AMB Photographer of the Year - Simon McLaine

McLaine moved to Canada last year from Hobart and has subsequently been living out of a van in and around the Vancouver region, riding some sick trails and doing freelance photography work.

And he admits the stunning trails and top-class local riders are a real boon when it comes to getting award-winning images.

“This prize is a milestone in my career and something I’ll hold close to me forever. I can’t believe it’s happened – I feel honoured,” he says. “British Columbia is just an amazing place and the calibre of riders here is also awesome, so with those two things combined the opportunities often come up to get out there for some pretty amazing adventures and to get some pretty spectacular imagery.”

McLaine’s background is in trailbuilding, having previously worked for Dirt Art on projects all across Australia. But he grew up trying to capture the essence of mountain biking on film and is now keen to turn his passion into a full-time profession.

“I’m essentially self-taught in photography. I started off as a young teenager making videos with my friends and got more into filming,” he says.

“But with having to carry around all that gear and then sit down and edit the footage for a couple of weeks, I started to move more into photography.

“I took a photography class in college, but most of the technical stuff I’d taught myself already. My main source of income has been trailbuilding, but I’m definitely trying to move into full-time photography.

“I always knew I wanted to move to Canada to ride and shoot photos,” he adds. “I have a Ford E350 van over here in Canada that I live in. I’ve converted it into my house, with solar panels and a fridge and fully functioning oven and stove.

“I definitely want to move here permanently and keep the dream alive! Although the big dream is to get something that’s a bit more fixed to the ground. 

“I’d love to purchase a block of land somewhere on the coast or on Vancouver Island and build a cabin and also build trails all through the property. I’d also keep the van to go on trips to ride or do photo assignments.”

With this competition win, McLaine has proved you don’t need long formal training to make an impact as a photographer – and believes the main thing for anyone trying to improve and get better images is just to get out there and shoot as much as possible. In addition, chatting to other serious snappers can provide a wealth of useful information, with YouTube tutorials always available to fill in any knowledge gaps.

“The more you do something the better you get. It’s definitely a case of practice makes perfect,” he explains. “But I’ve got a long way to go and I’m always learning new stuff. Just going out and shooting photos is a great way to learn. 

“Speaking to other photographers also teaches you a lot when you check out what they are shooting and what settings they are using. And on top of that you can hit up YouTube videos or read books to figure out specific things about whatever camera you have.”

Although McLaine is hoping to stay in British Columbia for as long as he can, and maybe even move there permanently, he still holds his home town in Tasmania in high regard when it comes to mountain biking.

“I grew up in Hobart and I haven’t come to BC to move away from there,” he says. “With Dirt Art you travel to a lot of places, but Hobart is my favourite hands-down. If I was to live in Australia and start a whole life there, I would definitely go back to Hobart. Everything there is really accessible. There are some big mountains and amazing beaches. The mountain biking is amazing and personally I reckon it’s the best in Australia.”

Now read as Simon reveals the story behind each of the images in his winning portfolio.

Lifestyle

Canon 5D Mark III + 15mm fisheye lens. 2.5sec @ f/6.3

This is from a heli-drop trip we did on Joss Peak near Revelstoke. We rode around in the afternoon and then shot the sunset.

We hiked to the shelter at the top and started a fire and then the storm came rolling in, which was pretty scary because we were right at the peak. 

I just put my fisheye lens on and, because it was windy, all the sparks from the fire were flying straight into the camera. I took a couple of exposures and saw there was some lightning in the background. 

In another shot I actually got a whole lot of lightning bolts, but I chose this photo because my friend Matt Yaki is a perfect silhouette standing in front of the fire and there was also some really good detail in the clouds.

Adventure

Canon 5D Mark III + 16-35mm f/2.8L II lens. 1/1000sec @ f/4.0

This is from the same afternoon when we did the heli-drop up on Joss Peak.

This is Ted Morton riding down a rock slab that ended into pretty much nothing. We were filming an advert at the time, but I was also taking photos and just saw that frame.

There were a whole bunch of photos in the sequence, but with this one I really like the way that his torso and backpack is silhouetted. Earlier in the sequence he would have been too far up in the corner of the frame.

With this one it’s nice because your eyes are drawn down into the valley, but then you follow the ridgeline back up and you realise there’s actually a rider there.

Skill

Canon 5D Mark III + 70-200mm f/2.8L lens. 1/1000sec @ f/3.5

This is my German friend Axel Weinmann at Kamloops Bike Ranch in BC. Kamloops is really dry and dusty and I always think of it as really hot, so I really wanted to show that in the photo.

I shot this with my 5D, plus a 70-200mm lens, and I was up on a ridgeline to try to get some height above the actual jump.

I grabbed a stick put some of the yellow flowers that were lying around onto it and then held it in front of the camera to deliberately blur out some of the left side of the frame.

The whole golden light is the bokeh from the yellow flowers I was holding. It took me a few goes, maybe five or seven, to get this photo. I just had to be really fast and extremely accurate to pick up the jump.

Axel was having to hike back up to do another run if I didn’t get the right shot before the sun went down, so the pressure was definitely on!

Speed

Canon 5D Mark III + 15mm fisheye lens. 1/1250sec @ f/5.6

This is Farwell Canyon near Williams Lake in the Cariboo region of British Columbia.The canyon pillars are super-vertical, so I got really close to one of them and pointed the camera almost straight up in the air – and with the Canon 15mm fisheye lens, the pillar wraps around the top of the image.

But it turned out I was also in the right spot to get the sun peaking through from behind the other pillar. Scott Horley is the rider and with the dust trail you can see how fast he’s going – he’s basically death-gripping, no brakes the whole way down.