The Cabin Boy Was Flipper | The Gary Perkin Interview.

Following on from Pete’s chat with the OG Geoff Waugh, Pete caught up with Gary Perkin, yet another snapper who has been there and done that.

Is there anyone that racks up more air miles than Gary Perkin? If he’s not the top dog then he’s definitely in the top three. Pete caught up with the Glaswegian South African to chat cameras, World Cups and where the nickname ‘Flipper’ came from.

Who is Gary Perkin?

Depends on who you ask. My daughter Molly will say absent, my wife Karen will probably say asshole, but I’m hoping people say photographer…

What came first, bikes or cameras?

I would have to say bikes. I spent my early years growing up in the urban sprawl that is Glasgow and never rode a bike until we emigrated to South Africa in 1979. At the moment my Dad let go the seat I encountered a freedom & independence I’d never felt before… and I’ve never looked back.

How did you get into photography?

My parents bought me National Geographic photography book for Christmas or a birthday when I was in my teens, I looked at all the amazing photos and wanted to not just take photos like the ones I saw in the book, but also to visit the places featured in them.

What’s your background in cycling?

My first was a 700c flat bar steel Western Flyer in 1979 which I used to ride at the local jumps – a 29er pioneer perhaps. After that I got into BMX with a Raleigh Ultra Burner and I raced a little but mainly just messed about on it as you should as a kid.

I got into road racing a bit at the end of high school and carried on while I was in the South Africa Navy. I dabbled in triathlon – but we don’t talk about that. I then went sailing for a few years and the bike then fell by the wayside.

Then in 1994, while working on superyachts, I rode my first proper MTB trails above Nice in France and was hooked. My skipper at the time sold me his Cannondale M800 for a bargain and I took it back to South Africa where the scene was just building up speed. I started riding with my old school pal Patrick Morewood who was racing DH at the time and it went from there.

When did you realise you could make a go of being a photographer?

That’s a tough one … the creative mind is full of self doubt and making a career as a photographer is about so much more than shutter speed and ISO these days. When I shot the first Cape Epic in 2004 it was a blank slate as that kind of race had never been done before. Spending all day on a motorbike traversing so many landscapes with about 600 riders to shoot I think I started to find my way as a photographer.

Then when I got the Team G-Cross Honda gig in 2005 I was stoked for sure… it was the biggest thing in the sport. But I still felt my photography was pretty bad and I wasn’t doing the sport & locations justice. So over time my style changed and I became more confident in what I was sending clients.

I think 2007 when I became the official UCI Photographer for MTB was the turning point for me when I was confident enough in my work to take on more clients and be proud of my work.

Did you start shooting bikes straight off the bat?

I bought a camera while I was in the Navy (cue Village People) with one of my first salary payments… but I didn’t shoot too much, mostly sunsets. Cheesy I know, but easy to get right.

Then while sailing yachts around the world I had no money for things like film and processing so the camera stayed at home. Then in 1997 Greg Minnaar needed some images to help with sponsors and the like so I helped the kid out and it just started from there really.

Where and when did you first shoot a bike race?

The first bike race I shot was the World Cup in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1998. Why not start as you mean to go on? Greg had a special dispensation to race as a 16 year old and I was working at a newspaper in Pietermaritzburg and managed to wangle a press pass through Martin Whiteley.

What’s your favourite moment from 11 years of shooting World Cups?

Wow, there are so many amazing moments it would be tough to pick just one – so I’ll give a few examples that come to mind.

Going to my first World Cup in Stellenbosch in 1997 blew me away – right there and then I knew I wanted to be part of the scene, from standing trackside watching the riders, to chatting to mechanics in the pits, to the after party it all just felt like this was what I was meant to do.

Watching Greg Minnaar win his first World Cup in Kaprun and then take the World Cup overall later that season in Mont-Sainte-Anne was amazing. To be trackside shooting and watch someone you’ve known since they were 6 years old win the biggest thing in the sport you love was and still is pretty incredible.

To standing side by side with Sven Martin in the torrential downpour above the final jump into the finish at the World Champs in Champery in 2011, knowing it would be my last outing in that scene was a moment that sticks with me as well for many reasons.

When did you decide to pack in shooting WC DH and why?

I broke my back during the Cape Epic in March, 2010 and shot that World Cup season in a back brace and it sure made me question some things. I was also getting burnt out shooting World Cup DH, XC, 4X and marathon races plus their respective World Champs. I was also struggling to go to the same venues over and over and try get something different each weekend.

But most importantly I was struggling with being away from home from April through September. I would get to go home during Crankworx in August – that was it. My daughter Molly was born in 2007 and it got harder and harder to be on the road for so long and miss out on so much of her early years.

I had been shooting for the Santa Cruz Syndicate since 2008 and used spend more and more time chatting with Santa Cruz Bicycles founder Rob Roskopp about life, family and life after World Cups. Eventually in 2011 we worked out a deal where I would shoot more stuff away from racing for them. So at the World Champs in Champery I told myself and a few key others that was it, I was out, and then struggled for the next few months with that decision. I eventually announced my retirement formally just before the season in 2012.

Where did the nickname Flipper come from?

In the early days, between sailing trips I would DJ with mates Keith Farr and Stuart Andrews and I’d share ally sailing stories with them. And as we were pretty into punk in those days Stuart found a verse in the Sex Pistols song “Friggin’ in rigging” –

The cabin boy was Flipper,
He was a f*cking nipper,
He stuffed his ass with broken glass,
And circumcised the skipper.

It stuck…

Do you have a favourite photograph you’ve taken?

Nope. Each photo evokes memories of an event, a moment, a scene, a rider or how much of a laugh or a struggle it was to get the image. So to pick one would undermine all the others … its like saying pick your favourite child. I’ll always say Molly, but that is easy as she is an only child.

But I do feel that you are only as good as your last images, you can’t live off an image you took years ago.

Unless, of course, it was the Neil Leifer image of Muhammad Ali vs Cleveland Williams from above… that will live for eternity.

Who or what inspires you to shoot?

I try take inspiration from a variety of things – a lot from outside MTB at the moment – from cooking to illustration to other sports and a variety people. I’ve found it quite helpful to try understand the creative mind a bit more of late – that helps when its miserable and the light is rubbish and you’re just not feeling it.

As Chuck Close said “Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work.”

The process of photography itself should be the inspiration, by shooting you are looking at angles, light, settings, where the rider is, what the background and foreground look like and how all those elements line up to complete the whole.

You must own a fair bit of kit. What combo gets overused, and what rarely sees the light of day?

Well, when I got a 15mm fisheye that got overused a lot. It’s that kind of lens – the look is so unique and so wide you want to use it and use it. But with editing slideshows for Vital MTB and images for clients on a weekly basis at World Cups you soon realise when your take includes too much of one type of lens or style of image.

On the flip side, I haven’t shot with flash for about 6 or 7 years now … I used to be all over that! Pocket Wizards, remote flashes on tripods and in trees and all that faff to get an image. But I eventually realised that style of image didn’t actually show what mountain biking was about. We’re in the mud, dust, dark woods and outdoors and that’s not a studio and the look of the image should reflect that.

Do you still shoot with film, and if so, what makes digital not quite good enough to kill it off? Do you think film will always have a place?

I haven’t shot with film for more than a decade I think. Given the current always-on demands of social media and the like, film is more reserved for personal projects or for a select few clients who really want to go down that route for a variety of reasons. I don’t see a need for it in my life right now. But that being said, I really do miss my Hasselblad 501CM.

My daughter Molly shots with film though :) She shot the Pietermaritzburg World Cup on her Fisher-Price camera when she was 4 and currently shoots her friends & travels on a Fuji Instax with Polaroid-style film.

You must have some stories from travelling the world, can you tell us your favourite crazy story?

There’s a few there – most may get us into trouble … Lets just say its been amazing! Most stories involve over-tiredness from 19 hour days, booze of some form, and some kind of mad rush to an airport.

After the World Cup Finals in Schladming in 2007, the last race for Team G-Cross Honda and after a huge after-party, I had about 45 minutes sleep before I had to pack my room and get to the 0700 train to Graz to catch a flight home.

After throwing all my belongings – including the hotel TV remote – into the bag, I raced
down the street to the train station to just make what I assumed was the train. Rather pleased with myself, I settled into my seat for a quick kip before the next adventure – or so I thought.

The conductor came through checking tickets and calmly informed me I was on the wrong train and heading the completely wrong direction. I got off at the next station – some tiny one-horse mountain town and took the rest of the day to get to Graz… missing my flight by about 8 hours in the end. Still the delay gave me time to post the TV remote back.

The early years where a blur of sleeping on or behind couches, hitching lifts where I could, scraping by to make ends meet. From 2007 onwards I felt I was an honorary Belgian travelling with the legend that is Mark Maurissen of GT Bicycles and staying in his basement in Genk for months on end while travelling to races & drinking Duvel.

The last few years of World Cups were spent shackled to the computer editing well into the early hours and attempting to find a valid source of life-giving wi-fi to upload client work.

And last few years have been spent riding bikes on some of the most amazing trails on earth with the best people out there.

Any unmitigated disasters?

Touch wood I’ve been pretty good that way… sure there are shots I’ve missed over the years and I’ve kicked myself for not seeing them. But that has been countered by nailing a shot you’ve pictured in your head and the inevitable stoke that goes with it.

Favourite moment(s)?

All of them. From finding my way around a race course in the early days, to learning from the best – Mark Dawson and Malcolm Fearon, to scratching a living for years, to not knowing how to get to the next race, to the places bikes have taken me, the riders I’ve worked with and to all the friends I’ve made and continue to make along the way! Cheers!

Where next for Gary Perkin?

I’m working pretty hard to try keep up my fitness to manage going on all these rad adventures with Santa Cruz Bicycles, but age will get the better of me at some point and we’ll have to play that by ear as we go I suppose. But that’s not a bridge I hope to cross any time soon… who would want to give up the best gig in the world?

Anybody to thank at this point in the journey? Long suffering spouses/parents/friends?

My parents for putting up with a wayward teen who eventually found his way in his 30s, to my friends and riding buddies in Cape Town who I see once every few weeks with stories from far flung lands and then disappear again, to my daughter Molly for missing so much, and last but most definitely not least, to my wife Karen, who puts up with so much of my crap and who now has to deal with so much more of her own. I am in awe.

To check out all of Gary’s work, head over to his website here, there’s some major bangers within.

You can keep up to date with Flipper himself on Twitter and Instagram.

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