We have more 2009 Highlights for you, this time with our very own Nathan Beddows. Check out Nathan’s top 2009 highlights below.

Nathan Beddows
—Ride UK BMX

Jason Phelan

1 – Rider
A person or rider you think has stood out, [someone who you had good times with and needs a shout out]
—Well, obviously this first question is perhaps a little tricky for me, having spent the last year taking photos of some of the best riders in the UK and beyond… I don’t want to appear biased do I now!?! So before jumping to any conclusions on why I’ve given this answer please understand that I’m gonna base this answer on3 separate factors which I deem to be pretty important:

1. Willingness, enthusiasm and patience for BMX photography.
2. Productivity!!!
3. Generally good to hang around with, go on trips with, and most importantly, makes me laugh my head off!

…And that rider is… Jason Phelan.

In 2009 I’ve personally witnessed Jason do some of the craziest stuff I’ve ever seen on a bike, be willing to whopper his way through a rainbow of poster pain (twice!) and (if you totalled it all up over the whole year) wait hours, maybe even days, for me to set up my equipment to shoot photos.

A quick look back through my hard drive and without a doubt I have probably shot more photos of Jason than anyone else this year (I seriously have enough spare photos of Jason to do a whole interview with). By luck and coincidence I have been on some amazing trips with Jason this year, he always brightens up a long contest day somewhere and staying with him up in Liverpool is always a guaranteed laugh. Hats off to the mad Irish man indeed! (Oh and if you’re still not convinced just wait for the next issue of Ride to see what he got up to in Bulgaria…too nuts). treesixty.com

2 – Photo
Your favourite photo, [a photo you might have taken or been in]
—I’m psyched that a couple of people have said the Bas Keep air cover was their fave photo, I really am, and personally I think my fave photo of the year was from that event, because trust me it was so unbelievably epic… however the photo I’m on about wasn’t shot by me, it was taken by Rutger Pauw.

Rutger Pauw’s shot from the reservoir.

I think this photo may have got a bit overlooked in the article but for me this single image sums up every element that made that whole scenario so amazing. Obviously Bas is blasting the quarter but the fact that Hennon is in the shot on his dad’s mini moto – head turned, tow-rope trailing and half way up the quarter just seals the deal for me. It has Finchy and myself at the top of the quarter getting the fisheye angle and also has the rope ladder in shot, which is how we all got down into the reservoir… In my mind it just tells the story better than any shot I took that day. It actually tells the complete story in one single image… Just think about that for a second – one single image. Photos like that don’t just happen by chance either, Rutger knew exactly what he was doing, and that is exactly what puts his photography a notch higher than your standard BMX photographer and is precisely the reason he works for Photofiles and goes on assignments all over the world doing amazing work etc. rutgerpauw.com

3 – Web Edit / DVD
Your favourite video/DVD, [web edit or a video you have worked on]
—I think I need to list two here mate as personally I view web edits and DVDs as two completely separate entities… for obvious reasons.

Fave Web Edit: Federal Bikes – Ty Morrow. LINK
Always puts a smile on my face and brings back fond memories of an amazing trip back in the spring, it’s also one of the few web edits I keep permanently on my Macbook. I love everything Edd Allen and the Seventies crew puts together – and in an industry full to the brim with hype and bullshit sometimes it’s just refreshing to see a ‘welcome to the team’ edit that was a pure chiller – I mean it’s supposed to be all about Ty and yet it’s got half the Federal team in there just having a good time too. 200k + views can’t be wrong either..?

Fave DVD: Banned 3
…IS FUCKING RAD! If you still haven’t seen it go and buy it!

4 – Event / Time and place
Highlight event such as a competition/jam, or even an random event that occurred while you while you were out on your bike with friends?
—Anytime I got to actually ride my bike without taking any pictures or carrying around that bloody bag! (I could probably count them on my fingers but that’s life).

Beddows carving the fullpipe at his fave skatepark, SMP in Shanghai, China. Photo by one of Ride UK’s top contributor’s, George Marshall – georgemarshallphoto.com

5 – Ride UK BMX
Your highlight from Ride UK, could be an article you’ve been in or just read, a front cover or even one of the videos featured on our site?
—I can’t really cite one particular article or thing to be honest with you. I think the whole of 2009 has been a really good year for Ride UK as a magazine.

I dunno, I just remember reading Ride UK like 10 years ago when I was younger and just wishing it could cover the whole of the UK, stop covering the same boring people every issue and just generally glorify this good, unique thing we’ve got going on over here. Okay, so it’s still not quite 100% there yet but it’s getting pretty damn close, and the team of contributors who makes that happen work damn hard every month for peanuts, I can tell you that for nowt. The photo and editorial quality has gone way up and more importantly every issue now has totally unique and interesting UK-related content every month… Even in the middle of winter!

There’s a whole load of really boring arguments you can read (mostly on the web) about web vs. print, who owns who, ‘ad sales dictating magazine editorial’ and junk like that. It’s pretty easy to get swept up in all that negativity but I just think… YAWN-O-RAMA!

For me personally I’m just interested in promoting UK BMX in the best way I can whilst simultaneously trying to take the best possible photos that I can… and with all this in mind I can’t currently think of ANY one single website that can match the quality and diversity of UK BMX-related content that the Ride UK magazine does every month… (even this very website!)

So with all that in mind I’ll see you next year…
Beddows