Showing posts with label happy anniversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy anniversary. Show all posts

8 June 2014

Cycle Chic Turns Seven

Luxembourg Cycle Chic
Seven years ago today, this blog we call Copenhagen Cycle Chic was born. While the Photo That Launched a Million Bicycles was taken, as you probably know, on November 14, 2006, the blog started in June the year after. It's been a wild and glorious ride and we love every minute of it. The testimonials we've recieved through the years are treasures to us, as are all the people we continue to meet around the world who thank us for this blog and the inspiration. Inspiration is, however, a two-way street and we are constantly inspired by the people we meet and photograph.

For no particular reason, here are some recent photos from Luxembourg to celebrate our birthday.

Luxembourg Cycle Chic_1

Luxembourg Cycle Chic_4

Luxembourg Cycle Chic_3

Luxembourg Cycle Chic_5

14 November 2012

Cycle Chic Turns 6 - Win a Book & CD!




Today, Cycle Chic turns six. On this day in 2006, that one photo that launched it all was taken on Åboulevarden in Copenhagen.

We're eating lovely Danishes and drinking coffee here at our offices this morning and enjoying the birthday. In celebration of the day, we're giving away six copies of Cycle Chic - The Book and six copies of the lovely album "Bicycle" by Nora and One Left. This morning, I was taking a photo of the books and The Lulu stepped in and suggested that she hold them. I happily agreed.

We're inspired by our friend Lars AP and his growing Fucking Flink movement here in Denmark. "Flink" means "Nice" in Danish and Lars encourages people to just be nice to each other.

Here's Lars at TEDx Copenhagen this year.

So, in the spirit of Niceness, you can win a book and a CD for someone you love. A friend, a member of your family or your main squeeze. Whoever inspires you.

Tell us why you think they should get the book and why you want to give it to them.

The best, most inspired pitches will win a book.


You'll have to check back on Friday to see if you won. We'll post the winners and tell them how to contact us about receiving the book.

We'll give away two copies here on the blog, two on the Facebook group and two on Instagram - @zakkatography.



Enter to win in the comments. We'll choose a winner on Friday!

Thanks to everyone for making Cycle Chic what it is and what it has become. It's been a wild and delightful ride for the past six years and we're still loving the tailwind.

15 November 2011

08:43

Eight Forty Three_2
Yesterday morning, on the fifth anniversary of the first photo, I went down to the spot where I took that photo. Back in 2006, I was on my bicycle heading to work at Danish Broadcasting, but yesterday I just stood on the sidewalk to take a couple of photos at 08:43.

I wasn't aiming to take an identical photo, just a photo. Here's what rolled past my lens.
Eight Forty Three

On the occasion of Cycle Chic's birthday, our friends around the world were all out at 08:43 in their respective cities, to take a tribute photo. Have a look at their blogs to see what they captured.

- Lodz Cycle Chic, Poland
- Sydney Cycle Chic
- Budapest Cycle Chic
- Berlin Cycle Chic
- Cardiff Cycle Chic
- Lisbon Cycle Chic

Eight Forty Three_1

For good measure, we documented the moment. :-)
Eight Forty Three_3

14 November 2011

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Five years ago today, at 08:43 in the morning, I took a photo.

I could never have guessed that morning, on my way to work at Danish Broadcasting Corp., how that one photo would turn my world topsy turvy.

A journalist who researched where Cycle Chic - and the global bicycle boom - came from, ended up back at this photo, taken on November 14, 2006. She called it "The Photo That Launched a Million Bicycles" - a tagline that continues to humble me.

The story of this blog and the expansion around the world is well known by many. But today, for me, is a special day. The fifth anniversary of a wild ride. I'm heading down to the spot where that first photo was taken at 08:43 today. Just to be there. Take a photo or two. A bunch of the other cycle chic bloggers are going to take a photo today at the same time in their cities, too. Which is brilliant.

I'm going to take the luxury of reflection today. Remembering all the amazing experiences that this blog - and Copenhagenize.com as well - have contributed to my life.

I have had the priviledge of meeting so many fantastic people. I've given talks in over 40 cities on four continents and, invariably, ridden bicycles with these fantastic people in all the cities, as well as talking about reestablishing the bicycle on the urban landscape, liveable cities and promoting cycling positively. People I would never have had the opportunity to meet if that photo wasn't taken.

It's the people I remember more than anything. The ones that come up to me in every city and say things like "You're the reason I ride a bicycle..." I never know how to reply to that. It's too amazing. And if try to reply in length, I tend to get watery eyes. I'm going to reread the testimonials from readers today, as I do on every anniversary. I'll have a slow look at the press mentions through the years, remembering every thrilling moment when Cycle Chic grew a little bit more.

I'm going to ride a bicycle today. I do it every day, of course, but today I will just go for a ride in this amazing city and regard my fellow cycling citizens. Thanking them secretly for their constant inspiration, their beauty, their organic, human-powered symphony that makes this city - and any city - a nicer place to live.

Thank you to the many of you who have been visiting this blog loyally through the years. I'm so grateful to have met so many of you around the world and yet there are so many that I would still love to meet.

Thanks to the other people out there who have started a Cycle Chic blog and a specific thanks to those Cycle Chic bloggers who have become close and valued friends. Thanks for understanding the value of Cycle Chic and being a part of this ride.

Cycle Chic is going to be growing very soon and we're excited about the upcoming evolution.

But for today.... thank you.

21 August 2010

Cycle Chic Third Anniversary Poster

The Photo That Launched a Million Bicycles
It's been a busy summer in Cycle Chic land and this blog's 3rd Anniversary passed us by back in June. I hadn't forgotten it, I suppose I was just waiting to do something a bit special.

A few months back a journalist called the very first photo I took, back on 14 November 2006, something quite humbling and extraordinary. Back then the humble bicycle was not celebrated by the fashion industry and wasn't a hot lifestyle accessory. Now, as we are all witness to, the bicycle is back. Bike is the new Black. And I think it's safe to say that the bicycle has returned to stay, what with the optimistic number of cities all around the world working towards building infrastructure and making their urban landscapes more bicycle-friendly.

The journalist, who had been researching the Cycle Chic phenomenon back to it's origins, called the photo simply The Photo That Launched a Million Bicycles:

Green Light Go - The Birth of Cycle Chic
I decided to make a third anniversary poster celebrating that fact, featuring the photo in question, taken on a chilly November morning on my way to work at Danish Broadcasting. The light had just turned green. A woman is pushing off on the right, a man is in motion on the left. In the middle: a pillar of calm and grace.

Back then I didn't notice the bicycle. I saw the street scene, the light, the contrast of motion.

The Photo That Launched a Million Bicycles
What other people saw was the bicycle and the Copenhagener in a skirt looking elegant. The fact that others thought this to be odd was odd to me. It didn't take me long to realise that the bicycle as normal transport had all but disappeared from many cities around the world. It had become only a piece of equipment for sports or recreation, despite the fact the bicycle was transport in cities and towns all around the world for many decades in the last century. People were apparently hungry and ready for a re-branding of cycling as urban transport. The fashion industry subsequently embraced the two-wheeled machine and now we're rolling towards a redefined future. Cycle Chic is nothing new. It's the way people rode bicycles from the beginning of Bicycle Culture 1.0. But the phrase seems to be useful in describing this rebirth of urban cycling. Which is pleasing.

The bicycle is back and it's booming. Thanks so much to everyone for visiting this blog and especially those of you who have been visiting since the beginning.

And thank you to all of you who have embraced Cycle Chic and started blogs around the world. Creating a movement of fashion and bicycle advocacy. Cycle Chic is nothing without all of you.

I created the poster mostly for myself, to hang on the wall in the hallway here at home. But it's also available online if the idea of owning one tickles anyone's fancy.

Cycle Chic Third Anniversary Poster. Available online at CafePress. Also as a smaller poster here.

Read also: Two Years With Cycle Chic

14 November 2008

Two Years With Cycle Chic

Green Light Go *
The photograph that launched a thousand bikes. November 14, 2006. 08:43.
Two years ago this day, at exactly 08:43 - I took a photo on my way to work at Danish Broadcasting. The subject matter was something regarded as incredibly anonymous and uninteresting to most people in this city, including me - Copenhageners on bikes in the morning rush hour.

At that point I had a habit of keeping my camera on me and taking street photography shots to and from work. I was waiting at a red light on Åboulevarden on a grey November day and I noticed that the Copenhagener in front of me was rather stylish. I could see some cyclists approaching from the left, turning into frame. The light was nice, I thought, and the red light would change to green in a moment. I pulled out my camera and took a shot, catching the cyclists on the left, the cyclist on the right pushing off and, in the middle, a pillar of style and calm.

I thought it to be a nice urban shot when I took it. Farther along the route, minutes later, I snapped a couple of more shots of stylish cyclists, as though noticing the Copenhagen connection between style and bicycles for the first time:
Tensed and Waiting for Green * Post-Modern Cowgirl

I hopped off the bike even farther along and took a few more shots of Copenhageners on bikes in the morning light. It was mostly because of the light, I might add.
Sunrise Movement in Concerto

Wheel Melt

Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard Golden Blur

On my way home that evening I snapped this shot of a dancing taillight in front of me:
Taillight - Quite Literally
The next day I didn't take any photos of bikes at all. But then the trickle started turning into a stream. Little did I know what that one photograph at the top would launch.

Like most Copenhageners, I hadn't noticed this thing people in other countries call 'bike culture', even after riding my bike each day for many years in the city. I started, slowly, noticing bicycles and, more importantly, the people riding them over the course of the few days, this this shot, on November 16th:
Uomo con bike*

It all kind of snowballed from there. Which is a bit of an understatement. Months later, in June 2007, I started this blog, after having amassed a respectable archive of Cycle Chic shots that had proven to be a hit on Flickr. That, too, was a spontaneous decision and I never expected it to amount to anything. I just figured it would be nice to gather them all in one place.

Here we are today. 'Cycle Chic' - a flippant, casual description of a Copenhagen cyclist on a winter's morning - has become a concept. Dozens of other blogs and sites have been launched in the same vein around the world. These photographs have been published in magazines and newspapers around the world. Exhibitions are underway.

It's all rather overwhelming. Most importantly, it is all rather wonderful. To think that this one photo has created all of this is brilliant. I didn't know at that point how those Copenhageners who happen to ride bicycles could inspire people around the world to do the same through a long series of photographs. I didn't know that there was nerve out there that needed to be hit. To think of the whole wave of promoting urban cycling as a normal and feasible activity that has surged forth over the past couple of years - 2008 in particular - is rather overwhelming. The testimonials I get sent are moving and touching.

This one shot has led to this blog, Copenhagenize.com, the online shop, the Slow Bicycle Movement, Cykelhjelm.org as well as consultancy work helping other cities move towards 'bike culture'. Quite remarkable if I think about it. Yes, sometimes I tire of taking photos of bicycles and need a break. But then all of a sudden it's back.

So thanks to all of you readers who make Cycle Chic a part of your day. Thanks to all the guest contributors for showcasing the march of Cycle Chic around the world. Thanks, not least, to the good people of Copenhagen for being so frightfully cool and stylish and sustainably mobile.

I'm off to take some shots.