Sports

The latest news from Sydney-based photographer Richard McGibbon as he travels up and down the East coast of Australia covering athletes on adventures and high-action sports events and races.

15
Oct
2024
Wembo at Stromlo

Wembo at Stromlo

24-hour racing has to be one of my favourite types of racing to shoot. I love that I can shoot through all types of light and play at night with my flashes to get creative. I recently went to Canberra to shoot the World Endurance Mountain Bike Organization (WEMBO) World Championships.

It’s been a couple of years since I shot my last 24hr mountain bike race. I did shoot Wild&Co’s Top Dog adventure race last year which was full of its own challenges. The tough thing about adventure races is you are never sure how long it will be before the next competitors arrive at your chosen location if indeed they arrive at all. With mountain bike races run on a set track you can be sure that if you miss a shot a rider will be around again shortly so you can adjust your settings, particularly handy while shooting at night. It took me a few tries to get the night shots just how I wanted them.

I have long wanted to shoot a rider under the Milky Way. Balancing the various intensities of riders’ lights with the starlight was a challenge. It kind of seems like my recent trip shooting the stars at the Warrumbungles was a practice run but this was not the case. Until a couple of days prior it had been planned that I’d go to Orange to shoot the final round of the State Gravity series.

One of the main things I get asked is “Do you spend all 24 hours out on track shooting?” And the answer is no. I shoot until I have had enough and then get up and out before sunrise for some of that soft morning light. In my opinion, there are only so many night shots you can do before the flash irritates the riders and affects their night vision.

I’m unsure when my next 24-hour race will be but hopefully, it will not be another few years away. Maybe next year at the next Wembo if it comes around again.

You can see all the images from the event over on our event website Outer Image here

Posted by Richard in Bikes, Events
11
Sep
2024
Mount Borah state round and Warrumbungles.

Mount Borah state round and Warrumbungles.

The final round of the Enduro Gravity State Series was on at Mount Borah mountain bike trails near Tamworth. It was 1 day of practice and 1 of racing in warm conditions. These are great trails which somehow manage to be both flowy and technical at the same time. Although they are on a private mountain the North West MTB club holds regular shuttle days. If you are up this way I would recommend you check them out.

I have long wanted to pay a visit to the Warrumbungles. I talked myself into the broken logic that, since Mt Borah is Northwest of Sydney and the Warrumbungles are Southwest of Mount Borah I would be heading in vaguely the right direction if I paid them a visit after the event.

The drive out took way longer than it should have. It is a common issue for photographers and spouses of photographers which I call the photographer’s curse. Trying to drive anywhere new in a hurry is near impossible and I think you need to add 50-100% of the expected time onto the drive to account for the required photography stops. With the rape field all in bloom at the moment each one demanded I took at least 1 shot and put the drone up for a look. They did make for plenty of great colourful shots.

Warrumbungles

The Warrumbungles are a series of mountains left over from an extinct volcano. It was the first time I had been out there even though it had been on my bucket list of places to see and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s famous for its landscape of rocky outcrops and its spectacular night vistas. It’s known among astronomers for its lack of light pollution, higher altitudes, low humidity and clean air which all come together and make the Warrumbungles Australia’s first dark sky park. The stargazing is amazing!!! I enjoyed it so much that already a return trip is in the planning.

Below is a selection of images I took from over the 5 or so days.

Posted by Richard in Bikes, Events, Travel, What's going on
19
Aug
2024
Greenvalleys Cartel series wrap-up

Greenvalleys Cartel series wrap-up

The Cartel Series from Greenvalleys has come to an end for 2024. Three races were held over a bunch of different tracks. There were supposed to be four but rain cancelled the first of the season. This year instead of just racing two runs on one track per race, riders could put down as many shuttled runs as they wished on two separate tracks.

Yet again another great series from the team at Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park. I’m already looking forward to shooting the series and its new format again next year.

Underneath are a few images from the 3 races. All the series’ images can be found on the Outer Image website here.

See more of my mountain biking photos here

Posted by Richard in Bikes, Events, What's going on
29
Feb
2024
Mt Buller

Mt Buller

I seem to be running around a lot at the moment. A couple of weeks ago I was in Thredbo for Cannonball then back in Sydney for a Bikes Online shoot, then back south to Mt Buller for the Rocky Trail Superflow. Now I’m back in Sydney for a couple of quick shoots but will be on the road again soon. Not that I am complaining, I love getting away from Sydney. Maybe though, I should just plan things a bit better and stay away rather than bouncing up and down the East Coast.

Mt Buller is always a favourite. Well, anywhere in the mountains is always a favourite for me. The Australian Alps have a unique and distinct flavour, a remoteness, an easy place to get lost. Even standing in the village of Mt Buller (which isn’t very remote) and looking out across the surrounding hills you know there are a lot of areas where you could get lost and not be seen again.

I even managed to get up one morning and go out to take a few sunrise shots. Not something I do too often these days. While not the most colourful of sunrises smoke from bushfires filled all the valleys around Mt Buller and gave it a beautiful softness and an eerie charm.

Posted by Richard in Bikes, Events, What's going on
20
Feb
2024
A decade of Cannonball

A decade of Cannonball

This year was the 10th anniversary of the Thredbo Cannonball. For us, I think it was year 7 shooting the event as Outer Image. It’s been great to see this event go from strength to strength and has become the premier MTB event in Australia attracting athletes from all across the continent and even from abroad.

It is always a hectic week of work for Gil and I with 5 solid days shooting and doing our best to get the images tagged, edited and uploaded each night after the day’s activities. If we don’t, the stockpile of images tends to grow larger and larger as the week goes on. This year we delivered around 7500 images to the competitors on behalf of Thredbo Mountain Bike.

Below is a selection of images that I took over the week.

Posted by Richard in Bikes, Events
10
Oct
2021
One Thirty Seven Point Nine

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!!!

Posted by Richard in Trail Running, Video, 0 comments