Graham Watson has hung up his camera bag to enjoy the good life (which includes not lugging a metric shit-ton of camera gear all over the planet).
He turned 60 last March, and his final outing as a pro shooter was last month’s Tour Down Under.
When I was throwing pixels at the digital wall for that Boulder-based journal of competitive cycling GW was a mainstay of our photography, as was (and still is) Casey B. Gibson. Between the two of them we pretty much covered the globe like Sherwin-Williams.
It’s a tough hustle, pro shooting, The travel is unending, and the days run 48 hours apiece. The bag weighs a ton, the pay sucks, and wankers steal your images without so much as a by-your-leave.
But the old saw about a picture being worth a thousand words is a cliché because it’s true. One good shot will tell you more about bike racing than anyone’s prose, mine included.
So raise a glass to Graham Watson, who has gone to ground in New Zealand. I’ll honor him by not lifting an image for this post.
Mad Blog Media 
Cheers to Mr. Watson…I have never seen bikes and sunflowers so beautifully juxtaposed. He realized and shared so many amazing images throughout the years…
He will be missed. I have a copy of that great cycling photography book made up of his photographs. Plus when I was president of the Hawaii Bicycling League, we once gave an award for a person who lifted cycling to a new spiritual level and called it The Spirit of Cycling Award. I called Graham’s business and bought a photo from him to frame as part of the award. It was that picture of Lance Armstrong pointing skyward after winning Stage 16 of the 1995 Tour de France on a breakaway after teammate Fabio Casartelli died in a horrible crash while descending on Stage 15.
The award was in the late ’90’s before Armstrong’s fall from grace. I gave the first one to an organization that had organized, out of the box, a successful multi island bike tour to raise funds for AIDS. Of course, I was slightly motivated since I had just lost my brother in law, the late Rev. Warren R. Zeh, who died a horrible and lonely death of AIDS.
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What’s with the test post, bruh?
Two other WordPress sites I usually yammer into are not posting my comments. Since this is a wordpress site I wanted to see if your site worked. Maybe the other two got tired of seeing my rants?
WordPress is a fickle beastie. Sometimes she bites. The custom job that the Boulder boyos cobbled up was famous for developing multiple personality disorder.
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You, Patrick, are a classy guy! I used to have 3 or 4 of his TdF posters hanging in the garage before we moved. Have a great retirement Graham, where ever you are. Maybe he can ride with Hurben some day.
Speaking of classy, check this out.
http://trumpdonald.org
I remembered after my magnanimous post that I own a couple of his books, which I could have photographed. I will never be smart. But you knew this.
Thank you Pat – I needed that. Classy indeed!
Speaking of No Class..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/89023836/this-is-the-worst-deal-ever-donald-trump-badgers-and-brags-in-call-with-australias-malcolm-turnbull
Hey! That’s our Trashcan Fire yer talkin’ ’bout!
Amazing isn’t it? This unhinged clown has managed to terrify and alienate a whole host of countries and he’s only been at it two weeks! Look what we have to look forward to!
Merica, Fuck Yeah!
Let’s not mention the large number of Australian & New Zealand soldiers who have died in war as partners supporting America
I went to Australia for R&R from Vietnam. Everyone I met was friendly to me. After all, he was here dodging STD during that time. Hazardous duty for sure.
We have one of his wall switchplates with an image from (I think) the Passo Gardena in Italy in our Iowa office. There’s one with TdF sunflowers in our bedroom. Hope he enjoys retirement – I think he earned it!
Does this mean that we won’t have to look at another of his ubiquitous sunflower shots that he repeats over and over and over again year after year?
There is no doubt that GW is a fantastic photographer, but to my eyes, he lost his creativity decades ago.
Hey, worked for Vincent..
http://www.yatego.com/kunst-fuer-alle/p,4cf07ff9acdf4,4cdc1c666d0e95_3,vincent-van-gogh-felder-mit-bluehendem-mohn-67
Thanks for letting us know. Did not see this. I fizzled out of watching pro-cycling as a bitter ex-lance enthusiast. GW is a gem. Loosing too many of them lately.
Hey, come on. Had it not been for Watson’s famous sunflower photographs, the entire sunflower scandal involving the Tour de Franc would never have been uncovered by VeloNews.