Australia

Feb

2024

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.

Looking up at Mt Buller

Rocky Trail Entertainment Superflow, Mt Buller, Victoria, 2024

The first sun of the day hits little Mt Buller

Rocky Trail Entertainment Superflow, Mt Buller, Victoria, 2024

Smoke fills the valleys around Mt Buller

Feb

2024

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.

Thredbo. Cannonball, 2024

Thredbo. Cannonball, 2024

Thredbo. Cannonball, 2024

Thredbo. Cannonball, 2024

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

Sep

2018

Mountains and Oceans

Saturday

A weekend spent in the mountains and on the coast is a weekend well spent in my book.

This last Saturday I was in the lower Blue Mountains near Glenbrook shooting one of the Adventure races from Maximum Adventure. We shoot 3 of these races a year and they are a lot of fun. It makes competitors do a bit of orienteering while trail-running, kayaking and mountain-biking there way around a course. Always a very social atmosphere.

Paddling on the Nepean
Heading back up from the river.
Heading down to the river
With everyone looking out for him there was not much chance of Wally getting lost.

I tested out a new flash system dipping my toes into the Godox system and checked out the AD200. It will hopefully last me a bit longer than the usual speedlights that I use at the races and tend to burn out on a regular pace. Mixed early results but will give it another good nudge this weekend and hopefully have some more to say afterwards. I may even try to read the instructions beforehand this time.

Sunday

Then for Sunday, it was down to the coast for a sunrise session at a highline. Although the sun didn’t cast its usually morning colours thanks to a big cloudbank sitting on the horizon it was a beautiful morning none the less. Sitting there watching the highliners doing their stuff while surrounded by nature. Whales swam and jumped in the oceans below and black cockatoos flew overhead. A good weekend indeed.

Sunrise highline session at the coast
What a morning!!! A sunrise highline session on a 220m line while whales swam past in the ocean below.
Highlining at the coast
A young humpback whale takes to the air
Black cockatoos checking out the show
Highlining at the coast
Look closely, he’s there

Jun

2018

Scott Graham: Mountain Biker

I was at the new Trailshare MTB trails on the weekend to shoot some product and some portfolio shots with Scott Graham. Scott is currently leading the competition in State Downhill series and needed a few shots to pump up his portfolio for his sponsors. We thought we should also tie in a product shoot for Tyres and Soles shooting the new AMS bike strap, a silicon strap designed to hold your tyre repair kit and spare tube on your bike.

Front on angle of the new drop
Testing the new drop on the Black run
Steep rocky section on the black run
Despite the drizzle there was still a bit of dust around
Through the beautiful greenery of the Trailshare MTB tracks
Putting the pace on through the ferns
Putting the pace on
Mountain biker Scott Graham at Trailshare MTB trails on the New South Wales Central Coast
Scooting down the Goat track
Leaning into it at Trailshare MTB trails on the New South Wales Central Coast

Trailshare and its cabins

We also had an exclusive tour around the new bike park on the NSW Central Coast called Trailshare. Chief trail-builder Josh Paul Smith pointed out a few of the features on the black trail for us to session. It’s still a work in progress though it already boasts 27kms of trails of varying degrees of difficulty. We spent the day on the Black run but I am looking forward to seeing the Red trail, very picturesque from all I hear. to top it off it has its own set of cabins tucked away in the bush. The trails start right at the doorstep making it the perfect little weekend getaway for riding.

It’s a great area and I look forward to getting back up there soon and checking out some of the other trails.

Scott on one of Trailshare’s raised sections of trail
Trailshare’s chief trail builder Josh Paul Smith testing his berms
Through some of Trailshare’s lush landscape
The trailshare experience is all about time with friends

If you need some images for a portfolio or some new images to upgrade your profile send me a message and let’s see what we can make happen.

Jan

2017

Downhill Nationals, Awaba

The weekend saw the first of the Downhill Nationals rounds for 2017. Since it was at Awaba (which is not that far away from me) and I figured I needed to get my eye in again after the christmas period I headed up for a couple of days shooting. The plan was more to just play around and try some new things than do any serious shooting. I missed the Friday practice due to other commitments but after hearing that the temperatures hit a toasty 45C I was quite happy I missed it.

Despite having shot at Awaba on numerous occasions it was the first time that I had ever shot a downhill race there and the first time I did a complete track walk-through. I love shooting new tracks because all the angles are new and fresh. It’s also good because when I need to shoot here again I know where to go to get the good shots.

Events like this where I am not committed to give me a chance to try different techniques. I played a bit with panning and blurred shots this time too. It’s not something I get to do too often as I usually need to see numbers to identify the competitor in the photo.

You can see the full selection and purchase your favourite images here on my website. Just put your number into the search box at the top or click the view all tags button beneath the search box and find your number that way.

If you have an event that you would like covered swing on over to Outer Image and touch base with us so we can work out how best to suit your needs