Outdoor Photography & Kepler Challenge.

That was now five years ago, and for most of that time I’ve been a bit of a recluse as I worked out what to do next. During this time I slowly focussed on re-building my photography business in both Christchurch and Auckland, and enrolled to study a photography degree, where I’m now just 3 months away from graduation. I’ve worked part-time commercially the whole time to pay for the studies, and after a good think about where to in 2022, I’ve decided to now focus my energy back to commercial outdoor image making part-time once again.

The last outdoor sports shoot that I did before taking some respite, was for the infamous Kepler Challenge in 2017 as an official photographer. I’ve had a fascinating relationship with the Kepler event as a runner, and completed the 60km challenge in a day, for three consecutive years from 2009 – 2011. I’ve always wanted to capture the event from a photographers point of view and jumped at the opportunity. I’ll never forget it. I drove my camper van to Te Anau, and was graced with a chopper ride to the Hanging Valley Hut right into the mountains before the route towards the descent into the forest. The wind was so strong that day, and on the way up that it made me very nervous. The pilot knew exactly what he was doing though, and at several points of the flight he literally hugged the mountain side to avoid the wind currents I guess? Regardless of his skill, it was still terrifying being blown around in such a light weight machine. Exiting the chopper, myself and other image makers, were greeted with gale force winds, rain and freezing temperatures. I’m pretty accustomed to the New Zealand mountains, but on this day the weather was some of the worst I’ve experienced.