They were supposed to start at 5:30 and at that time there were 7 fully clothed cyclists sitting on the steps on the Legislature building. Global and CBC news were there as well for the start of the 13 KM ride. ~5:45 they started stripping down, but at that time the six cyclists did not feel comfortable leaving naked as there were at least 30 people who gathered to watch, it seemed that perhaps half of them had cell phone cameras or actual cameras drawn.
This was a tricky one to shoot, as it is a family newspaper after all. I was told in advance to shoot it from behind, and I did and filed several different angles from behind. I later got a call asking for other shots. Apparently there were a few discussions in the news room that evening over what to run. I was also obviously very curious to see how the photographs would run, and if/how they would be cropped.
Here are two other shots that didn't run. The first one was just north of the Osbourne street bridge about a minute after they actually stripped naked (actually only 4/6 went naked), it is cropped to keep their identities safe.
The second one was actually shot with the 70-200 blindly while passing them in the car (left hand on the wheel, right hand outstretched on the camera hoping for something useable)
The third is a snap of the cover of Saturday's B section with 2 of the photos that ran.
I'll keep this a family blog, and won't publish the shots shot from the front (looks super uncomfortable!).
