Classic mountain bike photography will never be the same after Dorten made the bikers of Merida & Centurion Germany dismount their steel horses. The featured scenes bring back memories of still lives rather than downhill-stunts. Virtue beats Vice – we dare say with substantial impact.
Guido and Björn, shootings in the bike business are usually action photography. You decided to do things quite differently. Wasn’t that a risky decision to take?
Björn: It was about time! Always the same pictures: Riders that jump down from somewhere, do funky stunts with their bicycles and so on. Boring. It sounds paradox, but I think the very quiet motifs of “Wild Life” actually brought some movement back into the industry!
Do you think that’s the reason for the campaign being awarded at “Die 100 besten Plakate” show?
Guido: yes, I think they actually got this new approach … To take the bikes out of their usual setting and to put them into new and constructed surroundings. In the past, posters for bike brands didn’t have a chance at award shows. You had to do the most spectacular shooting to even get attention. We didn’t want that, apart from not being willing to pay for something like that.
For the „Best in Show“-Shooting, an idea that satirizes dog shows, you used Merida employees as photo models. Why not professionals?
Björn: This way it was more authentic. They even brought their own clothes from home to wear for the shooting! Scenes like that just need normal people. Imagine using professional models with designer clothing and make-up – it just wouldn’t work. The whole scene hinges on this comic authenticity.
You followed that approach quite consistently: A lot of the set is improvised and hand crafted by yourself.
Björn: Almost everything: The flower arrangement, the awards, even the big cheque - which is now in our office under my desk.
The cheque is issued by the IDFA – an organisation that you invented for the campaign. Who of you is the president and who signed the cheque?
Guido: Believe it or not, we couldn’t decide who had the nicest handwriting, so we looked on the Internet for a good signature. The order is actually signed by former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower!!
