ellipsis…

Nik is one of my best friends. she also happens to be one of the hardest training athletes i know. from conquering the Duathlon world, to indoor track & 10k running, she is now quickly becoming a rising Canadian cycling star. after her first season ending abruptly with a tibia and fibula break, she is having an amazing second season. with a 2nd place road race finish and 4th place overall GC at Wenatchee, 6th in the road race at Enumclaw, 8th place stage 2 and a 12th place overall GC at Mt. Hood (against some of the best in North America including Clara Hughes and Kristin Armstrong), and just over a week ago finishing 7th at Canadian Nationals (ahead of Clara Hughes), this year has been going in the right direction.

Nik and i have been working together for a long time. before she headed off to Mt. Hood and Canadian Nationals we shot some new images for her website. Nik has never been one for the regular athlete pictures; most would never know she was a cyclist from her immaculate sense of style. we went simple this time. no sports attire, just a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans on a white background with Nik just being Nik. here are a few of my favourites. you can see a few more of them over on her website, www.nikvogler.com.

[pictures and a quick strobist setup after the jump]

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i completely forgot i had took these images until Nik asked me about them. in early august i was in Calgary for a wedding and it happened that the Tour de Bowness was going, and my friends Nik Vogler and Matthew O’Hagan were racing. it’s always fun shooting bike races. these images are from the criterium, which always proves to be a ridiculously fast race with tight corners and at least one inevitable crash. i could just imagine what shooting the Tour de France would be like.