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Behind The Lens of the SeaWheeze lululemon Half Marathon

By InnerVoice

September 19^th, 2018

The SeaWheeze lululemon Half Marathon isn’t your average half marathon. It may just be the most breathtakingly beautiful and ridiculously fun half marathon in the world. Over 10,000 runners descend on Vancouver to sweat it out over a weekend of yoga, running, and of course, one hell of an awesome party.

We take a look Behind The Lens with event photographers Ben Owens and Mark Whitehead as they share their InnerVoice on some of the most iconic images captured during previous SeaWheeze weekends.

Lonely Runner

This image was the first image I took at SeaWheeze. It really sticks out for me in that it is almost the anti-hero image of what we tend to think Seawheeze is about; crowds of bright and happy people banging the pavements of iconic Vancouver locations. So when I saw this solo figure approaching me along Cornwall Ave, I realized then that SeaWheeze is as much about the individual athlete crushing their own personal best as it is about the party vibe.

Pace Beaver

Pace beaver is a SeaWheeze'ism, and a Canadian play on a traditional pace bunny.

Pacers are the heartbeat of any distance race, and I particularly love seeing our dedicated Vancouver run community leading from the heart and always with a smile.

That's the thing about SeaWheeze - you can’t not smile. That's its magic.

Carefree Camaraderie

I have no idea the relationship of these two - best friends, sisters or strangers - who knows, but I love that the frame captures the carefree camaraderie of the race. I was disappointed that I missed the shot where they were holding hands (they had just let go when I snapped!), but I love it nonetheless.

Cheer Stations

If you've run SeaWheeze, and if you know anything about lululemon, you will understand that cheer stations are the special sauce that gives this race its magic. Irreverent, fun and always on the quirky side - runners sign up for SeaWheeze for the cheer stations alone.

Vancouver summer

I love this shot. With the golden morning lens flare, it makes me feel like its a summer marathon somewhere in California. Don't get me wrong - Vancouver is where it's at, but with summer coming to a close you never really know what the weather is going to do for SeaWheeze. I'm happy the last 2 have been sunny.

Gotta Hand it to 'em

Gotta 'hand it' (I went there) to lululemon for creating such fun activations along the course. The high five wall was a hit.

Wait, or was it a slap?

A Moment in Time

Full of life and good time vibes, this woman was flexing her guns and high fiving perfect strangers as she blasted past them along Cornwall Avenue. I wanted to learn more about her and tap into her energy. That's the thing about race photography - you witness these incredibly vulnerable connection moments, and then it's done. You flick through the images and vicariously relive the race through these quick snapshots - but do you ever really know these people?

The Product

SeaWheezer's go mad for limited edition lululemon SeaWheeze shorts. If you've ever been to the SeaWheeze showcase pop-up store the week leading up to the race, you'll know what I mean. Like any large-scale commercial event, product shots need to play a big part in the story, so when shooting, I am always on the hunt for relevant and recent lululemon product on athletes.

Iconic Vancouver

Iconic Coal Harbour and the official SeaWheeze finish line.

To me, this image is SeaWheeze!

And when framing it up in my mind, I knew that it had to shout Vancouver and it had to show the scale of the event. I think it does both beautifully.

Bling

Every race needs an iconic piece of jewellery to hang around participants’ necks, and the SeaWheeze team knocks it out of the park every year.

This one was from 2016, and I love the geometric design.

SEAWHEEZE SUNSET FESTIVAL

The SeaWheeze Sunset Festival is always a blast to shoot, it is quite a big production with a large attendance and every year it seems to grow. I personally enjoy the positive, uplifting energy you can feel throughout the day and into the night, from the vendors to the artists on stage and everyone in attendance.

I have focused my image capture to the performers on stage. Photographing an artists' performance, while exciting and fun, can be full of its own unique challenges. With constantly changing stage lighting, failing natural light and unpredictable movements from the subjects, there is a lot to think about.

Things I keep in mind: find those moments that tell the story, look for the angles, look for the light, move quickly, follow the artists’ movements, anticipate the action and capture crowd interaction.

This year is set to be another fantastic Sunset Festival, the scale and production are even bigger and better than previous years, and there should be a lot of great moments to capture.

Artists: Young The Giant, Cold War Kids, Chromeo, Dear Rouge.

Footnotes

Words and Photos by Ben Owens and Mark Whitehead, Photos courtesy of lululemon, Edited and Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group, Presented in collaboration with lululemon

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FootNotes

Words and Photos by Ben Owens and Mark Whitehead, Photos courtesy of lululemon, Edited and Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group, Presented in collaboration with lululemon

Colin O'Brady

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Behind The Lens of the SeaWheeze lululemon Half Marathon

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