Sport – RadMania

Tarnagulla Golf Club Features In Golf Australia Magazine

The little local club hitting the big time in print.

More than a decade and a half ago when I began this journey as a writer, photographer and online editor for snowboard and surfing magazines, I don’t think that would have I ever believed I’d have my work feature in one of the major golf magazines. Let alone that all the photos would have been taken an edited on the phone in my pocket! But that’s exactly what happened this month in the December issue of Golf Australia Magazine.

In late 2016 our family volunteered to help run the Tarnagulla & District Golf Club after the family that had being running it for decades wanted to take a break. It was a new adventure for us all – and we’re not even very avid golfers! But we just wanted to keep the course running, and keep it accessible for the community. Well, it’s gone from strength to strength … and we had the idea to help promote the club in the media.

“El Presidente” Liam Radich had the idea for an article, wrote a draft and included some quotes. I then put my writer/editor/photographer hat on, re-wrote it all into a new piece, and kept the majority of the quotes. I then sent the article and a selection of photos to various print and online media outlets. I was surprised to quickly get some positive feedback, and publication on the Aussie Golfer and Ausgolf websites … and then a three page feature in Golf Australia Magazine’s December issue! Needless to say, we were very excited to see our little old 9-hole course in print.

Please go out and grab a copy of the magazine while it’s still on shelves.

Golf Australia Magazine’s December Issue featuring Tarnagulla & District Golf Club Inc.

Click the link to find out more about Golf Australia Magazine.

The article also featured on Aussie Golfer website’s homepage.

Click the link to read the full article on Aussiegolfer.com.

If you’d like to know more about Tarnagulla & District Golf Club, please like us on Facebook!

Nitro Snowboards x Mint Tours x Hotham Goodtimes Weekend 2016

What a wang! Triple methods from Torgeir Bergrem, Marcus Kleveland and Sven Thorgren.

Run to the hills! Last year in late August Nitro Snowboards Australia-NZ called me up to join them and shoot their Goodtimes weekend at Mt Hotham. The Nitro International Team was in Oz, and were shooting their 2017 catalog at Hotham, and so I went along to document it all.

It was a ripping weekend with the crew, and some insane riding from the uber-pros on the features built by Hotham park crew and the inventive Rusty Toothbrush boys.

2017 Issue 1 of Australia-NZ Snowboarder published a five-page feature article using my words and photos from the weekend … but as always, there’s a lot of extra shots. So take a look at the gallery below.

And if you’re interested in joining in on this sort of action, Nitro has once again joined with Mint Tours for “Run To The Hills” weekend at Falls Creek from 4-6 August 2017. Scope the deets here. See you up there!

Click on the photos to open up the gallery…

Torgeir Bergrem

NitroGoodtimes_L_Biltoft_J_Elston-Radich-4555

Marcus Kleveland.

Torgeir, Sven and Marcus.

Marcus Kleveland.

Silje Norendal snowboarding at Mt Hotham, Australia

Silje styling 2

Bombing Gunbarrel

The Goodtimes crew

Silje Norendal

Darragh Walsh

TM Darragh Walsh still boosting with style.

Sven Thorgren

Triple treat. Jared Elston, Sven Thorgren and Torgeir Bergrem.

Jared Elston

Darragh Walsh wangin’ it out.

Sven Thorgren

Darragh Walsh into the mist…

Torgeir Bergrem

Silje styling 1

Torgeir Bergrem

Jared and Sven doubling up.

Silje Norendal

Darragh

Good times!

Sven Thorgren

Jared Elston, Sven Thorgren and Torgeir Bergrem.

Sven Thorgren

Torgeir Bergrem

Darragh

Silje Norendal

Sven Thorgren

NitroGoodtimes_Gunbarrel_run-Radich-4288

Torgeir Bergrem

Run to the Hills! The pros and Mint campers bombing The Canyon

Japan Backcountry Snowboarding Photos – Hakuba and Nozawa Onsen

In early 2016 I was fortunate enough to tag along on a media snowboard trip with Olliepop films to Japan. I had been to Japan on holiday just a few weeks previously, and we experienced mostly low-tide and marginal conditions at the start of what was to be the worst snow season in Japan for many, many years. But luckily when I returned with Jeremy and the guys on the Olliepop Snorkel Squad trip, we well and truly scored some epic days: typical blower Japan pow and epic tree riding.

Yes, there were also some marginal days in there too – even with some rain – but from the photos I managed to take, it goes to show that with some luck, and making the most of conditions on offer, you can get some really nice shots.

Jeremy Richardson did a great job of hooking up the trip with the assistance of Liquid Snow Tours, and the “action-models/good mates” in Jeremy Burns, Tim Nelson and Liam Peter Ryan worked super hard to get the shots. Thanks, guys.

Below are the action photos I tookin the Hakuba valley, from the high-alpine above Happo-One and over the back at Cortina, and off piste at Nozawa Onsen. Enjoy … and I hope it inspires you to get some turns this summer/winter.

Click the photos to enlarge them in all their pixelly goodness!

Above: I’d never shot with fellow Falls Creek alumnus James “Singo” Singleton before, but he certainly knows how to shred!

Above: Mat Galina always knows where to find the goods and works harder than anyone else I know to get the shots … including the epic photo at the top of this post from the back bowl above Happo-One.

Above: Jeremy Burns surfing the white waves of Happo-One on our way down to the carpark (and bus stop) at Hakuba 47.

Above: Liam Peter Ryan (“LPR”) finding some launching pads as we descended from Happo-One to Hakuba 47.

Above: Tim Nelson stylin’…

Above: Jeremy Burns and LPR found a side hit out the front of our hotel, and with a van tow-in, the boys gave me an opportunity to use my Elinchrom Ranger Quadra and Skyport flash set-up for the first time. To see more about the flash system, click here.

Above: We scored the first epic couple of days of the year at Cortina. Tim Nelson (red jacket) and Jeremy Burns (maroon jacket) got the goods.

Above: Nozawa Onsen is a pretty magical place, especially when fresh snow turns the trees all-white, and Tim Nelson made a mere 10-15 of fresh dust-on-crust look pretty epic.

Above: Another opportunity to use the Elincrhom Quadra and Skyport at a Bhuddist temple on the edge of Nozawa Onsen. Jeremy Richardson shifty.

And make sure you check out Olliepop Films feature from the trip here.

Elinchrom EL-Skyport Plus HS and Quadra Hybrid Test Photo Shoot

Earlier this month I made the big financial leap to invest in another portable flash system from the Swiss masters at Elinchrom. I sourced two Elinchrom Ranger Quadra Hybrid AS RX powerpacks with Standard (S) flash heads from a US retailer, and the brand new Elinchrom EL-Skyport Plus HS transmitter from an Aussie store. I will be shooting primarily snowboarding with this killer kit, but wanted to give the high-speed flash-sync capabilities a test drive before I head off overseas.

The big advantages of this system are:

Lightweight lithium-ion batteries and flash heads: each unit weights just 2kg, much less than the high-powered, lead-battery Elinchrom Ranger RX pack and head I already own – ie super portable in a backpack;
Built in wireless receivers in the Quadra Hybrid, which pair with Elinchrom’s transmitters – so no more fliddling with Pocketwizards, their batteries and all sorts of cords;
400ws of power, which should be enough for most applications; but most importantly,
The EL-Skyport Plus HS has a new “Hi-Sync” feature that works with either Canon or Nikon cameras (you buy a specific transmitter) to allow flash synchronisation up to 1/8000th of a second! Previously I was flash-syncing at just 1/250th of a second with Pocketwizards. And with this Hi-Sync feature, it now means that I can easily increase the shutter speed to freeze the action, as well as underexpose (and therefore, darken) the background to make the subject “pop” off the screen. This means that you can get much more usable light out of the 400ws of flash power.

So to test, I dragged my brother to the local primary school basketball court in the afternoon. It was a pretty rushed shoot, but really I wanted to get a quick idea of how well this Elinchrom system can capture the action, darken the background, and what the range of the wireless transmitter was. And the result of the test? I love it! Easy to use, great range, quick flash refresh times. It’s going to make all my future photo shoots so much easier to set up.

So for those that are interested, I’ve included the settings by which the photos were taken. All shots were under bright, but cloudy daylight settings, with post-production editing in Lightroom. Click on the photos to see them larger.

For more information about the Elinchom EL-Skyport Plus HS click here and Hi-Sync.

For more information about the Elinchom Ranger Quadra Hybrid AS RX click here.

1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

Yep, the flash works. First photo, making it look more like dark twilight than the bright, cloudy afternoon that it was. 1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

1/4000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 800.

Moody. Testing the range of the transmitter. This was taken about 100m away, through a cyclone-wire fence, and around a brick wall and wooden fence. A few more metres away and the flash didn’t fire. 1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

Turning the tables, handing the camera to my brother and becoming the subject. 1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

Trying to make it rain. 1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.

Like Mike? Doing my best to emulate Jordan’s Playground. 1/2000 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.