, the Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix, etc. But everything is being cancelled left, right and centre. Obviously, that has a huge impact on your job this year.”
RE: “Two stages from the end of UAE, I was in my hotel room and received a message, they were suspending the next two stages because someone had tested positive for Coronavirus. It was kind of strange at that point because you're kind of aware that it was happening, but I could not foresee how much of an impact it was going to have. I was kind of thinking, okay, well maybe we’ll lose Strada Bianche because it’s in Italy, and they’re having a hard time with it, but yeah, it’s obviously just gone to the nth degree now.”
“I was sat at a café when I got home, thinking ‘that’s all my income gone because there are literally NO RACES’, kind of feeling a bit sorry for myself, but then within two, three weeks you realise it's not just cycling photographers. Literally every single business in the world is hampered by this.”
GW: “I always try to look for the opportunity and a problem. You know, is there an opportunity to do something different, something better? Have you recognised an opportunity for yourself during this time?”
RE: “I have seized this chance to go through my hard drives from the last four or five years. In fact, I actually found the pictures from the Monico shoot.”
GW: “Could you share a Russ Ellis photography tip?”
RE: “Well, I guess the main one is don't stand next to anybody else. Basically, If I look around and see six or seven people next to me, we are all going to get the same shot. So I just take a few steps back, walk away and just find something else. That's kind of the main one for me.”
“Just try something different, show a different angle, It doesn't always work. When I look back through my hard drives at my pictures, I only ever have a few killer images that I really like, so it's not about getting 20, 30 images every day. It's about getting one a really good shot from a stage, a race, or even an entire tour. So just risk trying to get ‘the shot’.”
GW: “Time for some Turbo-Talk™.”
“Now that we're stuck indoors riding turbo trainers instead of out riding up mountains, over cobbles, to our favourite coffee shops, etc, what are your indoor training tips?
RE: I don't like it. I'd rather be outside.”
“I do it as soon as I get out of bed, I literally get up, have a coffee and get on it. The minute you sit down and think ‘I'll do it in 10 minutes’… you're not gonna do it.”
“I just put an old race on YouTube and get lost in it.”
GW: “You were twice the size a few years ago, how have you got in such good shape in a relatively short space of time?”
RE: “It crept up on me. It started when I had a crash in a race and broke my collarbone, that's when I picked up the camera and started taking pictures at local races, rather than doing them.”
“The first three years where I was working at all the races, I was eating late, having to travel overnight and coudn’t train because I was working so much. Then at the 2018 Tour, I saw a picture of me walking next to G, and I just looked ‘HUGE’, I was just like ‘enough's enough’.”
“I got back home and rode my bike every day. The weight just fell off, nothing hard, just a few hours every day. I just gradually started coming down from a large jersey to a medium.”
“No crazy diets, nothing too strenuous, no crazy training programs, just being healthy.”
GW: “Nice one, roll for the soul.”
RE: “You get up at 4am every day, don’t you?
GW: “Yeah, I've got a milkman’s body clock.”
RE: “What time do you go to bed?”
GW: “I go to bed at 8:30pm.”
“I like to get a head start on the rest of the world, my training, work, life, etc. For me, It's about always arriving prepared and getting the best out of every minute of the day.”
“I hate sleep. I'm quite good at it, but I hate it. I’m a bit like a robot, I just go into ‘standby mode’ for eight hours.”
“I just want tomorrow to come today. I'm always thinking about ‘what's next?’ Sleep gets in the way and feels like a chore.”
RE: “In the UK, especially in the winter when it’s freezing and there’s no light, there's no point riding till 10am. I was going to bed at midnight, getting up at 9am.”
“Australian culture is very much like what you do. Because there's no daylight saving in Perth, It's dark at 7pm/8pm, so everyone's in bed. We’re in bed for 9pm and then we're up at 4:30am, riding at 5am.”
GW: “Welcome to #5amClub™.”
RE: “Like you say, you get out on the bike for 2hrs and you're in a cafe for 7am. You feel like you've already done a full day and it’s not even started. So, yeah, there’s definitely something to be said for it.
RE: “I like it, kind of.”
GW: “I prioritise my wellbeing by getting enough sleep, eating well, cycling, strength training, yoga, and just living a good mindful lifestyle.”
“Everything else just slots into place when you have the energy to be completely present in every aspect of your life. It’s more productive and helps my headspace.”
RE: “One other question, would you swap your job at Sky to be a Creative Director at a pro team instead?”
GW: Hmm, when we (Sky) sponsored Team Sky, my passion for cycling and creative met in the middle. It never felt like work, you know? I worked with my heroes and created work that I was proud of, as a cyclist and a creative. I love working at Sky, the culture, the mindset of ‘believe in better’, the environment, the people, the progression, innovation, etc.”
“Who knows if I’d swap it all to work for a pro team?… Probably.” 😉
“When I first met you, I assumed you came from more of a cycling background than from your actual role. You kind of you seemed more embedded and more knowledgeable about cycling than someone who was just doing a Creative job at Sky.”
“It must have been hard for you when the Team Sky Partnership came to an end?”
GW: “It' was hard at first, I felt a bit lost and purposeless for a while. But then some exciting briefs came in and I really started to enjoy the new challenges and variety, such as making films about tennis with Andy Murray and Johanna Konta, Rugby with the Lions, and internal films about our business, people, culture, etc.”
“It’s exciting to learning new things. I redefined my purpose and I fell in love with working at Sky all over again.”
“I’m really embracing the separation between work and cycling. I’m able to manage my ‘work-life balance’ much better.”
“I do miss working on cycling, maybe I’ll have an opportunity to do it again someday.”
RE: “Yeah, me too, hopefully. haha.”
GW: “Haha, you’ll have a camera in your hands and a peloton in front of you again soon.”
“Russ, it’s been great riding and chatting with you again.”
RE: “Yeah, shall we catch up in Mallorca at the end of all this?”
GW: “Absolutely.”
I hope you enjoyed ‘Turbo Talk’ with me and Russ.
Thanks for reading.
Gareth.
COVID-19 Cycling Club: Entry 5