Garance's Birthday at Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa

Recently, when we were in Australia we spent Garance's birthday at a really great resort. The rooms, the spa, and the food were all wonderful, but all that interested me was mountain biking around the resort's grounds.

When we told our Australian friends we were gong to the "outback" for the weekend, they laughed when we told them that it was Wolgan Valley and said that the REAL outback was another hour away. After a few more incidents like this we stopped calling it the "outback" and started calling it the "halfback."

(click on image to enlarge photo)
This is Chris, Garance's assistant. Everywhere we turned was another photo-op. With the landscapes, animals, and food, this place truly made me fall in love wth the idea of photography outside of the big city.



I took this picture while riding my bike very fast, too fast in retrospect, on a bumpy dirt rode. I'm surprised that I got even one shot in focus.

Self-portrait of my shadow at sunset. The great/scary thing about these little grass-covered paths is that your bicycle moves so quietly that you can sneak up on a group of kangaroos before they even notice you. I wasn't particularly interested in surprising any kangaroos, so we spent a lot of time singing very loudly while we rode. Human League anyone?

I know that I'm a total city kid and I'm sure that some of you have wrestled bears and hunted dinosaurs, but for me, being this close to wild animals while on a mountain bike was pretty cool.

My primary reading material while flying to Berlin was a book on shooting better landscapes. Hopefully I will get a chance to shoot a few more soon. Maybe the Amish countryside could be cool?