Richard McGibbon Photography

Sep

2016

The Jetblack 12hr Mountain Bike Race

The final mountain bike race for the 2016 Rocky Trail Entertainment XC season was the Jetblack 12 hour. This year it was held at Mowbray farm MTB track near Picton in the southwest of Sydney. It was a couple of years since previously shooting my last XC race there. Though the course was basically the same, weather over the last month or so had altered the terrain around it.

The main change in the features around the course was the missing lake. Heavy rainfall of the previous weeks managed to wash away a dam, draining the lake in the middle of the course. Rain had left the track over-saturated. More rain overnight had also added to the puddles, making some sections of the track more like water crossings. Although the previous night had been another wet one, the new day dawned windy but otherwise the weather was great.

Terrain along the track varies quite a bit. It heads through open fields with some nice views across to the city, crosses and drifts along a small creek that was once the lake and heads off into a young pine forest. The wet weather had closed a couple of sections of the track making the course shorter. However, this just meant faster laps, bringing the riders back in front of our cameras more often.

At 10am a mass start sent mountain bikers racing off into the fields. The harsh light in the open fields below the start line meant shooting there was tricky. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before a few clouds came rolling in and softened up the light a bit. I followed the track in the same direction as the riders were headed, stopping when I came across shots that I liked. By mid afternoon I had made it probably halfway around the track. I realised the best locations to shoot the sunset would be in the fields and dams back near the start so I packed up my kit and headed back in that direction.

Nightfall saw me playing with my lights around the lakes and puddles. By using a mix of flashes and dragging the shutter to create long exposures I was able came up with some interesting effects. When water was added to the frame I threw reflections of the riders lights into the mix. I always have trouble balancing the riders lights with my flashes. The problem is, I end up losing portions of the bikes due to over-exposure caused by the riders lights. Exposing for the riders lights is tricky as no 2 riders seem to have lights of the same brightness. Practice makes perfect though and each time I am out there I seem to get a little bit better. The good thing about 12 hour and 24 hour races is that I get plenty of practice and plenty of chances to get it right.

Below are my picks for the race.

: DJ Nigel kept the tunes going all day

: Paul from Gloryfy doing his thing

: Owen and Craig from team BH

: The mass start

: Zigzagging across the bridges

: Single trails through the paddocks

: Claudia heading up the hill

: Recent rain meant big puddles.

: What was once a dam is now a creek

: Team Fizo crossing the creek……

: ….and along the riverbed

: Sunset at the farm

: The puddles seemed to grow as night fell

: A little bit of light can go a long way.

: The final laps into the night

Sep

2016

Australian Professional Photography Awards

Once again the Australian Professional Photographers Awards (APPA’s) have come around. Last year I struggled. Even though I managed to scrape together a point I failed to get any awards which was a bit disappointing for me. So this year I spent time looking into how I could improve.

I’ve learned a couple of lessons in the last year regarding the print as a product. The importance of paper choice and how it effects the final outcome of the print was my main lesson learned. Before the previous year I was rather ignorant on some of the finer points in paper quality. I printed my work on Canson Rag which although it’s a beautiful paper didn’t suit my type of work so well. It is a matte paper that gives the image a beautiful soft, almost dreamy feel with its low contrast. Great for landscapes and portraits but not so great for action sports. I needed something a bit more edgier, more contrast. I ran various test prints on various papers in the last year and have settled upon Ilford Gold Fibre Silk. It’s a semi gloss with enough contrast in it to give the print some punch.

I believe printing is a whole other branch of photography with its own unique skill sets. It’s one that I never thought I would follow but with the introduction of the rule last year whereby photographers must submit printed entries to the APPA’s, I have had to start down that path. It has been interesting learning about the art of printing. I went to a couple of print reviews put on by AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photographers) and picked up a few tips. I had them critique my previous years prints to see where I had gone wrong.

Perhaps the biggest boost along the road is to have the support of Angus from Gusha Pro. Angus spent time with me looking over my work and pointing out what I can’t see. Sometimes being too close to your own work can blind you to how others may view it. Angus’s help has also been invaluable to me as I have started on the path for printing. If you are ever looking to get high quality prints done and need some advice on which direction to choose I highly recommend getting in touch with him.

This year I am happy to say that I have walked away with 2 Silvers and 1 Silver with distinction. The gold still eludes me so I shall have to pick up my game again this year and set my sights higher for next. Gaining points in the APPA’s this year has given me the honour of becoming an associate with the AIPP which I am very happy about. Next title on the list to aim for is Master Photographer.

: Night Sessions with Tim Hughes in the rain at Oxford Falls. Silver Award

: Highlining in Australia’s Blue Mountains. Silver with Distinction.

: Racing at Thredbo. One point short for a silver.

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast. Silver award.

Aug

2016

Night Riders: Little Rider Lane

Last week I went out with mountain biker Steve from Little Rider Lane. Steve messaged me saying that he had a new light from Full Beam Australia, the Trail LED Halo, that he needed to test and wondered if I would like to join him. I have been looking to add to my mountain biking series, Night Riders, so thought it was a good chance to do so. We met at 9.30pm when it was nice and dark at a trail near Belrose and headed out from there.

The Halo light was a beast of a machine. So much so that for most of the shots we had to power it down so we wouldn’t over-expose the landscape around him. I had a couple of other lights from my little bag’o’tricks with me as well. I decided against taking my big strobes out with me and instead took only a couple of speedlights and my Nao headlight from Petzl. This is a great little light as it adjusts to level of brightness it needs to be. For those that understand speedlights it is like having your speedlight set on TTL. I used this for the shots of the Steve with the big streams of light behind him. I used the flashes when I wanted to freeze him in place.

The first shot below was a test shot done without flashes. You can see the rider but only if you look really closely. On the next shot we took some levels and set the flashes. The third is the final shot picking up the trail of his headlight and the flashes freezing him in place.

For the next couple of shots I threw on my headlight and lit Steve as he went by me which creates the nice wide light trails. Again I used the flashes to freeze the rider. Unfortunately, the light from his headlight lit the trail so well that I am missing the bike in the shot. The final shot is a faster exposure and lit with just the flashes and his headlight.

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Aug

2016

Superflow: Kempsey Enduro

Last weekend was spent cavorting around the headlands and bushland near Kempsey. It was the final round of Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Fox Superflow Enduro and I was up there to cover it with Gil under the guise of Outer Image. I set up camp each night at the beautiful Hat Head National Park on the coast. It’s only about a 20 minute drive from the trails in Kempsey but is a beautiful area. Rugged coastline and wild surf made for some interesting shooting on the headlands over the weekend.

Kempsey Superflow enduro is a 2 day race taking place on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The trails had been hit by some torrential rain through the week leading up to the race. Sections of the tracks were underwater whilst other sections were just mudpits. It certainly made for some interesting comments from the riders as they went on by. On the Sunday the trails were cut shorter in order to remove the worst of the wet trails. There was still a couple of deep mud sections that took down more than a few riders.

On the way home I took a bit of a detour and headed out to find Mount Seaview Nature Reserve. in the falling darkness I managed to drive right past the turnoff. Not wanting to drive too much further in the dark (I would miss all the great scenery) I settled in for the night on the edge of Cottan Bimbang National Park. In the morning I took a drive through the park and it is definitely a place that I think calls for some further exploring. I headed back towards Mt. Seaview but it turns out it’s not an easy park to access. Something I shall have to plan for in the coming future.

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Jul

2016

Superflow: Killingworth

The tiny little town of Killingworth on the NSW central coast played host to round 4 of the Fox/Camelback Superflow Rollercoaster. Killingworth is a quaint little town that seems to only have about 20 houses in it but unfortunately the entrance to the trails seems to be a bit of a magnet for dumping. This year it did seem like the local club had cleaned the around the area quite a bit though.

The trails themselves though are pretty cool. As far as from a shooting perspective there is a few nice sections. I had shot on what was called the Camelback trail last year and this year picked the Fox trail for something different. As I walked and shot my way up trail I talked to a few of the riders and had the company of Matt Staggs who helped me line up a few shots. Everyone directed me to a fern section near the top of the trail. This was a great section and certainly unique to these trails. The trails twist and turn through the giant leafy fronds. Riders had to come past me twice for this race and it was quite easy to find 2 different angles I really liked. I’m sure I could have shot plenty of more angles in there if they had to do another lap

It was a great day out covering what is my favourite format of mtb racing. Next up is Kempsey which is a great weekend away. See you all there.

: Pre race shopping

: Registration

: Preparation

: Getting some practice runs in

: Some of the tracks unique scenery

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast.

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast.

: Down the rock drop

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast.

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast.

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast.

: Fox Superflow at Killingworth on the Central Coast.

Jun

2016

Storms and Waves

The East Coast of Australia received a battering from some big back to back storms over the last week which brought with them wild winds and heavy rain. The storms caused a fair bit of damage, especially around Collaroy/ Narrabeen here on the Northern beaches where they washed away the Collaroy beach and created the new South Narrabeen Headland. They also whipped up one of the best swells Sydney has seen for a while.

I love this type of weather, its just so full of energy, and I spent the weekend running around chasing the weather and playing in the wind. In the days after I went to the beaches around here to try and capture some of the action that was going on down there and there was plenty going on. I spent most of the time at Narrabeen but also swung by Curl Curl and Avalon. Most of the Northern Beaches were in their element.