It’s just one component of the bicycle—the mechanism that moves the chain so the gears can be switched—and yet the derailleur has evolved greatly in construction, design, and aesthetics over the decades while performing exactly the same function. Bicycle aficionado Robert D. Jones is so fascinated by the mechanism that he created the series “The Dérailleur Project” to document its attractive design.
After collecting the mechanisms from cycling buddies and experimenting with the best way to photograph them, Jones elected to shoot from above. For each image, the derailleur was placed on a white background surrounded by white foam core boards held in place with light stands. He used a Nikon D800 with an AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8G ED lens and Nikon strobes—two SB-900s, one SB-800 and one SB-28. “The strobes were perfect for the job because they’re small, powerful, and have a wide range of adjustability,” he explains. “I placed them differently inside the foam core box to best capture the details of each derailleur.”
His biggest challenge was dealing with the highly reflective quality of the derailleurs and their varying shapes. This meant tailoring the light position for each object to open shadows and reduce highlights as well as doing extensive post-production work to bring out the best in each derailleur. Jones’ work resulted in two calendars, in 2015 and 2016, and more recently a book: “The Dérailleur Project.”
Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.
