I should start by saying that I made  Shanaze ‘The Blaze’  Reade nickname up myself. If, coincidentally it has been used in the past then I will retroactively sue. Yeah.

Right, moving on, this is a shoot I did for Red Bull a while back. Shanaze’s signing was still as secret up until the World Championships (Shanaze came second), and then the Olympics showed up (she came 6th) and a thing called ‘Rule 40′ (pdf if you’re interested) meant the images couldn’t be distributed during games time.

Both of these are over though, and so here they are!

Having shot Shanaze before for Cadbury’s it was nice to see her again and made the shoot go off without a hitch. We shot up at a cool little track in Manchester. The BBC did an extended interview with her and that was it, job done.

What no one knew on the shoot was that while the BBC were filming (and I couldn’t shoot) I borrowed a bike from the track and had a whizz about, not on the track – just in the flat bike park next to it. Having used to ride BMX quite a bit a few years ago I felt quite at home aside from the brogue shoes I was wearing. So it came as a surprise when I slipped of the pedal with one foot and they span around slamming me surgically in the shin.

I stifled a yelp and pretended nothing had happened, but during the good-byes, hugs and handshakes my right shin was throbbing so bad I could have cried.