Magazine
Snappin’ in Appin
Last week I went on another bike testing adventure with the AMB boys. This time we went to the small town of Appin, NSW and just like the many other small towns I’ve been to with the magazine Appin had all the right ingredients for the prefect mountain bike recipe.
1 x great local pub
1 x killer bakery
many x sweet trials
Click here for a few snaps.
Northstar
Just got home after being over in the US and A riding some of the best trails in the world in the Lake Tahoe region of California. I had some epic rides which included snow, bears, and getting scared lost – look out for all the photos and the feature in an upcoming issue of AMB. I also took the opportunity when I was away to snap a few shots at the ProGRT at Northstar. If you don’t read Vital them you can see them here.
I’m in Radalaide
Yep, I’m here for the Aussie Nationals. Look out for some stuff on Vital from the weekend and of course, AMB and other Aussie mags in the following weeks. Here’s some stuff from the last bike test I did with AMB.
Scott 24 Hour
Maybe one day I will do one of these races but for now I am happy taking photos. I also did a little story for AMB magazine looking at some special people who you might not normally read about. To me they are all heros and it’s the roots that are the soul of the sport. Look out for it in a future issue of AMB.
Worlds Champs Cover
Here it is – the latest AMB cover celebrating the two Aussie world champs. I have to admit that it’s not my most favorite work but to put things in context this was a very difficult shot. One thing you have to be able to do as a professional photographer is be able to respond to clients needs no matter how difficult they may seem. Generally on a cover shoot I will take days planning the location and scene and then I will spend hours trying to get that perfect shot. This one had all that compressed into about 30 minutes. Talk about pressure. I like a challenge and get bored with the norm so it was good to be pushed a little and despite my stress I did learn something and that’s what I am always trying to do.
Clict cover?
Here’s a little glimpse of a cover from a long overdue Aussie mountain bike publication – Clict. I can’t show it yet but if I am stoked on this one not for any other reason that who’s on it. I’m one of his fans and he’s such a down to earth rider it’s great to see. On the Clict front, I am in the planning stages to help out with another photo annual. The 2010 one will be a little different from the last one and I’m excited about how it will turn out.
I think this may be a world first?
The last issue of AMB had a cover photo I took of Dylan Cooper climbing and I think it was the first AMB cover showing climbing. I think that I have another first this month — and it might be a world first. I was lucky enough to get another cover and on the cover of Issue 101 is a shot of photo god Chris Benny. Is this the first time a there has been a photo of a photographer on the cover of a mountain bike magazine?
This shoot was the first time I had met Chris after looking at his work online over many years. I am normally really nervous on a cover shoot as I want everything to work out and this shoot was even more tense on the nerves as I was shooting someone who probably knows more than me about photography. Normally I can bluff and stumble my way around a shoot and throw all kinds of poorly constructed photo jargon around to make me seem like a pro be but with Chris I had no chance. The pressure was on to look and act the part and not spend three hours working out what how to plug the f-stop into the shutter sync sensor . Lucky Chris is a super cool bloke and he left me to stumble and fumble without any comments. Chris more then held up to his end of the deal and hit the jumps one-more-time over and over. Thanks Chris.
I wanted a climbing cover
Remember a while ago a posted a shot of Dylan Cooper at some ungodly hour of the morning. Well here’s the finished product.
I’m really happy with how this one turned out. I had a simple and loose brief from AMB to get a photo of Dylan Cooper for the cover but I wanted a little something different. I scanned covers of old AMB and other magazines and found that it is rare to see an actual “climbing” photo on that important front page so I took it as a challenge to get a climbing photo. Most covers show a rider pointing down hill – even at the slightest. I guess climbing rarely makes a cover as it’s kind of boring to see a skinny Lycra wearing XC nerd slogging up a hill so I wanted to use nature’s elements and some action to make sure it “pops” off the newsstand.
I got Dylan to climb a really technical part of a track where he’d be struggling to keep the front wheel down and he would have to naturally lower his body (you can’t fake a real riding position) which would make good climbing action. Next was to use nature at its best and at 5:30 am you don’t get better colours so that was easy. Finally, for all you photo geeks, I used three flashes for this shot. Two White Lighting 1600’s front left and right and one Nikon SB-800 directly behind him. Shot on an Nikon D2X with a 12-24mm lens.
I’m off to Sydney to shoot some dirt jumping and park action. Sweet!!!!
Another cover
I just saw that I scored another cover -this time the DVD cover on the new AMB how-to DVD. Big thanks to Ben Cory again for all his hard work with the shoot.
Sick Mick again
Do you remember when I put up that sequence of Mick Hannah scrubbing the jump? This is the reason I was out shooting that with Mick. Expect to see Mick on a different brand of bike the next time you see a photo of him so this one might be pretty rare.
Clict photo annual
Get your hot little hands on one of these. It’s been a while in the making but it’s well worth the wait. I wrote a little guest editorial for this special issue and I am honored to share space with some of the best photographers in the business.
I’ve missed downhilling
AMB editor Chris Southwood - not much of an Editor but a good rider
I was down at Thredbo with the crew from Australian Mountain Bike magazine over the weekend. AMB were there testing some new downhill bikes for their next issue and they dragged me along to shoot. I’m lucky enough to get to ride the bikes once all the shooting is done and I had a ball being back on a proper downhill bike. It’s been years and there’s no better spot than Thredbo to get back to riding full bore.
What’s Your Excuse?
Ursula dropping in with no hesitation at all
My good friend Edward did a interview recently with Ursula from Jindabyne so I went up the other day to shoot photos for the story. What an amazing woman she is. Ursula is 64 and absolutely pins it on a bike and loves nothing more than doing the big stuff. Such inspiration. Next time you get scared riding think that there’s someone your mothers age who will shame you. Look out for the story in a future issue of Australian Mountain Bike magazine.
Shoot Yourself
Me riding
A wee while ago Australian magazine [R]evolution asked me to shoot self portrait riding shots for a story they were doing. I thought it was going to be an easy task – yeah right. It ended up taking me about 5 hours and was one of the hardest shoots I’ve done. You should have heard me complaining when I kept asking myself that famous photographers request for “just one more shot”. Here’s some from that long day.
And the staff at www.damianbreach.com wish you all a happy new year.
I’ve Finally Made It
Dirt 2008 Photo Annual
The UK magazine Dirt has just release their ‘08 photo annual and I have some photos in it. I’m chuffed to say the least. For me it’s a great way to finish 2008 and I still cannot believe I am sharing magazine space with some of the best photographers in the world.
Sam Hill @ Mt Beauty
Faces of Racing
A beer to celebrate finishing another 24 hour race
By now you would have rushed out and picked up the latest copy of Australian Mountain Bike magazine and seen a series of headshots I did for the Scott 24 hour. I did the photos for two reasons. One, I was too lazy to walk all over Stromlo to take the same old dusty brown photos, and two, because I wanted to show a different side of the event. To me it’s the happy, sad, tired, and relieved faces that shows the fun and commitment of 24 hour racing. Enjoy these photos – this time in colour. Thanks to everyone who said “yes” to me sticking a camera in their face when you probably didn’t really want it. Also a big thanks to my friend Gary “Flipper” Perkin for giving me the idea for the technique I used in this shoot.
Another cover for my birthday
Dec/Jan 2008 AMB Cover
AMB bike test shooting
I’ve been pretty busy over the past few days and was up in Sydney shooting bike testing for the next issue. It was lots of fun shooting but the riding was even more fun. It’s tought to shoot in the Aussie bush somtimes as colours a flat and sometimes blend in so it was a little frustrating at times but I was lucky and had patient riders who are more than willing to huck off a drop for a shot.