AMB Photography Awards presented by Shimano

For the third year in a row, Shimano Australia have supported awards to find the best videographer or photographer out there. In 2016 we ran the video awards, and since 2017 we ran the AMB Photography Awards, as way more of us take a quality photo to capture mountain biking.

We have the full insights into the winning images, with interviews with each category winner and the overall winner Nathan Hughes in our latest issue – it's available now.

For 2018 we set four categories: Light, Movement, Close-Up and Composition.

Our judges Tim Bardsley-Smith and Robert Conroy made a short list for each category, that you all then voted for. Here are the categories. 

Jason Beacham won the Light category with this flash-lit pre-dawn photo at Te Puia in Rotorua. 

Second place went to Mark Mackay with this classic afternoon light photo.

Coming into 3rd place was another entry from New Zealand, via Cam Mackenzie.

The winner of Movement was Matt Wood (from New Zealand again – what's going on over there?) with this photo of his mate and his trail dog.

Coming into 2nd place was Russian Igor Schifris, with a lifestyle shot.

Coming in 3rd was a huuuge roost photo from Ryan Finlay.

Close-Up was a category where we saw a lot of profile and detail shots. But it was this photo of a tiny frog on a bike, taken by Igor Schifris, that was voted number one.

Second place went to Jasper Da Seymour, with this black and white side profile photo.

Jasper Da Seymour popped up again after getting 2nd in Close-Up, with this winning photo from Crankworx in Whistler.

Second place went to Ben Sykes, with this ripper landscape shot from the Blue Mountains.

Matt Wood took 3rd in this category along with his win in Movement, with this beautifully framed photo.

Nathan Hughes – the AMB Photographer of the Year

Having just shifted himself to Chamonix, France, Nathan Hughes portfolio across the four categories made him the winner for our judges. It wasn't an easy decision, with a huge amount of high quality submissions. But according to judge Tim Bardsley-Smith, he wanted to see creativity with the entries, favouring photos that were truly unique. The whole set had to work and Nathan's four photos came out on top.

For more details on the category winners and Nathan's images, including details on settings, equipment and why each photographer shoots – go and grab our latest issue.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and a big thank you to Shimano Australia who provided the cash prizes, pedals for category winners and a Shimano XTR M9100 group set for Nathan as the AMB Photographer of the Year. Stay tuned for next year!

Close-Up

Composition

Light

Movement