Feature image: Graeme Langhorne | other photography as credited

Graham Watson barely needs an introduction — he is the forefather of cycling photography, he was the original, and he will always be the ambassador of the Mark Gunter Photo Awards. Graham photographed thousands of bike races, and his images were plastered all over every medium you can think of.

Graham is now retired, but is never far from cycling, whether it’s on his bike, or watching a race, and always has a camera nearby.

When Graham couldn’t be in two places at once, Mark Gunter would cover the races and submit photos under the Graham Watson brand. Graham was a supporter of Mark’s work and he still is, in more ways than one. We are thrilled that Graham continues to be a part of the Mark Gunter Photo Awards.

Here are Graham’s Top 10 Professional and Amateur photos.

Stage 007, TFD Femmes. During stage 007, Demi Vollering attacked on the final climb on col du Tourmalet. To bad the mountain was covered in the clouds, so no spectaculair views, luckily the crowd made up for this, the most spectaculair stage in women’s cycling until now.
Photo by Joris Knappen @jozza_cyclingpics

Primoz Roglic makes an exhibition before his audience in Monte Lussari, winning the time trial and finally being the winner of the Giro d’Italia, taking the victory from G Thomas.
Photo by Iraia Calvo @iraiacalvophoto

Saudi Tour. The coolest event I have ever shot related to cycling. Nice mountains and landscapes like this one surrounding the peloton during 5 stages. What else can we ask for?
Photo by Charly López @charlylopezph

Col du Loz, TDF 2023. As the crowd went mad in the climb, it was so busy that you could not see the stunning views col du loze has to give. I decided to leave the crowd and look for the most beautiful back-drop I could find.
Photo by Joris Knappen @jozza_cyclingpics

This is Ibrahim Kamara finishing third on stage 2 of the Tour de Lunsar and ending the day as first Sierra Leonean rider. The girl hugging him is his younger sister. He was very emotional having moved teams before the race and not having an ideal preparation. He wanted to prove that he was the best rider in the town and with his placing on stage 2 he certainly did. The next day he would collapse from heat exhaustion and sadly not finish on the podium again.
Photo by Oskar Scarsbrook @oskarito1997

Geraint Thomas warming up (or cooling down) before ITT in stage 10 of La Vuelta. It was scorching hot in Valladolid so his soigneur was spraying water on him.
Photo by Naike Ereñozaga Orue @naikefotosport

Stage 1 of the Giro this year was one of the few opportunities I got to do a recon of the course for photo locations before the stage got underway. It all paid off after finding a sequence of massive murals next to the course that framed the riders perfectly as they flew past. I managed to get Remco Evenepoel on his way to a commanding stage win with this amazing mural behind him, it was a great way to start a huge three weeks.
Photo by Zac Williams @z_w_photography

As a Basque and a cycling photographer, Le Tour starting in Bilbao was the most anticipated moment of the year. Living it from the inside was a blast for me. This photo was taken from a nursing home in Bilbao for which I had to ask permission the day before to the nuns running it.”
Photo by Naike Ereñozaga Orue @naikefotosport

Pidcock wins the Strade Bianche, comes in solo in a sea of people.
Photo by Wout Beel @woutbeel

Freddie De los Santos of the United States leads Loic Vergnaud of France and Luis Costa of Portugal through a turn during the H5 road race at the UCI Paracycling World Cup in Huntsville, Alabama. Cyclists competing in the H5 category do not have any use of their legs or lower body. Sitting in a “bucket”, they propel their bikes entirely with their arms and shoulders. I was at ground level on the inside of a turn, and was able to capture them diving aggressively through the turn.
Photo by Casey B Gibson @cbgphoto

Mountain Refuge
Photo by Graeme Langhorne @graemelanghorne

This is by far my most daring shot of the year, a 3.2 seconds hand-raised motion blur, during the UCI Track Champions league, Women’s scratch race. Zoom lenses were prohibited, so I had to be creative.
Photo by Nicolas Sanson @aeronico

SD Worx rider Lorena Wiebes recovering after winning the Miron Ronde van Drenthe the Netherlands.
Photo by Marco Loman @lomanmarco

Esta foto fue tomada en una carrera local de la población de Oñati en Guipúzcoa en la categoría sub23 El corredor de la imagen es de Oñati y ademas se despedia ee la competicion en esa carrera y seve la emocion que tiene y como lo celebra junto a sus amigos
Photo by Aritz Arambarri Goenaga @ziklix_photo

I followed the women’s gravel world championships, trying to see it at as many points as possible. I arrived at the finish with just 2km to go, but there was no space left in the crowd to get a good view. I spotted two people on a terrace and thought, ‘Run and try it.’ Thankfully, they let me enter, and I was so happy with the result. There was a wave of people watching Kasia win her first rainbow stripes, and behind those, thousands more around the world who wanted to watch a live broadcast.
Photo by Carlo Anzolin @carlo_anz

Roadnats Ballarat 2023, it was a sweltering hot day on the side of the road cheering the mens Elite up Mt Buninyong. Ice socks and sweet treats were plentiful.
Photo by Lizette Pomering @raw_cadence_photography

The 2023 Vuelta, which began with a tremendous downpour at the start of Barcelona, also had rain the night before the last stage, which left large puddles of water on the ground at the start, in which we were able to look for reflections of the cyclists, in In this photo I tried to reduce the elements to a minimum, looking for a less common point of view.
Photo by Tino Alvarez @tinosemeyes

Cyclocross is a discipline in which it is very common for runners to have to compete on very hard and very muddy terrain on many occasions. This mud, or water in this case, gives photographers opportunities to capture many detailed scenes like this one in which one of the participants heavily splashes a large puddle that had formed on the circuit with his bicycle.
Photo by Tino Alvarez @tinosemeyes

I’d been following Ed’s progress prior to the national hill climbing finals, and here on the day – he was the second to last rider to go – he produced an incredible effort, with everyone cheering him on. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and he placed 2nd, but the photo captures the feeling of giving everything and ultimately that’s all you can do. He did himself proud.
Photo by Peter Clarkson @_peterclarkson

First time for me on the Dolomites at the Giro after years. My plan was to reach Tre Cime di Lavaredo right after the start of the race but I knew it would be very hard to shoot in an overcrowded spot so I took it easy on the road and stopped by this magic spot 20 km away from the finish line. The contrast between rainy clouds and sunlight was making the view unmissable and I realized I already had this picture on my mind. My favorite from the whole season.
Photo by Matteo Secci @mao.secci.photography

Thank you Graham Watson for your insightful choices.

To catchup on all the Showcases visit Mark Gunter Photography. Check out other Shortlists.

For more information on the #markgunterphotoawards2023 check out Escape Collective