A Concrete Tide

    “A rare moment of inactivity at the Fort William World Cup, Scotland, during a course hold due to injury. The day started out up top at 8:15 a.m., and ended around 4:30 p.m., without any breaks or food stops. The temperatures were between freezing and 40 degrees Fahrenheit, with combinations of snow, hail, rain and biting icy wind the whole time.” Not the coziest of conditions. Photo: Boris Beyer

    A Concrete Tide - Worldcups, Skateboards and African Safaris with Sven Martin

    Words by Jann Eberharter

    Most people learn to use a camera in a high school photography class, usually on a user-friendly wide-angle lens. Sven Martin learned in the African savannah, on a manual telephoto lens, shooting from the back of a Land Rover.

    Having learned his camera skills while chasing impala at near-highway speeds could be considered fitting preparation for Sven’s current career: Martin is now the premier photographer for the UCI World Cup Series, where he uses his lens to chase the fastest riders in the world.

    These early savannah experiences came via his childhood in South Africa, where his family—his father was a semi-professional photographer himself—would sometimes spend their holidays on game reserves. But rather than wildlife biology, like most other kids growing up in South Africa in the 1980s, Sven’s focus was on surfing and the rapidly growing skateboard scene. Both were adding an entirely new realm to action sports culture, and Sven was swept along by the concrete tide.

    There’s no doubt Aaron Gwin is a boss—his chainless win at the 2015 World Cup DH in Leogang, Austria, or the incredible, viral-video-famous flat-tire run at Leogang the year before are both recent examples of this. Perhaps more impressive (and patriotic) is his general American flag get-up from this very muddy World Cup stop in Champery, Switzerland in 2010. Be it bike malfunctions or foul weather, nothing can stop Aaron.
    When the light is good, anything goes. Not exactly the best photo strategy—or race strategy for that matter—but it worked for men’s winner Julien Absalon during the first round of the UCI MTB World Cup in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 2014.
    “It’s quite a fairytale victory when the local boy wins the biggest race to ever grace his local trails. Greg Callaghan takes the victory in Wicklow, Ireland at the second stop of the Enduro World Series. Actions shots are worthless when you don’t follow the entire story all the way through.”

    Skateboarding proved prosperous for Sven. He spent a decade competing professionally, moving to Los Angeles in 1995 with his now-wife Anka. However, asphalt is unforgiving and Sven suffered multiple injuries, which kept him off the board, but while recovering from each, he had time to pick up his old camera and snap a few skate photos. The safari training had worked—by 2000, skating full-time as a pro had evolved into selling images to Thrasher Magazine, and eventually into a team photographer position. And then Anka started racing bikes at nearby Bear Mountain, and Sven was beset by a dirtier—and equally addictive—type of current.

    “Along the way my wife found mountain biking, which got me into mountain biking,” Sven says. When Anka started spending weekends racing at Big Bear or Mammoth, he jumped on the bandwagon. “The sport itself got me hooked first, and then it was racing. But to pay for racing, you had to work in a bike shop and sell photos to make it work. Eventually, I became better at selling photos than getting race results.”

    He wasn’t just good at selling photos. Sven quickly moved up the ranks of the best mountain bike photographers in the business, just as Anka put her own stamp on podiums around the world. With their careers now joined by their shared, two-wheeled passion, Los Angeles was no longer the right place for the Martins, and so they decided to move to Bend, Ore. However, while Bend is a mountain bike mecca during the summer, the area’s notorious Pacific Northwest winters lined up with Sven’s notoriously busy race season schedule in the worst ways.

    “The Absa Cape Epic covers nearly 500 miles with 50,000 feet of climbing over six stages, from Bredasdorp to Hermanus in the Western Cape of South Africa. Mixed team Kobus and Fienie Barnard push on mid-sufferfest, defining teamwork and perseverance. More than any crowd-pleasing trick or podium finish, it’s images like this that show what mountain biking is all about.”
    “Brendan Fairclough has been back on top this year; it’s been awhile since he’s been a podium contender, but with a new teammate this year his competitive fires have been lit and he’s knocking on the door once again. Fairclough, under the mist and under the radar at the 2015 World Cup DH in Fort William, Scotland.”
    “The best part about traveling the world and shooting photos is experiencing new cultures. I feel as a photographer, it’s my responsibility to convey and relay this in my event reportage.” Especially when it includes traditional Maori war dances.

    “I’d finish the season and get back to Oregon, ready to start riding,” he says. “Then within a month the snow would start falling and the trails would be done.”

    Bend, while beautiful, wasn’t the place. Instead, the globe-trotting duo found themselves planted in Nelson, New Zealand, a small town at the northern tip of the country’s South Island. The lush, mountainous area allows for an endless summer and offers opportunities beyond the world of professional mountain biking. Between contests and commercial shoots, Sven and Anka operate House Martin, a guiding service that showcases all the riding New Zealand has to offer, from the backyard trails to multi-day adventures on both the north and south islands.

    But that’s during the winter. In the summers, Sven is fully freelance and still as busy as ever, covering everything from the UCI World Cup Series and Enduro World Series to XC races, Crankworx and Rampage. During the midst of the “on season,” he’s at work for 20 weeks straight, running alongside World Cup or enduro tracks, with three or sometimes even four cameras bouncing off his body.

    “As a race photographer, you try to tell the story and capture the vibe of the whole event. Nothing is planned, so you have to keep thinking and react when opportunities like this present themselves.I have worked closely with the Athertons since 2008, and have shared many highs and lows and wins and injuries. But those are all parts of mountain biking. Rachel ended up taking the win this day at Fort William, Scotland, by almost eight seconds”
    “R Dog, as in ‘R-DAWG’—only big-time rappers and super stylish freeriders can get away with having names like this. Ryan Howard styles his way to Whip-Off victory in front of my pole cam during Crankworx Rotorua.”
    “Shooting enduro races is the fun part of the job. We usually have photographer-exclusive shuttles and we’ve been known to raid fridges for refreshments en route. Here’s to keeping the good times rolling at the first stop of the Enduro World Series in Rotorua, New Zealand with Joe Bowman and Caleb Smith.”

    Besides House Martin, the rest of Sven’s year includes commercial shoots and trips for editorial pieces, but more than anything, he just tries to spend more time on his bike. Considering the speed and rowdy nature of his subjects, keeping up with the sport’s best athletes isn’t much different than his early days of chasing big game—although athletes are less likely to maul you. But even with 20 years of skate, bike and World Cup imagery behind him, Sven isn’t one to rest on his laurels.

    “Any photographer’s only as good as the last photo he took, so you can never expect to get by today on what you did five years ago, or even last year,” Sven says. “You’ve got to do your best work every day.”