Trails and trials: Mountain bike photographer talks challenges, advice

Hopefully, Mike Hitelman takes his helmet with him on mountain bike rides as often as he takes his camera.

These days, the Stowe photographer takes his camera with him every time he’s on his bike. He’s afraid of missing that next key shot — “photographer’s regret,” he calls it.

“I always end up bringing it. You never know when it’s going to be the perfect day for that shot,” Hitelman said.

He’d left his camera at home one day, for fear of rain, then this happened: “It had gotten really dark out and there was a storm moving through, and the light got really cool in there, because the sky was black but the light was shining through at the top of Cady Hill. It was a euphoric moment.” And there was Hitelman, without his camera. Lesson learned.

His passion for mountain biking came before his love of photography. Hitelman loves winter sports, but “I kind of needed something to do in the summer. I just kind of gravitated toward mountain biking. I’ve always spent time on a bike,” but he never took to road biking. When he hopped on a mountain bike for the first time, it was love at first trail.

For Hitelman, mountain biking is a time to relax and reflect in the forest, not to work toward a speed or endurance goal.

Hitelman calls his weekend adventures “party rides.”

“It doesn’t matter how long we go; they’re party rides. No one’s timing us, no one’s watching us. The group of people we ride with are all on the same page,” he said.

Some of his favorite places to ride and shoot are the loops in Stowe, such as the ones that connect to trails at Trapp Family Lodge and Adams Camp.

Adams Camp has more dynamic features than the other trails, so Hitelman likes to take action shots there. When it comes to scenic beauty, especially in the fall, he likes the trails at Trapp Family Lodge and the other loops in town.

When he’s shooting mountain bikers or their natural habitat, Hitelman says his camera skills go back to basics. He focuses on the same things he focuses on in other types of photography, such as the light in the scene and any motion present, whether that’s a biker screaming through the trees or the rustle of a few orange-tinged leaves in the wind.

“Concentrate on what you know and everything will fall into place,” Hitelman said.

He found himself most challenged on a recent trip to Whistler, British Columbia, for a Red Bull Joyride Crankworx event, a slopestyle mountain biking competition.

He was invited there to take official photos of the event, and on his first day, he was shooting downhill bikers from a gondola.

“Initially, I was kind of, like, overwhelmed by the whole thing,” Hitelman said. He was surrounded by photographers he’d admired and followed on Instagram. He texted his wife, telling her he was in over his head, and she reminded him of what he already knew: “Take a deep breath, do your thing and you’ll fit in just right.”

When he got home, Hitelman took the same relaxed approach to his mountain biking photography here in Stowe.

“I’ve learned through shooting really big mountain events that you never know what you’re going to get until you just shoot. I’ve been given some really good advice over the years from all different types of sports photographer professionals. One of them in particular said if the camera’s not covered in mud, getting dirty, or you’re worried about breaking it, then you’re not using it right,” Hitelman said with a chuckle.

And for weekend warriors hoping to snag that perfectly Instagrammable biking shot?

“Just go out and shoot, and don’t be afraid to take the wrong shot. There’s no such thing as the wrong shot,” or the wrong gear, pardon the pun. A cellphone photo is better than no photo at all.

“There’s so many means of photography out there today. … If you have an idea, make it happen.”