Shoots
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.
Cory on Giant
It is not new news that Ben Cory is now riding for Giant but this was my first chance to get out and shoot with him since he made the change. We went into the hills way out back behind Canberra and for all the old downhill riders who can remember Blue Range, it is on the way back to being a race track again. Click here for a few shots from the shoot.
Bike testing
I was out with AMB late last week with some bike testing. It was a good time and I dragged myself out of bed at 6am to get some sunrise shots with the bikes. It was a great time of the morning and even better was that the sunset was pure gold.
The golden hour with Rando
Jared Rando was in town for a few short days and many thanks to him for getting out of bed a 5am (twice) to go and get shots in the morning golden hour. It’s so nice to be able to shoot with such soft light – not the harsh stuff that’s always at races.
The day in the life of a photographer
I had a shoot today in Sydney so I decided to take you all along and show you the glamorous life of a photographer. I set an hourly alarm on my phone and no matter what I was doing when the alarm went off I had to take/get a shot showing what I was doing at that exact time. Enjoy………
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.
VW shoot and a point and shoot
I had an Australian exclusive shoot booked in with VW Australia for ages now and it’s Murphy’s law that the day we planned turned the worst weather of the year. Cold, rain and windy as hell. All of this in what’s supposed to be Spring. But with some luck I took the cars up to a favorite location of mine and the bad weather turned out to be a good omen. VW gave me this shoot as they liked my Dylan Cooper cover so much (Dylan’s team was sponsored by VW) they have now picked me as there #1 man to shoot all VW stuff all around he world. The deal also comes with free beer and all the Mexican food I can eat.
Also here’s a collection of snaps that have been sitting on my P&S shoot for months now.
29″ testing
I just got back from riding and shooting on some amazing trails in Newcastle. I’m still unsure about the 29″ inch thing but I have to be honest and say that they were actually good to ride.
More dirt jumping
I was back in Sydney again over the weekend shooting more dirt jumping. Was hoping for some golden sunset action but nothing happened except blue sky. Damn blue sky – I wanted fire in the sky and reds everywhere. When you work outdoors there are somethings you just can’t control.
I thought I’d never shoot a road bike
There must be something wrong with me. There was a mountain bike race in Canberra today but I went out and shot photos of road riding instead….. My saving grace is James Williamson is a mountain bike rider.
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.
5am start – on a Sunday
Can you stand there while I test the light please
It got up way too early this morning to go and shoot photos with XC rider Dylan Cooper. It was hard getting out of bed and big thanks to Dylan for also dragging himself out of bed. I was happy as I got some gold today just before the light changed and it got all weird with haze.
Hannah and the scrub
Scrub-a-dub-dub
You all probably know by now that Mick Hannah is back racing and he was in town for the Nationals and some training with Jared Rando. I went out to shoot some photos with Mick and I had the idea of a “scrub” and tasked Mick to find a good spot to shoot. Mick came up with his end of the deal and found the perfect spot but for my end of the deal I just don’t think that I did it justice. This may have been better to leave for the people who do those moving picture movie things. Mick pedalled in from about 2km and I thought he was going to kill himself (and/or me) but as you can see (click on the picture) he scrubbed so hard he didn’t even leave the ground. That’s why they call him Sick Mick.
Busy, busy, busy
Moshy posing for another photo
After a few weeks off shooting over the Xmas break I’m back into it and have been way busy shooting for various magazines and projects. I will have a gallery up soon from all that stuff. More importantly I have finally taken the time to go out and have some fun and take photos of friends. I owe a lot to my riding buddies as they’re always there when I want to test out some new gear and they were there for me to annoy them with a camera way back at the start when I was trying to break into the scene. Thanks boys for being my free models over the years.
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.
Such Little Time
- Claire Whiteman just before the rain hit.
It’s important as a photographer to be able to deliver no matter what hurdles you are faced with. Sometimes you get to plan a shoot and spend days on it but then there are times when everything is against you and you literally have 20 minutes to meet a clients needs – like today. It has rained hard all night the trails were too muddy and it was about to rain again but this was my only chance to get the shots before a deadline. A big thanks to Claire for dragging herself to the other side of town for less than 5 minutes of riding.
Unused
Adam Hauck - Burlington, Vermont
Sometimes for whatever reason photos can go unused and sit around collecting dust on my computer. A little over a year ago I was lucky enough to go out and shoot some stuff in Burlington, Vermont with Adam Hauck, George Ryan, Dave Smutok, and Kyle Ebbet. Here’s some unused from that little trip.
Looking for spots to shoot
Looking for places to shoot
I took a few days off shooting photos of other people and went and did some riding in new places. I’m always on the look out for new locations to shoot and found this spot. I will have to come back with good riders and get some gold.
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.
Spending money isn’t fun
I had a couple of expensive flashes die on me a week or so ago so I replaced them with some cheaper ones. Lucky for me there’s a few boys in town with “new bike fever” so I was able to run out and test them. Not as good as the old ones but good enough.
Cover shooting
I was out shooting with Ben Cory on the weekend. What a champ he is to shoot with. He never complains and I think he hit one corner about 80 times until I was sick of saying “one more time”. Thanks Ben.