2025 Through My Lens

This is now my sixth year on this photojournalist journey, and each year I aim to do more and be better than I was the previous year.  48 events, whilst visiting 23 racetracks and taking 164,000 photos are the numbers for this year but let me share with you some of the stories.

Wingless Summer Slam

Once again, I started the year with back-to-back races, this time following the four-night long Wingless Summer Slam, from Laang Speedway to Borderline in Mt Gambier, and back to the mid-west of Victoria to Simpson and Premier Speedway.  I love following a series from start to finish, capturing the stories as they unfold, and although there would be four different winners, Travis Millar would take home the Summer Slam belt, without standing on the top step of the podium.

Keep it Reet Drift Fest

Following the success of LZ World Tour in Melbourne, and inspired by the popular drifting events like Gridlife,  Keep it Reet held 'DriftFest', a festival including expression sessions, drift competition, show and shine, music, popular car culture names and some of the coolest builds in Australia.  Matt Harvey began his successful 2025 as DriftFest champion, with Saxon Moyers and Robert White joining him on the podium, as 'Drifting SA' enthralled spectators as the best team at Driftfest.

2025 Australian Wingless Title

The biggest race for any speedway category in this country is its national title, and I would get to photograph my first at Timmis Speedway for the Australian Wingless Title.  More than 100 cars descended on Mildura and provided some unbelievably exciting racing and an A-Main full of drivers with a chance of victory.  In the end, we'd be treated to a great battle for the win against Todd Moule and Tyson Martin, with Tyson taking home the Australia #1.

Quambatook Tractor Pull

I've wanted to properly photograph a tractor pull for a long time, and this year, I was able to tick the Quambatook Tractor Pull off my bucket list.  Not only was I able to photograph this extremely unique form of motorsport but was also able to get close insight into the history of the sport and also how it all works.

Supercars Darwin

This year, I achieved my goal of attending a Supercars championship round as an accredited photographer, and the first of the three rounds I attended would be at Hidden Valley in Darwin.  An extremely colourful track that provided some fantastic photo opportunities with the only downside being the Darwin heat, as Broc Feeny dominated the weekend taking home the Triple Crown trophy.

Chariots of Thunder

My second trip to Darwin would be for Northline Speedway's premier event, the 'Chariots of Thunder', featuring serious talent and competition in both Sprintcar and Wingless races.  Northline Speedway is a fantastic facility, and provided some great racing, and a large serving of chaos.  Luke Storer would keep it fast, clean and consistent to win the 2025 Chariots of Thunder, as Casey O'Connell powered to victory in the Wingless cohort.

Bathurst 1000

There is no doubt that the highlight of the year was photographing the Bathurst 1000 for Erebus Motorsport.  Not only is it the biggest race in the country that I'd be photographing, but Erebus were so close to hoisting the Peter Brock trophy once more, meaning I'd experience an overwhelming amount of emotions.  Many punters are calling this years great race as one of the best ever, which makes it even more special that I was a part of it.

2025 Australian Driver's Championship

Only eclipsed by the Bathurst 1000, ​​this year myself and good friend Jake (Northline Media) were given the opportunity to run the socials for the Australian Driver's Championship, capturing photo and video content, posting results from each session and season updates.  Travelling with the team at Summons Racing, the season began at Winton Raceway, then to One Raceway in Goulburn, The Bend in South Australia, Sydney Motorsport Park, Calder Park Raceway and back to Winton to finish the season.  I learnt a lot during my time working on the categories socials, and had the opportunity to make some ideas a reality. I can't wait to see what the 2026 season has in store for us.

Favourite Photos of 2025

I visited the unique Simspon Speedway three times this year, with my first trip being for the Wingless Summer Slam and Pro Speedcar Week.  ​I loved the printed letters on the backstraight and focused a lot of my time trying to make that a part of my photos, and this shot of Rhys Birkett sideways in his so-cal inspired Speedcar.

On the fifth day of 2025 at Premier Speedway, an epic sunset descended during the Speedcar A-Main.  For the entire race, I was set a 1/20th of a second, trying to get a wide shot of the racing and beautiful sky, and succeeded with this almost panorama-like shot of the backstraight.

I must warn you, this year was a year of rolling shots, and this shot of Corey Eliason at Avalon Raceway, taken from the push car will be the first roller I'll mention.  Because of this shot, you'll usually find me in the push car during engine warmups at Sprintcar and Speedcar races.

For DriftFest, one photo I wanted to take was a group shot with many of the entered cars.  During Friday practice I ​​had asked approximately 16 drivers to join in, although it seemed the word got out, and almost all the cars were a part of the group photo.  For someone who is quite shy and struggles with introducing themselves to anyone, I was pretty proud of myself for organising this group shot, and I was very happy with how it all turned out.

Before the Australian Driver's Championship season began, Jake and I joined Summons Racing for a track day, capturing Christian Sasso's first drive in a Hyper Racer X1.  At the end of the day, I mounted my camera on top of the car, and as the crew pushed it down pitlane, I ran alongside with my remote cable, snapping away to get this overhead rolling shot.  Because it was so bright, I also had to tape my 82mm ND filter to my Sigma 12-24mm lens to get the right exposure.

The morning of the first day of racing for the 2025 Aus Wingless Title, a video shoot with most of the drivers and their cars would take place for a 52-minute television feature on SBS (which you can watch here).  For the former champs Kyle Mock's shoot, Wade Aunger and Richie Rowley got Kyle to pose for the drone, making for what I think is an awesome photo.

​​I love dropping the shutter down below a tenth of a second and using the technique of flick panning to streak the subject across the frame, whilst also being in focus.  It's a tricky technique but can result in some awesome photos.  During the 360 Sprintcar SA title at Borderline Speedway, I dropped my shutter down to a full second, and with it being open that long, I found that actually spinning on the spot, essentially point my camera at the lights in the infield helped the focal point come out clearer in the image.  ​The reason it's in black and white however is because I got this shot under yellow.  I don't like having the yellow light streaked across the image and I'd rather you imagine Brendan Guerin was racing.

The only thing cooler than seeing a racecar on an open trailer during a road trip is seeing four!  On our way to One Raceway for the second round of the Australian Driver's Championship, the Summons Racing fleet found each other on the road after being separated, and I organised the crew to be line astern.

During the fifth round of the Australian Driver’s Championship, Jake and I had an opportunity do to something we’ve always wanted to do: a photoshoot on the Calder Park Thunderdome.  Not only that, but we finished off with rollers of the four Hyper Racer X1’s, bringing open wheelers back to the Dome for the first time in maybe ever?  The framing itself is a bit tight, but how I imagined the photo in my head is pretty close to how it turned out, which is why I prefer this shot over the others with the sun shining through the cars.

Every sunrise and sunset I experienced in Darwin was fantastic, and with the many categories on track during the Supercars Triple Crown, the Combined Sedans (the category I was shooting for), had their second race of the weekend thirty minutes after sunrise.  Never having photographed a sunrise race before, I headed to Turn 5 which proved to be the best spot on track for some golden hour action.

Despite the cold, one good thing about motorsport events in winter is that the sun goes down earlier, meaning a higher chance of snapping some sunset shots at circuit racing events.  I’d never seen Winton Raceway get this close to sunset with cars still on track, which made for a beautiful shot of the BYP Honda Integra, which took the overall victory at this year’s Aus Time Attack.

Some pictures are really pure luck, and this is one of them.  This wasn't composed or planned, rather came about simply because I pressed the shutter at the right time.  I photographed Jayden Jamieson drift around the final corner of the FD Layout at Calder Park using my 200-500mm lens and decided to try and take a picture of him in the car as he drove past down the return road.  The compression from the 400mm focal length makes the picture look more like a graphic rather than a photograph, which makes it unique compared to my usual style.

Unfortunately, last year, fencing was put up at the iconic Siberia corner at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit, meaning there's no more clear view of the ocean from that vantage point.  So, when I headed back to the island for the Excel Nationals, featuring the F4 championship, I aimed to find a replacement angle that featured that iconic ocean view.

This year I've tried to get better with using flash and artificial lighting techniques, and although the Gippsland Rally was a complete flop for me in those aspects, I did catch someone else's flash at the perfect moment, so hey, that's a win in my book.

More Sprintcar rollers, this time at Northline Speedway for the annual Chariots of Thunder.  Strapped into a bucket seat with a six-point harness on the back of the pace vehicle as the Sprintcars formed up behind was a thrilling feeling.  For a moment, I think I had the best seat in the house.

Before arriving at Mt Panorama for the Bathurst 1000, I watched quite a few of the race starts from the 90's and early 2000's, to decide where I wanted to be for the start of the 'Great Race'.  Every race start that I watched from that era showed the mountain of fans in the background, so I wanted to emulate that.  During one of the Super2 races, I found my spot and returned for the start of my first Bathurst 1000.

​I've mention how I wanted to get better using artificial light such as flashes this year, and although that will be a goal to continue into next year, I did get much better at light painting.  Using Blaine Densley's V9 Wingless and Summons Racing #45 Hyper Racer X1 as practice, these shots are multiple photos, all lit up differently and stitched together in photoshop.  There is still room for improvement, but the results are a huge step forward.

Before I could write a review on my Skoda Yeti, I of course had to take some pretty pictures of it.​  I've used this location a couple of times, but never when the grass has been overgrown.  Once I overcame the fear of getting stuck, I used the field and golden hour to my advantage, snapping my car in its unnatural habitat.  However, just when I was finishing up, the cops arrived, as they had been called to investigate a car driving around in the paddock.  Once they realised I was just taking photos, and didn't have a criminal record, they went on their way, surprisingly unperturbed by what I was doing.