Learning Center

Al Gilens: An insightful artist who’s pedaling and shooting as fast as he can

by Jason Schneider

Veteran pro Al Gilens of Philadelphia specializes in creating visceral images that capture the intense spirit of bicycle racing and touring. Not surprisingly, he’s been an avid cyclist for over a decade, having caught the bug back in 1995 when he was invited to document the story of a group of 85 American cyclists touring Israel. The only way to do it right was to grab his camera, jump into the saddle and start pedaling like mad—a technique he still uses when covering such engaging venues as the Tour Des Trees 2007, an event that wended its way through the breathtaking scenery of California’s Pacific Coast. In a way, Gilens’ current passion for the fast-paced sport of cycling takes him back to his photographic roots—he began shooting sports just for fun back in the 9th grade. In 1978, his work was publicly exhibited in Buffalo, New York, and he became, in effect, a semi-pro, supplementing his income as a professional fundraiser by selling fine art prints of his outstanding travel, portrait, and landscape photographs.

Al Gilens finally became a full-time pro in 1991, marking the beginning of the second phase of his illustrious photographic career. Around that time he documented key sites of the Holocaust to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of those horrendous events—images that have won him international acclaim. Gilens was honored as the only American photographer to have a one-person exhibition at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. These images became part of that institution’s permanent collection and were officially shown at the United States Congress. He is also the first contemporary photographer to be exhibited at the State Jewish Museum in Prague. In 1995 an exhibition of his interpretive photographs of the notorious Mittlebau-Dora slave labor camp (where V2 rockets were manufactured by prisoners under appalling conditions). The show opened at Nordhausen, Germany on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the camp, and later toured Europe and the U.S. Solo exhibitions of Gilens’ searing documentaries have taken place at such renowned venues as London’s Imperial War Museum, the University of Alabama, Haverford College in Pennsylvania, Villanova University, the Deutser Gallery in Houston, and Tel Aviv’s Lavan Gallery. His works are held in numerous private and public collections throughout the world in addition to those already mentioned.

What makes Al Gilens’ work especially compelling is that it combines the storytelling thrust and precision timing of a photojournalist with an art photographer’s conceptual insight and strong sense of light and imagery. An accomplished travel writer as well as a photographer, he spent years covering subjects as diverse as the petroglyphs of Portugal, bears in Alaska, and waterfalls in Hawaii before immersing himself in his current passion for cycling. The defining character of his work is its unique vision and extraordinary ability to convey the timeless as well as essence of the moment. And it comes through loud and clear whether he’s shooting eloquent landscapes, intimate, moving portraits, inspirational images of travel, exploration, and historical sites or capturing the emotional intensity of cycling competition.

“I vividly remember my first cycling event in Israel,” Gilens recalls. “I simply had to participate. If I wanted to cover that weeklong tour I had no choice but to hop on a bike and follow the group off-road, on-road, wherever they went. Luckily for me, these folks weren’t all cycling pros and I was in pretty good shape, so I was able to keep up with them, staying mid-pack most of the time. Nowadays I cover bicycle racing as a standalone shooter with a Nikon D200 and my all-time-favorite lens, a Tamron AF18-250mm Di II zoom. I still enjoy covering touring events from the saddle, and that’s where this lens really comes in handy. Its combination of extended zoom range, light weight, compact size, and excellent balance and ergonomics make it perfect for the work I do now. No matter what cycling genre I’m covering, that lens can do it all—I can capture crisp, high contrast images of everything from distant action, to sweeping vistas, to close-up portraits.”

“Not having to change lenses on the fly is another big plus when you’re shooting something as intensely active and unpredictable as cycling,” notes Gilens. “For me, the Tamron 18-250mm is also a moneymaker. I have a contract to cover the Tour Des Trees, which is held in a different part of the country each year, and I also photograph the Philadelphia Pro Bike Race, a premier cycling competition billed as the Liberty Classic. My cycling images have appeared in the Philadelphia Exponent, a local newspaper, and on the well-known Bike Friday and Tamron websites. I also do a brisk business selling prints to cyclists who want pictures of themselves in action on two wheels, and fine art prints to collectors who see my work at exhibitions such as my recent one at Haverford College.”

“Actually I’ve been a big fan of Tamron lenses for a long time,” says Gilens. “I’ve owned virtually every lens they’ve made since 1995, including the 11-18mm ultra-wide zoom, the first AF version of the Tamron 28-300mm, and the old Tamron 20-40mm that I used for shooting detailed images of Holocaust sites. All the dozen or so Tamron lenses I’ve used over the years deliver impressive image quality, but the Tamron 18-250mm is really something special. It covers a nearly 14X zoom range, equivalent to a 28-400mm zoom on my Nikon D200, and its performance is excellent at both ends and in the middle. Even more important in my work is its extraordinary ability to provide critically sharp flare-free images even when shooting against the light—that’s critical when I’m shooting cycle racing, where you can’t control the existing light with reflectors or use flash. The lens is also very compact and easy to use with all the controls in the right places, and it works extremely well on my main DSLR body. Many of my cycle racing and touring shots are made at fast shutter speeds— typically 1/1000 sec for racing and 1/400-1/500 sec for touring—so I often have to shoot at the widest apertures even at ISO 500. I know I can rely on the Tamron 18-250mm to give me topnotch image quality whether I shoot wide open or at a stopped down aperture.”

“I must say I’m looking forward to some new adventures with Tamron lenses,” says Gilens. “For example, I’d like to go back to Hawaii and shoot some serious macro pictures with the 18-250mm—the last time I went, this lens wasn’t available yet. Finally, I’d like to do some wildlife photography In Africa with my Tamron 18-250mm—based on my cycling experience it should be absolutely superb. If you ask me what’s the best thing about all these Tamron zooms, my answer is straight and to the point—they deliver image quality as good as it gets regardless of the shooting distance.”

Clearly Al Gilens is a remarkable man as well as a remarkable photographer. And the next time you picture him in your mind bicycling out in the boonies with his digital SLR and Tamron lens slung over his shoulder, there’s one more extraordinary fact about him you ought to know. This guy is 75 years old and shows no signs of slowing down—either physically or creatively!

All images were recorded with a Nikon D200 and Tamron AF18-250mm Di II lens.

Liberty Classic-Commerce Bank International Professional Bike Race, Philadelphia, PA

"Future Racer"

Shutter Speed: 1/750

Aperture: f11

Focal Length: 70mm

ISO: 500

"A Hot Day"

Shutter Speed: 1/800

Aperture: f11

Focal Length: 250mm

ISO: 500

"Crowd and Power"

Shutter Speed: 1/1000

Aperture: f7.1

Focal Length: 18mm

ISO: 500

"Woman on a big hill"

Shutter Speed: 1/250

Aperture: f9

Focal Length: 185mm

ISO: 500

"Intense Lady"

Shutter Speed: 1/250

Aperture: f6.3

Focal Length: 220mm

ISO: 500

"Comin' atcha!"

Shutter Speed: 1/200

Aperture: f6.3

Focal Length: 150mm

ISO: 200

"Up the Manayunk Wall"

Shutter Speed: 1/1000

Aperture: f8

Focal Length: 78mm

ISO: 500

"At the start"

Shutter Speed: 1/125

Aperture: f6.3

Focal Length: 200mm

ISO: 200

"Out in front"

Shutter Speed: 1/1000

Aperture: f6.3

Focal Length: 250mm

ISO: 500

"The Winner - and second"

Shutter Speed: 1/640

Aperture: f6.3

Focal Length: 200mm

ISO: 200

"Denmark's Matti Breschel"

Shutter Speed: 1/1000

Aperture: f5.3

Focal Length: 65mm

ISO: 500

Tour des Trees - California, 2008