translated!

Why do days go by so slowly and years so fast?

The idea to present my photogra-phic work in a decent manner first emerged three years ago. Since then I have travelled half of Eu-rope to capture images of Downhill and have now managed to produced this Ebook. After the first year I was still lacking material, and a year after that I lacked the motivation to search my database for the best pho-tograps and to organize them in a way that would make some kind of sense. Now enjoy what you‘re about to see and recommend this page.

YOUR LIKES ARE MY MOTIVATION! Hanno Polomsky Foto: (C) André Wackenhut

After four seasons of downhill photography I have accumulated tens of thousands of photos on my hard drive. The picture on the right, which I really like, is one of the first good pictures I ever took, and it demonstrates that you don’t need expensive equipment to achieve excellent results. It’s a picture of Martin Wiltschko, one of my hardest working models who has repeatedly and willingly pushed his bike up the hill whenever I messed up a shot again.

Martin Wiltschko, Spring 2010

Some photos I like only at second or even at the third glance. This is one of those pictures. It shows a run of the four-cross world cup in Leogang, 2010.

IXS GDC 2010 in Bad Wildbad

In 2011 it all happened pretty quickly. Oliver Roggenbuck and I had been off shooting for about 18 months, not sparing with thorough criticism, when suddenly it all fell into place: here you can see Oli handling his bike over the tables instead of his camera for once. After experimenting throughout the winter months, this image came into being in spring. It is one of my best shots, and yes, Oli landed it.

Oliver Roggenbuck, May 2011

2011 was also the start of a collaboration with Marcus Klausmann and René Schmidt. Shortly after, Fraction Photography became a re-liable photo supplier for Mag41 (now Enduro-Mountainbike-Magazin).

Marcus Klausmann in Barr ( 2011 )

Actually more of a fluke. Fabian Fader is rocking the last section in Barr. The sun breaks through the trees and a cloud of dust indicates the line he just rode.

Fabian Fader (Barr 2011)

Monte Tamaro (Switzerland) during the IXS EDC 2011. The four of us made our way to the mountain top to take some atmospheric pictures. Rider: Ruben Torenbeek, Julian Lemmle and Cons-tantin Lang.

Ruben Torenbeek (Monte Tamaro (Switzerland), 2011)

Brook Macdonald and Luke Strobel (IXS EDC Todtnau 2011)

Legendary!

There‘s no other way to describe the atmosphere at the rock garden in Win-terberg during the Dirtmaster Festival.

The situation around me was the following: Around ten photographers are huddled around one spot. They all stare at their camera screens. The marshal on top whistles, the cam‘s are held up creating a ligh-tening storm of flash photography when the riders approach, and the cams go back down. Nobody says a word.

Team „Scott 11“ during training - DH Worldcup La Bresse 2011

Brendan Fairclough during training - DH Worldcup La Bresse 2011

You can hear the crowd for more than a minute further up the mountain before the riders arrive. In the finish area the announcer states the split time which no one can understand. The predominantly French audience is psy-ched by each racer. Marcus Klausmann later said that it is very important not to make any errors because of the enormous boost of the fans. Whoever said that downhill racing is boring and there‘s nothing new to be seen, has never been to La Bresse.

Josh (RatBoy) Bryceland on the legendary final slope in La Bresse (F) 2011

Veteran „Peaty“ shows RatBoy and Greg Minnaar the line. 2012 Val di Sole

Award ceremony in La Bresse 2011. For Tracy Moseley there was no holding back her happiness. Her result on the track was as impressive as was her ability to down the rest of the bottle.

Rémi Thirion during a training run at the 2011 World Champs in Champery.

Barr is a small village in France, just across the border to Germany. The tenth and final race took place in 2012 and was simultaneously used to mark the beginning of the seasons during following years. Rémi Thirion, who was „roared down“ the track by the fans breaks out of the berm just after passing the rock garden.

Rémi Thirion ( Barr 2012)

Jens Steinsberger is one of the best photo riders in the Stuttgart area. He is another one of tho-se untiring riders who is always happy to push the bike up the hill whenever the flash fails to fire.

Jens Steinsberger, April 2012

In early 2012, we were out and about in South Tyrol. At 25° Celsius Marina Tscheschlok pulls a huge cloud of dust behind her while in Germany it is just above freezing.

Rémi Thirion DH Worldcup Val di Sole (I) 2012

Joseph Smith ( UCI Worldcup Val di Sole 2012)

Hannes Janzen and I discovered this spot during an enduro tour. A few days later, Hannes grabbed his down-hill bike and we headed towards the woods with the en-tire photo equipment. After what feels like 100 trials we finally captured this image.

Hannes Janzen, July 2012

And a few steps further we found this stunning location.

Hannes Janzen, July 2012

Grégoire Pazdziorko (IXS EDC Todtnau 2012)

Fair enough, they did announce rain. But one couldn‘t have predicted this. 5°C, fog and constant rain. The-se were the Downhill World Champi-onships 2012 in Leogang (Austria). In Benny Strasser‘s own words: „At least we get to ride, but you guys are just stuck in this shit“.

Shooting Star Tahnée Seagrave is relaxed... World Champs 2012

Anneke Beerten and Roger Riderknecht.

Gee Atherton (World Champs 2012, Leogang)

„SikMik“ Hannah flying past Steve Peat and Greg Minnaar (DH World Champs 2012, Leogang)

Finish area at the Downhill World Champs finals 2012, just before Morgan Charre (F) won the title.

Finish area at the Downhill World Champs finals 2012, just before Morgan Charre (F) won the title.

World championships and

world cups both offer plenty

of opportunity to shoot pas-

sing riders as well as many

other worthy motifs. Always

keep your eyes open and si-

tuations will arise natu-

rally. The audience is worth

a closer look, and so is the

paddock.

Greg Minnaar about two seconds before he became downhill world champion 2012

„Yaaayyy, I did it!“ is what Katrin yelled when she passed me. What she meant was the big IXS drop by the rock garden in Bad Wildbad.

Katrin Karkhof (IXS GDC Bad Wildbad 2012)

René Schmidt IXS GDC 2012 Bad Wildbad

This sensation you get just before the crash. The loss of control and inability to keep the grip. All you can do is try to react as well as is possible. It is hard to describe what goes through your head between the mo-ments of losing control and crashing.

The photographer has only one thought: to press the shutter release button and make sure the focus is alright.

Going down.

Going down.

At the end of the season 2012 Oliver Roggenbuck and I invited along friends for a photoshoot day in Bad Wildbad. Highly motivated male and female riders came into their own.

Hannes Janzen, Benny Strasser, Katrin Karkhof and Fabian Fader

„How you enter the first turn is often decisive over victory and defeat.“(Laura Brethauer 2012)

Benny Strasser, October 2012

„We must also ride the new freeride trail, It‘s awesome!“

Moritz Langer in Bad Wildbad ( October 2012)

Benny Strasser, October 2012

Photos and text: Hanno Polomsky http://www.fraction-magazine.de info@fraction-magazine.de

English Translation:

Ana Raeckewordup.diction@gmail.com

Special thanks: Oliver Roggenbuck, Hannes Janzen, Jens Steinsberger, Jens Ei-sele, Marina Tscheschlok, Martin Wiltschko, Marcus Klausmann, René Schmidt, Katrin Karkhof, Benny Strasser, Fabian Fader, Moritz Langer, Constantin Lang, Ruben Torenbeek, Julian Lemme, Thomas Dietze, Laura Brethauer, Manuel Vollmar and many more.

All rights reserved.

And a very special „Thank you“ to Ana Raecke for the great translation of this stuff!