The Speed Project
The Speed Project
Olaf Heine
May 12, 2017
On March 10 and 11, The Speed Project, an ultra relay race covering 550 kilometres from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, took place for the third time. The photographer Olaf Heine documented the runners with a Leica S and an SL.
“The race begins at Santa Monica Pier at 5am, goes through town and then into the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses the burning heat of the Mojave Desert and Death Valley, climbing again to a height of 1678 metres till finally reaching the finishing line in Las Vegas. The teams are made up of at least six runners, who each run for ten kilometres before passing the baton onto the next team mate.
I managed to get this picture close to the finishing line where I was waiting for the leading team. Two bikers from Quebec had parked their Harley Davidsons on the side of the road at the curve, to enjoy the panoramic view. The two were on the 30th day of a tour they were doing around the United States. Coincidently, the team of this runner had also been at it for 30 hours. The three didn’t know this, but it didn’t stop them from grinning and acknowledging each other with a thumb up.”
You can find Olaf Heine’s The Speed Project in LFI 4/2017
“The race begins at Santa Monica Pier at 5am, goes through town and then into the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses the burning heat of the Mojave Desert and Death Valley, climbing again to a height of 1678 metres till finally reaching the finishing line in Las Vegas. The teams are made up of at least six runners, who each run for ten kilometres before passing the baton onto the next team mate.
I managed to get this picture close to the finishing line where I was waiting for the leading team. Two bikers from Quebec had parked their Harley Davidsons on the side of the road at the curve, to enjoy the panoramic view. The two were on the 30th day of a tour they were doing around the United States. Coincidently, the team of this runner had also been at it for 30 hours. The three didn’t know this, but it didn’t stop them from grinning and acknowledging each other with a thumb up.”
You can find Olaf Heine’s The Speed Project in LFI 4/2017
Olaf Heine+-
Born in Hanover in 1968, the photographer and film maker got his first assignments even before finishing his training in Berlin, initially with cover photography in the German and international music scene. Later it became above all portraits of sportsmen and women, actors, musicians and other celebrities Heine prefers to photograph in black and white. More