Toronto's cycling community knows it well: HPLs (High Park Laps) are a staple for road cyclists in the city, and on any given morning the roads are already full of ppl putting in work. For Tailgun Racing, that familiarity meant they could ride, practice, and shoot all in one.
The shoot was focused on two things: the new kit and the team behind it. Kit launch photography that doesn't capture the people wearing it tends to fall flat, and Tailgun's camaraderie — the easy rhythm of a group that's ridden hundreds a lot of kilometres together — was just as much a part of the story as the gear itself. We went into the shoot wanting to create imagery that felt like the team, not a catalogue.
Ethan's involvement across different disciplines of riding (city cycling, long distance, mountain biking, dirt biking) informed how we approached the team and how we read the ride as it was happening. With that said, what we underestimated was the logistics of it all! Keeping pace with a road cycling team is one thing. Communicating with riders mid-ride — yelling to tighten up, take a turn one at a time, push on the next hill — while simultaneously shooting is another! Ethan's solution was renting an e-bike with a cargo trailer (the kind you’ll find small children in lol) to ride alongside and shoot at the same time. It worked like a cham (peep the BTS photo at the end of the post).
Most cycling campaigns are set in scenic destinations — BC, the Dolomites, the California coast. We've been thinking a lot about what that looks like here, in Toronto, and High Park is the city's most sensible answer for green space that still feels urban. A future shoot pushing further into the city's backdrop feels like a natural next progression, and one we're really looking forward to!
If you're a cycling team or apparel brand looking for photography that comes from genuine involvement in the sport, we'd love to hear from you :)
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