Patrick Scholz for Olympus | Social Cycling - A cycling adventure halfway around the world
as part of our Online Fototage
Patrick Scholz is a professional photographer, speaker and Olympus Visionary from southern Germany. In addition to his work as a travel photographer, he is also active in creative product photography. The idea behind "Social Cycling" was to explore the world on a bicycle, experience adventures, document the journey photographically and support social projects at the same time. To make the concept and the idea a little more tangible, however, I need to go into a little more detail.
Olympus Patrick ScholzSocial cycling - what is that?
The idea behind "Social Cycling" was to explore the world on a bicycle, experience adventures, document the journey photographically and support social projects at the same time. To make the concept and the idea a little more tangible, however, I need to go a little further. This blog doesn't start in 2015 when I get on my bike, but back in 2011 when I was working as a photographer in Kenya. During my time in Kenya, I got to know the "Barnabas Children Center", a school and orphanage project near Mombasa, and decided to support it. Back in Germany, I gave my first live multivision presentations about my time in Kenya and was able to continue promoting the project in this way. Thanks to the intensive work of the great helpers on site, not only has ?Barnabas? grown steadily, but many intensive friendships have developed from which I have been able to learn an incredible amount for my own life. All the positive and negative impressions from my time in Kenya have inspired me to explore the world. However, I also wanted to use the many privileges that traveling gives me to give something back to the people of the countries I visited.
OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko AF 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro ED Micro Four Thirds black
Olympus M.Zuiko AF 7-14mm f/2.8 ED Pro Micro Four Thirds black
Olympus Patrick ScholzAround the world with Olympus
A few weeks before I was due to set off on my trip, I happened to meet Manu, who was also planning to explore the world by bike. As it turns out, we have set the same departure day, want to cycle in the same direction and live just seven kilometers apart. So we spontaneously decide to set off together. However, to avoid having to rely on each other, we pack completely independently - we hardly know each other yet and don't know whether we can cope with the 24/7 routine together. So in August 2015, I got on a fully loaded touring bike for the first time in my life at Lake Constance in southern Germany, without realizing that this trip would take me all the way to Indonesia within two years. As a photographer, one of the most important decisions in preparing for this trip was clearly the choice of the right camera equipment. The equipment had to be as compact, lightweight, shockproof, dustproof and splashproof as possible and deliver the highest image quality. Only the Olympus system was able to meet all these criteria without compromise. That's why I opted for the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the 7-14mm, the 12-40mm and the 40-150mm from the M.Zuiko PRO series, all of which I still use every day and, looking back, I can say that I couldn't have made a better decision.
Patrick ScholzCycle touring
As mentioned above, I had never ridden a fully loaded bike before - I had absolutely no experience of traveling by bike. So I set off completely overloaded with a total weight of 85 kg (bike and luggage). I hadn't prepared myself physically for the trip either - but fortunately this didn't matter as I had time. I simply built up the necessary fitness along the way. I gradually learned what I really needed and what I didn't need from all my luggage. As a result, I was able to sort out around 20 kg of luggage over the two years. It's amazing how little you actually need. The less you have with you, the lighter, more flexible and freer you become. You have to carry everything you own. A realization that can be wonderfully applied to life as a whole.
Across the world
From Germany, we first travel along the Mediterranean coast to Albania, where we meet the great musician Ilirian Pema. Ilirian usually lives in his tent or with friends and owns little more than his guitar. He earns his living with street music, but has never had the opportunity to record his songs and produce a CD.When Manu and I listen to his music, we immediately agree: this is where our first social project should be created. With the Olympus LS-14, a mobile audio recorder, we record a beautiful, atmospheric album with Ilirian. We create a CD cover and provide him with all the data for duplication so that he can supplement his income. In return, Ilirian allows us to sell his CD as well. However, 100% of the money we earn from this goes to support the Barnabas Children Center in Kenya. In this way, after just a few weeks on the road, a street musician from Albania was able to finance musical instruments for the school in Kenya. For us, this was a wonderful sign that everyone really does have the opportunity to give something and make the world a better place.
Olympus bike tourThe journey continues
We then travel on via Greece to Turkey. Here we took a winter break in a sport climbing area, during which we recorded another music album in aid of the Barnabas Children Center with the Australian musician Gerard McArtney. In March, we will continue on to Georgia, Armenia and then Iran.I am often asked which was the most beautiful country of my trip. This is a question that cannot be answered so easily. Every country is unique - you can't compare the deserts of Iran with the rainforests of China or the high mountains of Tajikistan. In short, there is no favorite country. But there are countries where certain aspects really fascinated me. In Iran, this was undoubtedly the boundless hospitality. As soon as we cross the border, passing cars stop and their occupants warmly welcome us to their country. They all assume that, as cyclists, we must be incredibly hungry, and they are not wrong. We are handed bags of food and snacks from the car windows - after a few kilometers, our panniers are so overfilled that we can barely keep our feet on the road.
Wild adventures
As we can't get a visa for Turkmenistan, getting around it would be very time-consuming and we want to conquer the Pamir Mountains before winter, we board the plane in Tehran and land in Dushanbe in Tajikistan shortly afterwards.From Dushanbe, we continue along the Pamir Highway, the second highest highway in the world, which at 4655 m should also take us to the highest point of our journey on the Ak Baital Pass. the Pamir Mountains not only demand a lot from me physically, but my camera equipment also has to prove its robustness here. After weeks of wild scrambling on my unsprung bike and the endless gravel roads, hail, cold and sandstorms, one of the lenses falls out of my bag and bumps down a steep scree slope, dangerously close to the bank of a river, and when I find it again after a long search, I am pleased to see that the lens has survived this acid test unscathed.
From China to Vietnam
As we leave the Pamir Highway behind us, we continue via Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to China. We spend three months in this incredibly large and diverse country. The language barrier, both written and spoken, has never been such a challenge for me. The distances are greater and the cities bigger than we are used to. Nevertheless, we soon feel at home in this new country and enjoy the culinary diversity, the breathtaking nature and the many, often bizarre, peculiarities of China. During our time in China, we have really bad weather for the first time on the trip. A huge depression settles inland. We are unintentionally confronted with 3 weeks of continuous rain at an average temperature of 12?C. It takes about two days on the bike for all our luggage to get wet. We crawl into our wet sleeping bags in the evening, only to slip back into our wet clothes in the morning. This way, the camera equipment can still prove its water resistance in China. Even with three weeks of daily use in high humidity and constant rain and a camera bag that was always damp, it never let me down! From China we travel on to Vietnam. We have now been on the road for around a year and a half. Manu decides to return from Vietnam to Germany for the time being to let all the impressions of this intense time sink in and make plans for new adventures. At this point, I was also longing for a change in my everyday travel routine and decided to continue my journey by motorcycle. So I quickly switched from my bike to a motorcycle and explored Vietnam extensively over the course of three months before continuing on to Indonesia. Friends of mine helped to set up the Villa Warna Warni aid project on Nias, a small island off Sumatra. Some children from very poor families on the island live here and have access to school and sufficient food. For me, this is the perfect place to spend the last few months of my trip. After being a transient for so long, I enjoy staying in one place for a very long time, building deeper friendships and immersing myself in the life that surrounds me.
Further information
Back in Germany, my trip has resulted in a visually stunning multivision presentation that has already inspired thousands of visitors. My work always focuses on the Barnabas Children Center in Kenya. Through my presentation "Social Cycling - a cycling adventure halfway around the world", many different projects at the Barnabas Children Center have already been financed.
You can find more information about my trip, the social projects as well as current lecture dates and an insight into my work on my website, on Facebook and on Instagram.
