‘The dream job’: Zac Williams on being a professional photographer in cycling

Australian photographer Zac Williams on what it is like being shooting pictures of the peloton on a professional basis.

Perth photographer Zac Williams looking for the perfect shot at the Tour de France (Joris Knappen)

Perth local Zac Williams is one of those individuals who has known what they’ve wanted to do for more or less their entire life and is now doing it. He's a hard to miss at Wollongong 2022, he towers over most other photographers at the event, if you don't see him, a loud, resonant laugh often announces his nearby presence.

The cycling fanatic found that his love of photography went hand in hand, when he combined that with a lot of drive, it saw him living out his dream as a regular on the professional cycling circuit.

“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for the last 15 years of my life, it’s always been the childhood dream, I’ve loved cycling forever,” said Williams. “To be able to go to the biggest races and shoot them, it’s a privilege before it’s a job to be honest.”

The majority of cycling photographers make their livings as freelancer for agencies and races, other have more formal employment relationships but with countries and publishers changing from race to race, it’s a tricky world to break into and navigate.

“During the 2019 Tour Down Under I met a few photographers from the UK -Chris Auld and Russ Ellis namely - I tried to integrate myself with them and become mates, and by the end of the week Chris and I were discussing how I could make it,” said Williams. “He said ‘you need to turn up, do the big races and become part of the furniture. That year he invited me to come to the Giro and cover that, I took that with both hands.

“I covered the Giro and the Tour that year, and world champs in Harrogate in Yorkshire and a couple of other bits and pieces. I had some nice momentum coming into 2020, where it all dissipated because of COVID.”

After an enforced period away from the pro cycling scene, Williams was back at races full-time, the only time back in Australia is over the summer. He’s currently working with SWpix at the world championships, providing their coverage of the event for the UCI. The employers vary, but Williams is steadily building an impressive resume, but that comes secondary to his enjoyment of following cycling around the world.

“I’m getting to live the life of a professional bike rider without having to kick my head in on a bike six hours a day,” said Williams. “I’m getting to see the world - albeit for minutes at a time rather days or weeks – and go to all the biggest bike races in the world. Combining the two passions of my overwhelming love for the sport and my love of photography is the ultimate job, the dream job for sure.”

A high point for Australian cycling in 2022 was a special one personally for Williams. Jai Hindley’s Giro d’Italia victory was one that will go down in the history books for Australia, but as a good friend of Hindley’s, Williams was both incredibly excited and also gutted that he missed the finish.

“I was on the ground until Stage 14 when I left for RideLondon because I had some work lined up there,” said Williams. “So, I missed him winning, that’s kept me awake a lot of nights since.

“Jai’s kindly sunk the boot in and teased me about that. That’s something I’ll never do again, leave a Grand Tour halfway through when he’s still there.”

“I was there for the Blockhaus stage win and seeing him succeed like that was just phenomenal, it’s the stuff of dreams. He’s the most genuine guy in the sport, he deserves every bit of success he’s received and will receive.”

It’s a competitive field and involves long and inconvenient hours of work and travel, not a job for everyone, but Williams offered some advice for anyone keen to take up cycling photography.

“Just shoot, shoot as much as you possibly can,” said Williams. “Be a face that people know and conduct yourself in a way that you’d want to associate with.

“But turning up and getting started is the first thing, that’s the key, there’s no real secret. That’s the rewarding part of the job, because anyone can do it, it just takes starting essentially.”