Sport

Shooting high action sports

Oct

2021

One Thirty Seven Point Nine

I got chatting to Dan one day as he was de-kinking my body. During the Sydney lockdown I somehow managed to tweak my shoulder and Dan, my chiropractor, was straightening it back out. I knew him to be a runner. We’d discuss races and racing each time I paid him a visit. He told me how he planned to run three 100km races this year but being in lockdown and unable to leave the Local Government Area (LGA) meant that was no longer possible since races were now canceled. Instead, he had come up with a novel idea to keep his goals alive. When he told me I knew I had to document it.

Over the last couple of lockdowns, I have been slowly getting my head around video and video editing, online tutorials, and shooting little bits here and there. I hadn’t shot much though as I wasn’t quite sure what to shoot. I have always preferred videos that have a story rather than a selection of clips thrown together and wanted to shoot something along those lines. Having planned to shoot stills for Dan I realized that his story would benefit much more from being a short video instead.

The Shoot

I spent a couple of days out shooting with him on training runs in the lead-up to the day. We would just visit some scenic local areas and shoot for a couple of hours. The original plan had been just to show his training leading up to the actual run and finish on the scene of him running out the door. But when we were recording the voice-over and I heard the full story I knew I would have to include footage from the run. It went from a 2 minute short to over 5 minutes.

I didn’t get all the shots I would have liked to over the run though. The tracker I was following him on played up and only relayed his position periodically. I knew the course he was taking so I could jump ahead but I couldn’t be sure if he had come through already or was still due so just had to jump far enough ahead to be sure. Still, I think I got plenty of shots but there were a few scenic locations that I missed that I would have liked to have shot.

Moving On

For me, it was a great introduction to short storytelling. I have made a few videos before but they’re more like snippets than short stories with a maximum length of under 1 minute. Throwing myself into the deep end like this has taught me quite a few things about video editing. You can read and watch so many online tutorials but until you go out and shoot there will always be a hole in your knowledge. There is still so much to learn about video creation and short storytelling and I am excited to be undertaking a new journey. I think it might be a long one though. Like shooting still photography there will always be some new direction to head or a rabbit-hole to lose myself in periodically.

I shall keep learning and in the meantime be keeping my ears open for over great adventures and challenges of which I might be able to tell the story. If anyone has any exciting plans that they think may transfer across to a great short story feel free to contact me and let’s work on something together. In the meantime….Enjoy!!!

Aug

2021

Locked Down

I haven’t written any posts in quite some time now, in fact almost a year. My website has taken a backseat lately. Work as Outer Image had been great this year with many more events. So much so that I left my midweek work at the gallery (it was only 1 or 2 days a week anyway) and had been doing photography full-time. And then…..lockdown.

Halfway through a weekend shooting a couple of races up near Port Macquarie, I was informed that Sydney was going into lockdown for a few days. Since event photography and lockdowns go play well I had to pack up halfway through. My 2 choices were either self-isolate where I was or return home straight away. As much as I enjoy being away, sitting in my van for 2 weeks was not really my idea of fun and excitement so I came back home so I could get organized for the following weekend’s events. It was going to be rather hectic with 3 big events over one weekend.

That was 2 months ago. Sydney is still in lockdown with no signs of improvement. I’m still waiting for the events to restart. Each day, case numbers rise. I hear of more people out in the community while contagious, people protesting their lack of freedom, people going to parties away from Sydney. I am wondering if these people will ever let me get back to work. Having family and friends who live overseas I fully understand the mess this virus plays with people’s livelihoods and lives. We in Australia have been very lucky but Delta has dug its claws in now.

At least…

Thankfully, I live near the beach. We’re allowed to move for exercise within a 10km radius and work, where essential, (not as an event photographer though). Mornings sitting on the beaches watching whales and shooting surfing have kept most of the boredom at bay. I have not shot a lot of mountain biking lately or trail running or adventure racing or been to any great landscapes. I have been shooting a little bit of product for Tyres and Soles and Bicycles Online, plus dabbling with a bit of video and planning world conquest once the lockdown is lifted. Outer Image hasn’t shut shop or such. Gil and I are just looking at it as more of an extended break where we can fine-tune a few details of our business. I’m getting to reorganize my website, shuffling photos, and rebuilding galleries and links where needed. Look, I have even managed a new blog post

Still………I wish I could get back to work.

Surfer in barrel while friend cheers him on

Check the Sessions gallery here for more surf images of late

Feb

2020

Shimano GP Orange

Back out on track again with Outer Image and kicked the season off with a trip out west to Orange for Rocky Trail Entertainment‘s first round of the Shimano GP

I made a quick stop in the Blue Mountains World Heritage area to see some of the devastation brought on by the recent fires. It was a complete burn-through leaving only tree stumps everywhere. Seeing houses in still standing in amongst all this carnage is a testament to the amazing work of the volunteer bush firefighters. I hope to get back up there shortly for a better look around.

Two locations I like shooting mountain biking are amongst green ferns and in pine forests (sometimes I think I am in the wrong country) When the light is right in the pines then it can be beautiful. Plus as an added bonus pine needles are a lot more comfortable to lay around on than the native scrub usually. Kinross forest is a nice forest and there is a lot more there for me to explore. It’s a shame it’s all due to be lopped this year but that’s what the plantation is for. And I would much rather they chop that than some of the old-growth they talk about chopping.

Swing over to the Outer Image website to see the full gallery. Next up, Thredbo Super Enduro. See you there!!!

Blue mountains devastation

Regrowth

The Jetblack Team

The last minute brief

The Rocky Trail crew for the day

Pine forests and good light mix well

Rocky Trail Entertainment's Shimano GP, Orange, 2020

Looking out across the fields to Bathurst

Jan

2020

Airborne

After taking breaks from the camera I like to get out and shoot for a bit before I pick it up again for a job. It doesn’t have to be anything too complex or challenging. It’s so that while I am shooting, operating the camera controls just become second nature again and I don’t have to think about things too much. I think about composition and exposure, aperture and such but not about which dial do I need to turn in which direction to change my settings, it all just flows automatically.

And with my first job locked in for this coming weekend, so it was I took myself to Maroubra yesterday for a day at the beach shooting the Red Bull Airborne. They may have been small waves but they were still getting some airtime in.

I also got to play around with my 500mm lens. It’s not a lens that sees the light of day too much. It can be a little slow to focus and a little too big for the things I normally shoot. Plus you need a lot of light. It’s perfect for surfing, especially when it’s mounted on a cropped sensor

Dec

2019

Cannonball ’19

Another year almost over and once again rounding out the events for us over at Outer Image was the huge Cannonball MTB Festival held at Thredbo each year. I think this is the 3rd year that we have now shot Cannonball for Thredbo MTB and Red Bull Australia. Each year we see the event just keep growing. This year there were around 1000 riders competing in the 5 events over the 4 days, All Mountain, the Flow, Pumptrack Challenge, Whip Wars and the Australian Open Downhill

BTS

For us, this is a big event. It’s not just the 5 days shooting trackside where everyone sees us but it is also the hours of work that goes on behind the scenes in order to get the images out each day to the competitors. We routinely went to bed no earlier than 1am each day (if we were lucky) and arose at 6.30am ready for a quick breakfast and to head back out on the track to do it all again. It’s a long weekend but it’s so much fun.

Below are a few of my favourite images from my weekend rolling in the dust. You can find the full gallery over on the Outer Image website

Aug

2019

APPA’s, product and more

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for me on the race photography front. There’s been a couple of weeks break from shooting the races but the fun never stops when you have a camera in your hand

Just because it is quiet on the race front doesn’t mean that my photography has come to a standstill. The Australian Professional Photographers Awards (APPA’s) were on in which I entered 4 images. I’m happy to say I came away with 3 silvers this year. I know some of my peers frown upon the APPA’s but I personally have learnt a lot from entering over the years. The need to submit physical prints forces me to print my pictures which is something I rarely do. I also find that it makes me be highly critical of my own work.

Back from holidays now bring on the weekend, its time to go shoot!!! A shot from the Cannonball Whip Wars in Thredbo,
Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Superflow at Mount Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra, 2019
Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Superflow at Mount Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra, 2019
Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Superflow at Mount Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra, 2019

I went out last weekend and shot some great products with the Tyres and Soles crew again. It’s always fun shooting with them and checking out new gear up close. Be sure and keep an eye out on their website for the upcoming gear reviews. There is still a bunch more kit to shoot with them as well such as the new ZenBivy sleeping bag, North Face duffles and more. As much as I love shooting the sports stuff I also love shooting different things. Shooting the gear reviews lets me do both, win win.

Whistler Performance Lubricants
Oi Bike Bell

Caught up with some friends as they went out on their foil boards. Whenever there is swell these guys head out, they don’t actually need breaking waves. The boards seem almost comically small but they definitely do the trick. I have been seeing the foils pop up more and more in other places too such as paddleboards and kitesurf boards. The crew definitely seems to be growing and I can see this taking off in a big way in the future if people can just keep from getting chopped up by their foils.

Some of the boys took their foils out for a spin today at Long Reef here in Sydney. A few nice waves about for it.

I have also been shooting a lot of fitness and gym stuff of late for my gym, Joe’s Basecamp. They have me shooting all their ambassadors but I will write more about these shoots soon.

This weekend coming it’s back to the mountain bike racing with the next round of Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Shimano GP at Ourimbah followed by the Fox Superflow also at Ourimbah the following weekend.

See you out there!!