Beardy McBeard's shortlist - 2017 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards

The 2017 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards closed last week, and over its duration, we received hundreds of incredible submissions from around the world – truly some of the best cycling photography of the year. In addition to being a great showcase for the talented entrants, the Awards also had an important purpose – raising a significant amount of money for cancer research through Australian Cancer Research Foundation, Tour de Cure and for Young Cyclist Development.

Now that entries are closed, it’s over to our panel of judges – Graham Watson, Marcus Enno (aka Beardy McBeard) and Jim Fryer & Iri Greco of BrakeThrough Media – to decide who’s going to take home the spoils.

Each of the judges has gone through the difficult task of shortlisting their top 10 favourite photos from each of the three categories. From these shortlists, the judges will deliberate on the top three winners of each category in the coming days – with final winners to be announced on January 12, 2018.

Marcus Enno (aka Beardy McBeard) is a cycling photographer that has captured the world’s highest profile cycling races, including the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

He’s also a keen cyclist who carries a camera along to photograph his daily rides, and has a sizeable following on Instagram. His aim is to portray the beauty of cycling from the places it takes you to the people you meet along the way. Here’s Marcus’ shortlist from the 2017 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards.

Marcus on the judging process

“I had the pleasure of working alongside Mark Gunter at numerous races, so being asked to judge the awards was a great privilege. As a photographer, images are my life and it was a pleasure looking through each and every one. As I flicked from one to the next I experienced a broad range of reactions from wincing at fresh gravel rash to almost laughing out loud at crazy cyclocross antics.

Sorting through the submissions, the quality of the imagery and depth of talent in the cycling photography world was immediately obvious. As a professional photographer I take thousands of images of a similar subject so selecting and narrowing down images is a huge part of the job, so much so I believe it’s not always a case of the images you take but the images you select that defines your photography.

I used the criteria below to help me make my selection:

- How has the photographer used light to capture the subject and emphasise the message, atmosphere and emotion. Images that show ability to appreciate and even harness light rated highly in my selections.

- How has composition and the elements of design, line, tone, texture, shape, colour, direction and size been used to create an image that is pleasing to the viewer and or helps emphasise the subject.

- Is the subject matter interesting? Does it leave you wanting to find out more about what is behind the creation of the image or the story that was unfolding at the moment is was captured.

- Is the image well executed. This includes cropping decisions, digital manipulation and treatments. I selected images that I feel could not have been further improved by simple cropping or more or less image manipulation.

Using the best tool for the job. There are so many camera options for photographers, was the technology used suitable. I.e a Smart Phone / Action cam might be lower in resolution than a Digital SLR but it can be used to create amazing images from angles not physically possible with a larger camera and lens. Has the photographer used the camera’s benefits and features to their advantage. If the photographer used flash did it accentuate the subject or detract from it? Could changing the camera setting to harness motion blur or shallow depth of field help tell the story? As a photographer knowing your equipment is of the utmost importance to helping create your unique vision.

Once I applied all of these criteria I was able to whittle the entries down to my short list.”

–Marcus Enno

Professional category

: Alex Broadway – 20:07:17 – Tour de France – Stage Eighteen – Maillot Jaune contenders Rigoberto Uran, Romain Bardet and Chris Froome fight it out on the final climb of Izoard. Pic by Alex Broadway:ASO:SWpix.com

: Luca Bettini – Giro d’Italia, reflections

: Vincent Riemersma – Tom Dumoulin on the rollers during a bikefitting in preparation for the new cycling season for team Sunweb.

: Francesco Rachello – Ash Duban racing the Red Hook Crit Barcelona no. 5 women’s race that she will eventually win

: Philipp Hympendahl – Team Sky on the last laps at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, in front of the Hotel de la Marine. Shot on a analog panorama camera on film. Can be enlarged up to 3m.

: Brazo de Hierro – Among those great giants of the wind

: Brian Hodes – Lines

: Tim Bardsley-Smith – Jaw, meet Floor… it was hard not to get blown away every single day in Tibet.

: Alex Whitehead – Mathilde Gros of France leads in the Women’s Keirin during the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Velodromo Alcides Nieto Patino in Cali, Colombia.

: Eloise Mavian – Vincenzo Nibali had an awesome victory in the 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia, with a memorable Stelvio descent. Here is a little part of it with a memory of Scarponi.

Enthusiast category

: Emanuele Barbaro – The first man on the moon! (with bicycle). Francesco Dolfo in action at the 2017 Cyclocross Singlespeed World Championship in Verona.

: Adrian Hoe – Despite having poor weather, children & elderly still there to view the race

: Craig Huffman – Rain Is Coming – This solo category 2 racer decides to attack during the Chico Stage Race- Stage 1 Thunderhill Raceway Circuit Race in Willows, California, USA on February 24, 2017.

: Stephen Fitzgerald – Man against mountain

: Simon Scholz – Rays of sunlight through the thick canopy on an early morning ride out of Girona.

: Carlo Beretta – Giro is all about sufferance. And Tifosi.

: Chiara Redaschi – A rider and his girlfriend after the crash. He broke his shoulder.

: Jiri Parizek – This is my brother going up to Grossglockner glacier from side of Heiligenblut village in Austrian alps. We were pretty lucky with weather! Blue bird all day long!

: Angelica Dixon – Riders in the dust cloud

: Roel Ruijs – Roglic on The Galibier, making his way trough The fans. This story ends well… Roglic wins The 17th stage of The Tour The France

Smartphone and action cam category

: Jon Turner – A beautiful day on the Col du L’Iseran in the French Alps. Officially closed but we managed to ride to 2400 m in perfect conditions and beautiful light with the mountain completely to ourselves. Descending in summer kit in May – a truly magical day. Possibly a once in a lifetime.

: John Braynard – Just above Salzburg sits this hidden switchback. Not many locals even know about it. The road is one of the steepest in the area, so not many of the people that know about it want to ride up it. This is a simple GoPro drone shot during a perfect sunset.

: Mark – ………………………

: Tim Clairs – Autumn- les Zinzins de Turini Shot on Samsung Galaxy phone, propped up with a rock on a stone wall, with 30sec timer. Sospel side up col de Turini, Alpes Maritimes, France.

: Randall Fransen – This little overpass is the best way home from a lot of rides in Portland. Hidden in a neighborhood, it’s always a challenge to capture something just barely decent. I love little urban gems that pop up even after scenic rides outside the city.

: Seetoh Lang – Riding solo is riding with and against one’s self. It allows your subconscious mind to unknot, accompanied by the steady sounds of the whir of your drivetrain and the beating of your own heart. Whether fast or slow, no matter the weather, I enjoy these times so much. There is no better feeling than watching the ground and your worries disappear underneath you as you race against nothing but your own thoughts.