Most everyone has had to endure long lines on summer vacations but Dick Druckman of West Windsor recently spent 14 hours standing in a pouring rain in Paris and is still reveling in the moment.##M:[more]##
“The experience was phenomenal and it was a thrill to see Lance Armstrong win,” says Druckman, referring to the cyclist’s seventh consecutive win in the highly competitive Tour de France. “It will never happen again in our lifetime.”
Druckman and his wife, Joan, arrived in Paris on Friday, July 22 — just two days before the final ceremonies of the event. “The trip was very last minute and not easy to get to or easy to plan,” he says. “The area is restricted and barriers are 10 feet away from the cyclists.” Dick spent the day on Friday wandering around inspecting the area from every angle in order to be in the best place to obtain good images.
“To see an American win in France was one of the highlights of my sports photo career and this was my first time photographing cycling,” he says. “I never realized how difficult it would be to photograph someone in a pack when there was only a fraction of a second during the eight laps of racing over the cobblestones. I had eight chances and there were 155 cyclists. Armstrong was difficult to spot the first few laps. He was in the middle of the pack and I missed him during several of the laps around.”
The Druckmans arrived on the big day at 6 a.m. just to get in place to take photos. They stood next to a Dutch group that had been camping out overnight. The cyclists did not appear until 4:30 p.m.
Armstrong and Druckman met at the Tour of Hope five years ago before Druckman’s retirement from Bristol-Myers Squibb, one of Armstrong’s sponsors. Druckman is already planning his trips to Torino, Italy, for the winter Olympics and to the summer Olympics in Beijing, China in 2008.
Gold Medal Impressions is located at 43 Princeton Hightstown Road in West Windsor. Lance Armstrong exhibit images include Armstrong’s victory ride at the Champs Elysees, a photo with his two young daughters, and his victory photo on the podium. Visit www.goldmedalimpressions.com or call 609-606-9001.
