Jordan Manley Photography » Bike magazine

Recent covers – and a blast from the past

Jordan Manley — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:01:02 +0000

I’m stoked to see that one of my images from last summer’s Deep Summer photo competition was selected for Bike’s Photo Annual issue. Bringing the image to life is the revered freerider, Thomas Vanderham. And it gets me thinking of the past.

Above, one of my early mountain bike (film) images. Thomas Vanderham, circa 1999/2000. Mount Seymour, BC.

During high school Thomas and I rode bikes together with my twin brother and a group of other friends at school. The freeride scene was really just developing, and we felt like we were a part of it on the North Shore. I got my start making photographs and little movies of our group of friends riding the North Shore mountains, simultaneously trying to emulate the cutting edge bike movies of the day, and the athletes that were pushing the limits of what mountain biking could be. Though, it wasn’t long before Thomas was making his own ascendency into the star light of the mountain bike world – his masterful and unparalleled stylistic command of a mountain bike caught the attention of the industry’s best – freeride legend Wade Simmons, photographer Sterling Lorence, and film maker Bjorn Enga, to name a few. By the end of highschool, Thomas had a secured firm place amongst the freeride greats.

Following different paths, it would be a long time until Thomas and I would shoot together again. Last year, we reunited for the Deep Summer photo comp along with Darcy Turenne and Mike Hopkins. We were fortunate with great weather (the rainy and foggy kind) and we captured some keepers, evidenced by the forthcoming Bike magazine cover.

Below are a few other covers – with my great friend Andre Charland bringing those to life!

Bike magazine feature article

Jordan Manley — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:49:38 +0000

Here is the opening spread from a feature article assignment that I shot for Bike magazine in Michigan this past summer. The feature was about a bike parts manufacturer Nuke Proof that died in the late 90s after a good run with success. I spent some time photographing in and around the decaying buildings of Grand Rapids furniture manufacturing sector that were once at the heart of the US rust-belt economy – trying to set a tone for the story by juxtaposing the decaying buildings next to the story line of Nuke Proof.

Bike magazine, Cover and Feature article

Jordan Manley — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:41:50 +0000

The July issue of Bike magazine has just dropped and it looks like they’ve given us the cover in addition to the feature story Andrew Findlay (writer) and I gathered during our wild trip to Guatemala in January (see blog post, “Guatemala: a-diversion-from-winter”). The cover is a different breed of toning I applied to the image that I normally do, but it seemed to work with the environment, and seemingly the photo editor at Bike magazine.

Bike magazine “Bible” cover

Jordan Manley — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:37:59 +0000

This past fall I got an assignment from Bike magazine to shoot close ups of gear for their Bible issue. I spent a couple days by myself on the trail tinkering about mounting cameras on different places on the bike shooting brakes, wheels, forks, tires, and cranks. Stoked to see they put the self portrait fork shot on the cover!

Bike Magazine cover

Jordan Manley — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:24:18 +0000

Very happy to see the new cover of Bike magazine, a picture Darcy Turenne and I took in Naniamo, BC last fall. It is my first Bike mag cover. The issue also contains a series of portraits I took with Darcy, Micayla Gatto, and Willow Koerber.