What’s going on

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
30
May
2024
Underwater at Shelly Beach

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.

Posted by Richard in Nature, Travel, What's going on
18
Mar
2024
Underwater at Narooma

Underwater at Narooma

It’s been a hectic month. After 5500km or thereabouts, I think I have been on the road and away more than I’ve been at home. Thredbo, Sydney, Mt Buller, Sydney, Thredbo, Narooma, Sydney, Orange and home again. I managed to sneak a couple of days of R&R into the mix while at Narooma.

I was in Narooma to shoot the Rocky Trail Superflow on the new MTB trails they have there, 2 days of racing on 4 different trails. It’s the first time they’ve had a race there and guessing by all the smiling faces it won’t be the last. The trails are fantastic or at least the couple I saw, smooth and flowy with some unique features such as the half-buried car. The trail system is big. I was surprised looking at the map just how expansive it is. I only saw a couple of the trails this time but by all accounts, Dirt Art has created another masterpiece.

Narooma has long been a favourite coastal destination of ours. The coastline is spectacular, the water is beautiful (not called the Sapphire Coast for nothing), and the marine life is fantastic. There’s a small colony of Australian and New Zealand fur seals living on the harbour break wall easily accessible from town. Sitting off the coast is Montague Island or Barunguba where a much larger colony lives. If you are visiting Narooma paying a visit to Montague Island for a dip is a must-do in my opinion. I’m already looking forward to a planned visit later in the year when the water is clearer and the seals more numerous. Plus I want to brush up on my underwater photography skills first too.

Posted by Richard in Events, Places, Travel, 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 shoot with Bikes Online, then back south to Mt Buller in Victoria for the Rocky Trail Superflow. Now, I’m back in Sydney for a couple of quick shoots but I 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
30
Jan
2024
Visiting an old friend

Visiting an old friend

Last week I caught up with Michael Willis, a downhill mountain bike racer and we swung by a local track I hadn’t been to for many years, the Manly Dam International Freeride Zone (MDIFZ).

MDIFZ (if you know you know) is one of the more technical tracks in Sydney with some of the features being high-risk. It is good to see tracks like this still around. It seems a majority of the tracks these days are built with the intermediate riders in mind with many of the jumps having tabletops for safety. While tabletops are always a great feature to encourage riding, advanced riders need locations too where they can push themselves and improve their skills. MDIFZ has always been one such area. Big drops, demanding gaps and small landings require you to get it right.

It was good to see and shoot there again. Michael and I just did one quick pass through stopping off at each feature and shooting along the way.

Posted by Richard in What's going on