Richard McGibbon Photography -

Nov

2025

Parkes for goodness gravel

One thing I really like about my job (one of many that is) is that it takes me to places I wouldn’t normally visit. Parkes is one of those places. Parkes is five hours west of Sydney, home of The Dish and the Elvis Festival and although it has been on my radar for a while. It was one of those trips that just kept getting put off. So when work takes me there, I’m more than happy.

Parkes has that typical rural Australian feel, like it’s waiting for something to happen, but it never seems quite to get there (Of course, these are the words of a city slicker). Things close early, and it’s all super relaxed. I think it has 2 big drawcards outside of the rural scenery. The Dish, a radio telescope that played an instrumental part in transmitting images from the moon landing and the Elvis Festival.

I wouldn’t say I am an Elvis fan, but I would definitely like to visit during the Elvis Festival. It seems like such an oddity for such a location. I could only imagine the atmosphere would be wonderful. Perhaps next January.

But if I don’t get the chance, here’s hoping goodness gravel returns to Parkes next year, and I’m there to join them for another great event.

As usual, all the images from the event can be found over on the Outer Image website.

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Oct

2025

Sea Otter

After many years of trying to get down under, Sea Otter finally landed in Australia. I went down there to cover the happenings around the Bikes Online marquee.

For those who aren’t aware, the Sea Otter is an expo featuring a mix of international brands and local vendors displaying their new products geared specifically towards the mountain bike market. For my skiing friends, it’s similar to ISPO in Munich.

As it was the first year, there were a few notables missing. There seemed to be an air of uncertainty about it in the lead-up. But the great atmosphere and crowds of day 1 quickly dispelled the doubts.

I didn’t get out onto the trails at Mogo, where the main enduro racing was being held. Aside from a couple of hours on Saturday morning at the botanical gardens to look for some Polygon or Marin riders. It’s not an easy task to identify bike brands through a camera as they’re zipping past. I’m yet to get out on the Mogo trails for a proper shoot. One day….

Will I be back? Definitely!! It was a great event. Rocky Trail put on a great weekend. I can only imagine that next year will be even bigger and better.

Here are the riding shots I did take.

Oct

2024

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

Sep

2024

Return to the Warrumbungles

My wife and I made the trip back up to the Warrumbungles National Park. I didn’t get enough the last time. I’d planned to do a few star shots and some more bird photography. Things didn’t quite go to plan.

Arriving in the early evening we set the tents up quickly. The plan was, to get the 500mm lens out, load it on the tripod and see if I could get any shots of a nebula or planet For the record, I’m not an astrophotographer. For me, it’s a case of playing with the settings until I get it right. There’s a lot of skill and dedicated equipment needed to get the real stellar shots (like that one?) but being such a beautiful dark sky park I figured I could still get something

All looked good on paper but it turns out I had three things worked against me.

I left my large lens at home in my other bag
I left the tripod mounting plate on my remote camera, again at home,
the moon was on its way to being a supermoon which meant the stars were nowhere near as bright as they’d been two weeks previous

Not a great start. Improvising where I could I gaffed taped my camera to my tripod and shot the landscape under the moonlight.

The lack of a large lens also limited my bird photography (as with the Astro stuff it’s half luck if I get a good shot). I had the 200mm with me so just shot and cropped where I could. there are so many little birds flitting around but I couldn’t get close enough to them to get a great shot.

In the end, I think it was all in my favour. I took it as a sign to put the camera down for a change, enjoy myself and be present. Too often I am running around looking for my next shot. We camped out at the wonderful Blackman camp, enjoyed the chilly nights and frosty mornings, did a couple of short hikes and some drives to explore the surrounding area

Mistakes were made but still…..trip number 3 to the Warrumbungles is already in planning. Hopefully, mistakes were also learned from.

Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

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Eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus)

Sunset behind Split Rock at the Warrumbungle National Park.

If you are heading west then after the Warrumbungles the land goes flat.

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Sep

2024

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.

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Aug

2024

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