Events

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

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

Sep

2019

SF Round 4: Ourimbah

Last week we shot the Shimano GP on a dusty trail at Ourimbah MTB park but this week, after a week of rain conditions had changed a little bit. After all the rain of the previous week, one might have expected the tracks at Ourimbah MTB park to be a muddy mess unfit for riding but they shed the water very well…….for the most part

Sunday cleared nicely for the next round of the Fox Superflow. Almost 200 riders came out for the event to brave the conditions. But while there was a couple of mud pits on the lower sections the track where water had pooled the further up I went the drier the track got and conditions were pretty tacky. By midday, things were drying nicely and towards the end of the day, I even could see dust peaking through the layer of surface mud. Suffice to stay I stayed around the upper sections so even though I was getting damp lying on the ground (the things we do to get the best angle) I wasn’t getting covered in mud as well from passing riders.

All in all a good day trackside in the sun after the rain. The main issue for the day would be the number of mosquitos that seemed to have hatched in the rains of the last week. Always carry a good repellent or a chameleon.

Rocky Trail Fox Superflow, Ourimbah, 2019

Mar

2019

Super Enduro 2019

I always enjoy a trip to the mountains. I can’t really say what it is that appeals to me so much but I always feel much more relaxed after a trip to the mountains. Yes there are those of you who may say Australia doesn’t have real mountains but its what we have and they are still very special. There’s a lot of terrain down there that will make you feel really small.

I am up and down these next few weeks as we have a few races on shooting for both Thredbo MTB and Rocky Trail Entertainment with Outer Image Collective. I spent a weekend down there shooting the Super Enduro. Not as big as Cannonball at this stage but it is growing quickly each year. Riders get 2 days on the tracks. 1 day for practice and then the Sunday for racing. They have to hit 3 tracks and get the cumulative best time on all 3. They can do as many laps as possible but only their best will count. It makes for a busy day shooting when you have nearly 500 riders going past with 20-second intervals. It’s good to stay busy though.

Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Thredbo Super Enduro 2019
Mike Ross, Thredbo Super Enduro, 2019

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