Photography

May

2024

Underwater at Shelly Beach

I recently started diving again. So in between races, I decided to do an underwater photography course with my local dive shop Dive Centre Manly. They got on board the talented Pete McGee to run the course. Pete put the course together, which went from photography fundamentals and touched on the more advanced topics of strobes.

Whilst I knew the fundamentals it is always good to have such things reinforced and explained from a different viewpoint I believe. The lessons on strobes underwater were invaluable to me though as strobe placement underwater is quite different to how I would use strobes on dry land.

I missed the first dives due to being ill but Pete kindly let me do the dive section at a later date. While the water quality was rather poor with lots of sediment floating around making visibility limited the dives themselves were fantastic. the 2nd dive was my longest dive to date being 98 minutes underwater. What bliss!!!! Nudibranchs, Wobbegong sharks, Giant cuttlefish, the big Blue gropers and even a Banded Coral Shrimp were all out to play.

If you’ve got an interest in learning about underwater photography I’d highly recommend this course with Pete. Since it’s not a PADI course, Pete can be more flexible with what he teaches and can, to a degree, tailor the course to your skill level.

Australian Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama)

Blue Groper (Achoerodus viridis)

Coral banded shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)

Australian Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama)

Blue Groper (Achoerodus viridis)

Australian Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama)

Blue Groper (Achoerodus viridis)

Jan

2024

Favourite 23 Images of 2023

2023 saw me driving up and down the East Coast of Australia again. I didn’t reach Queensland this year but I did get down into Victoria a couple of times. The images below are my favourite landscape and nature images picked from my favourite 200 or so that are being uploaded to the website. There are no sports images in this group. Once I have finished uploading the landscape and nature shots, I shall fire up a sports gallery.

I once saw a meme somewhere that said:

As you age, it’s ridiculous how fast bird-watching creeps up on you. You spend your whole life being 100% indifferent to birds and one day you are like “Damn, is that a yellow-rumped warbler?”
Internet Meme

And so it seems it happened to me last year. I was never 100% indifferent to birds but, out in the bush shooting the races, I’m always surrounded by birdlife. I took many photos of birds in between waiting for the competitors to pass. Seems the natural thing to do is just point the camera and shoot.

More of my favourite images can be found in the main gallery for Australia here, and more will be going up soon so be sure and keep a watch. Prints are available for all the images.

New England National Park, NSW, Australia

Eastern Yellow Robin, Eopsaltria Australis

Australasian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus forsteri)

Dead Trees, Victorian High Country, Australia

Feb

2017

Jetblack 24hr MTB

Last weekend saw the 2017 running of the Jetblack 24hr MTB race. This year the race was held at Awaba on the NSW Central Coast.

A crack in my radiator saw me running late to the event and missing the start which was a shame as there is always great shots to be had of the pack leaving the gate. In one way though, it was kind of a blessing as, for the first time, I was in the start area for the running of the kids race. I’m are normally out on track by this time and miss shooting it every time.

Once out on track the warm day saw thunderstorms building and it wasn’t long before they rolled on in. I stayed out through the rain well protected in my rain gear and dry under an umbrella but when the bolts of lightning started to get close I returned back to the car for a quick break and sit the rest of the storm out.

Night fell and I kept it close to the camp and start area. There is plenty to shoot in close vicinity. I found a nice little bridge and started dragging my shutter to get the nice long light trails and used a combination of flashes to capture the rider as they went past.

I snuck in a couple of hours sleep and set off again in the morning. After a short walk out I found myself in an area completely new to me. The rainforest here was nice and dark with a few patches of sunlight in which to trap the riders. I know there is still another section further out that I haven’t had the chance to visit yet but that will have to wait till the next time.

24hrs are tough races. They are physically and mentally exhausting for the riders but also to a degree for us. They do offer some fantastic opportunities to get shots that you wouldn’t normally be able to get during a usual days race, the night shots and the golden light of morning and sunsets (we missed this due to the heavy cloud cover this time). Because of all the variations 24hr races are among my favourite to cover.

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