Unique bicycle picture challenge

Few days ago Scott Wyden challenged others with request for unique or fancy bicycle picture. I immediately started to think how to present one of our bicycles in a unique way. The thing that was bugging me is how to present an action. All in all bicycle is quite an action item and taking a picture of it parked somewhere seemed to be so boring. Weather outside ruled out any ideas of outside shot (although this one taken a year ago also fits ‘action’ theme) so I decided to choose another approach. There is one thing on the bicycle that sees a lot of action on it’s own, it’s a derailleur. Especially the rear one has pretty tough job to do back there. So I decided to show it’s while working.

I set up two flashes set into repeat high speed sync function, opened the shutter for 20 seconds and shot the derailleur in three position, low, middle and top gear. The side effect of spokes being lit multiple times also added to the dynamic of the scene.