Ryan Willmott Photography

New Website Online

2009-12-27T17:20:00.000+11:00

Hurrah!!! Thanks to the Aaron and Blaz over at ELEVEN MEDIA my new photo website is finally complete and now live online.

You can check it out at http://ryanwillmottphotography.com/

This also means this blog address will no longer be updated as I have a new blog connected to the website so please click on the link above in the future.

The whole experience of sorting through 10 years of accumulated photos has been an interesting experience that has brought back a lot of memories for me and helped me realise how far I've come a a photographer. I've also come to the realisation that I really need better organisational skills when it comes to storing my photos / slides as I have misplaced a lot of shots I couldn't locate.

In the time it took me to individually scan in all the slides that make up a high percentage of the Snowboarding section of the site I managed to watch all of Season 4 of The Wire online. Considering the scanner would allow me to load up 4 slides at a time and the process would take over 20 mins to completely scan you can understand how long and tedious a process this was. Looking back at my old slide shots has also made me realise how far superior slide film is compared to digital images, especially in terms of colour and light reproduction.

Anyways hope you all enjoy the website and if you have something you want shot drop me a line.

Special thanks to Dan Himbrechts for the slide scanner loan as well.

Below are some pics of the volume of content I had to sort through. A lot of shots to try and edit down to a select bunch of favourites.

My First Magazine Published Photo of Ryan 'Nug' Gardiner

2009-11-11T15:30:00.002+11:00

As I posted previously, 99 was a big year for me as it was also the year my first photo appeared in a proper Snowboarding magazine rather than just the Snowy Times. The shot above is of Ryan "Nugget" Gardiner and was taken on the famous Merrits Quarter Pipe at Thredbo which we built for the first time that year. The shot ran on the contents page of Issue 3 1999 of Australian Snowboarding magazine which was then printed by EMAP. I couldn't find the original slide of the shot to scan in but knowing the editor at the time chances are he probably lost it anyways, like a lot of my slides....grrrr!!

While I was pretty stoked to see my shot in glossy print, Nug on the other hand wasn't that pumped on his style in the shot but deep down I knew he was into seeing himself in a magazine.

Here's a portrait I shot of Nug the same day, as I think I sent them in together for a check out or mini interview. Nug went on to feature heavily in the mags for years and was behind Digital Snowboard Magazine a DVD styled magazine that is sorely missed in Australian snowboarding circles. These days he travels the globe filming and editing content on the world tour of snowboarding the TTR (Ticket To Ride).

From the same day was this shot of Nthn Beaches rider Andrew 'Bogues' Bonello which I thought was more likely to get run but is a little soft in the focus department.

Bogues was frothing all day to slash up the lip before our takeoff and couldn't wait for the session to end to do so. I think this shot ran in one of the first POW Boardstore catalogues.

I haven't see Bogues in a while so I'm not quite sure what he's up to these days but here is a photo of him with current NRG sales rep and all round champ Darby.

Vintage Parkway Drive shots

2009-11-05T12:48:00.003+11:00

So as I mentioned in the post previous I have been working on a photo website. I've sorted through over six folders of snowboarding slides and have moved onto the eight folders of band photos I have amassed over the years. Fuck I am so over scanning in pics..

I came across these shots of Parkway Drive that I had taken at some stage in 2003 up in Brisbane at a venue called Mary Street. At the time I was singing in a band called Perish The Thought and we were playing this ten band lineup. For Parkway this was about their 4th or 5th show and we sure got stitched having to go on after them. This was the first time I had ever seen Parkway and I recall standing there in amazement at these dudes absolutely killing it with these tiny little kid beating the fuck out of his drums. Even back then you could tell this band was a cut above the rest and would go far.

At the time I was working on Rest Assured fanzine so I shot a quick band pic of Parkway in between bands for a profile in the next issue. It's not the greatest of pics but serves as a document of the time and moment I guess.

What's amazing about the shot above is the people in the crowd. Closest to the camera is Oscar who is the younger brother of Parkway singer Winston. Oscar himself sings in 50 Lions who have since become one the biggest hardcore bands in the country today. In the white shirt and hat is Jed who is the older brother of Parkway drummer Ben and who has since toured the world with Parkway as their merch guy / tour manager. Behind Oscar's head with his finger pointed is Jia who is currently playing bass in Parkway and is their third bass player having been with the band for over a year or more now.

Strangely enough after Parkway played all of the Byron kids at the show would stand up the back and watch the other bands play without getting involved. Was some sort of weird Byron vs Brisbane rivalry going on and the Byron kids didn't want to make the Brisbane bands look good by dancing to them. All pretty hilarious when I think back on it now..

My First Ever Published Snowboarding photo from 1999

2009-10-29T12:00:00.009+11:00

Okay so of late I have been working on finally putting together a photo website which was been well overdue. Over the years I have amassed a crapload of photos and back in the days of shooting slides my filing system was pretty ordinary to say the least. The whole process has brought back a lot of memories I must say.

I came across this copy of Australian Snowboarding News which was a part of the Snowy Times a free publication distributed throughout the Jindabyne region. The photo is of Stu Johnstone taken at Perisher's Pipe at some point in July 1999. Stu was one of the most stylish riders around at the time and one of the few people who could boost out of the tiny pipe. Stu was really the first established sponsored rider I had ever worked with and I ended up shooting quite a bit with Stu over the years. If your reading this Stu thanks for giving me the opportunity..

I recall being so stoked to see my first snowboarding photo actually published in print but being not so stoked to find out the Snowy Times doesn't pay for photographic contributions despite being well supported by advertising. Needless to say this was my first and last shot published in Snowy Times who still to this day refuse to pay for photos.

Below is the original uncropped shot as well as another shot from the same day. I still quite like the shot, it looks as though Stu is waving hello to the camera. What's funny about the shot is all the people at the top of the pipe waiting to drop in. Today when people drop into the Perisher pipe they generally hike us far up the hill as possible. Rumours abound that the pipe is being repositioned next year....I'll believe it when I see it

This was ten years ago so was obviously shot on slide film, so excuse the slide scan. Click on the shots to enlarge them...

Stylewars 09 Photo Showdown

2009-10-21T16:58:00.005+11:00

Andrew Roth at the door of our lodging. In the fog on the glass I had written "This Weather Sucks" but it was hard to get the right lighting to make it show up

This years STYLEWARS event at Falls Creek was plagued by some seriously bad weather. There was meant to be a Photo Showdown comp whereby all of the photographers present would submit a bunch of shots they had taken over the four days of the event.

The weather was all over the shop, we had a mix of rain, fog, snow and plenty of wind to boot. The comp itself only ran for a few hours on the last day when the fog finally lifted which was amazing to witness, not so great to shoot though. The rail jam however ran as scheduled and you can check out a gallery for it here

Once the event wrapped up the majority of people bailed to Jindabyne for the Boost Sno Sho so the photo showdown never happened. This was probably a good thing as I wasn't the only photographer who realistically had shot next to nothing. Anyways below were some of the pics I was going to submit that I figured might be of interest..

The garage of boards.

Mikey Williams gap to front board

Tom Pelley front board

Cohen Davies nose slide

Charles Reid front 270 on

Last run to the hills..

2009-10-11T13:20:00.008+11:00

My caravan surrounded by debris from the storm. Notice part of the verandah roof has blown onto the caravan roof.

While returning from a late season dash to Jindabyne in late Sept after an unseasonally late snowfall to shoot an article on bungee cords, my somewhat faithful car decided to shit itself in Cooma. Fortunately I was able to bum a ride back home to Sydney while my car underwent repairs.

A week later and it dumps snow again this time three days after all of the country's resorts have shut down for the season. The mechanic rings me to inform me that my car is ready to be picked up at a bargain basement price of $900 and will be ready on the Thursday. Sweet, I figure I'll catch a train to Canberra and a bus to Cooma, spend a night in Jindabyne at my humble caravan abode, shoot a rail with Darragh Walsh on the friday and make it back to Sydney by the weekend.

Strangely enough the train from Sydney to Canberra is booked out so I opt for a Greyhound bus instead. The Greyhound is scheduled to get into Canberra at 4:50pm at the Jolimont Centre which is a 15min cab ride to Canberra Railway Centre where a 5:15pm bus is departing for Cooma. The timing is pretty tight but Im assured there is a cab rank out the front of Jolimont so it's very doable. I enjoy a challenge so confidently embark on the journey.

My trusty piece of shit Greyhound bus driver announces we will be soon arriving at the Jolimont Centre, the time is already 5:20pm, were 30 mins late and I'm totally screwed. After spending a week of relying on public transport at home I'm at wits end with trains and fucking buses, no wonder they're rightly termed the Loser Crusier.

I weigh up my options, I can either:
1 Hire a car and hope I can leave it in Cooma - doable if I can spare an extra $100
2 Get a cab to Cooma from Canberra - a 100km drive that would cost me prob $150
3 Ring Darragh to drive from Jindabyne to pick me up in Canberra - he tells me to hitch
4 Stick my thumb out and try and hitch a ride to Cooma - I decide to give this option a try

Given by the time I reach a suitable hitching spot its now 6pm. The sun is starting its descent and chilly Canberra sure feels like mid July not mid Spring. Theoretically all of the passing traffic would be people who commute to Canberra daily from Cooma for work, so I think my chances of getting a ride are pretty good.

Five cars pass me by without even batting an eyelid. The sixth car locks up and grinds to a halt. I eye the hotted up Ford Falcon complete with its letterbox attachment on the bonnet, and figure what the hell. I open the passenger door instantly spotting the Iron Maiden cds on the seat and ask the driver if he's going to Cooma. It seems it's my lucky day, so I throw my camera pack in the backseat and settle in for the journey.

"Iron Maiden fan huh?" I ask the driver.
"Yup sure am" he beams, "I actually play guitar in an Iron Maiden Tribute band" he replies
"So are you Adrian Smith, Dave Murray or Janick Gers?" I enquire
His face lights up. "I see your well versed in Maiden logic, I play Dave's leads" he informs me.

For the next hour my new found friend Bob and I discuss everything possible about the world of heavy metal. From our favourite Maiden songs to how today's bands just don't have that 80's magic, what Metallica would sound like today had they not fired Dave Mustaine and the importance the impact of crossover bands like Anthrax and DRI have on today's leading thrash bands like Municipal Waste. Bob tells me how his grind band Dozer once played to 300 kids in Cooma and how he once returned from Canberra to play a show to 600 kids in his last band Smug Goat. I feel blessed to have met Cooma's Yngwie Malmsteen. The hour passes like seconds and in no time I'm reunited with my ride which is now equipped with a new head gasket.

I pull into my humble caravan abode at 8 Mile also known as the Jindabyne Caravan Park. It's seems the recent storm that hit town came complete with devastating winds as my verandah roof has been blown clean off it's posts and lodged itself on the roof of the caravan.

The next day I meet up with Darragh Walsh and we shoot a long flat rail to hefty drop up at Perisher. The weather continues to put on a show as in a 4 hour period we are graced with snow, sleet, rain, sago, sun, fog and mist. Darragh gets the job done with the aid of the bungee cord and some hired muscle from James Gamble and Sam Jenkins and by 4pm Im successfully back on the road to Sydney after an eventful past two days..

Darragh Walsh and the set up..

2009 Snowboard Advertisements

2009-10-05T13:55:00.004+11:00

Selling shots to companies for use in their advertising campaigns is always very flattering, not to mention handy for the old bank balance too. I'm always stoked to see an image of mine in a shopfront, magazine, banner etc. Given that most companies have an artwork template already in mind when shopping for an image to suit, the original photo usually ends up cropped to a degree. Just thought I'd show you how the two images I sold this year looked before and after..

The original image of Nate Johnstone

How Rip Curl used the image for their artwork

The original shot of Mitch Allan's tree tap from the same trip to Shigakogen in Japan

The cover of the Boost catalog the image was used on

Bikini Girl Photoshop Touch Up

2009-08-17T15:14:00.002+10:00

About a year or so ago I did a catalog shoot for some friends at NRG.

A female model was hired from some agency so we could shoot their womens range of clothing while some of their sponsored surfers were used to model the guys range. The shoot was so long ago I had basically forgotten all about it until the weekend when an email from Alex Guzman popped up in my inbox.

Alex used to be the editor of Powderhound Magazine and now spends the majority of his time shooting scantily clad women for Surfing Life, Ralph, FHM etc. He did some touch up work on one of my bikini shots of the NRG model, not that I thought she needed it as she was pretty fine looking. If you click on the image below you can see the before and after shots a little bigger and you'll notice the changes Alex has made.

Now I know this is pretty standard practice for most magazines to retouch their models but its pretty crazy to see it happen to one of your own shots. Its no wonders teenage girls have eating disorders trying to live up to unobtainable body images.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

2009-08-10T14:30:00.006+10:00

The other day while doing a web update on Kieran McLaughlin joining the Rip Curl team I searched back through some photos from our trip to Nozawa Onsen / Japan in Feb.

Being a photographer / editor becomes pretty tough when choosing which photo to run. I went with the shot of Nick originally as he had no other shots in the article. But it wasn't really my favourite shot from this hit. While I'm a big fan of methods and I find it hard to differentiate between Nick's and Kieran's ones below I think I like Mitch's stale best. Problem was Mitch already had shots in the article, but then again he was the one to spot the hit and the landing was pretty sketchy. Nick was the first to method it but he didn't show up as well as Kieran did colourwise but Kieran had the majority of the shots from the article. Aaargh...anyways just an insight intot he thought process behind choosing which shot to run..

Kieran McLaughlin methods

Mitch Allan's stalefish

Nick Gregory's method which ran in the article

My first flag!!

2009-07-20T17:37:00.005+10:00

The photos most resorts tend to use for their advertising is always questionable at the best of times. Over the past couple of years I have been fortunate enough to shoot some imagery for Perisher. While some of my shots have popped up in their brouchures before I have never had a shot used on a banner or a flag.

The image used is of young 17 yo ripper Sam Murphy shot in late July last year. Sam pictured below on the right was also pretty stoked on his first flag too. Hi five Sam!!

The original pic below of Sam

Murwillambah Flood May 2009

2009-07-03T21:54:00.005+10:00

Recently while working up in Burleigh, QLD on the latest run of Snowboarder mags I was staying with a friend in a little town on the Tweed River called Murwillambah. Now when it rains in Murwillambah it pours and over the space of three days the town recorded a third of its yearly rainfall and the water level rose quite steadily.
Needless to say I had a few interesting drives to and from work. It was interesting to watch the park across the road fill up into a lake. I shot these images on my little Nikon Coolpix compact camera.

Tsujiki Fish Markets - Tokyo, Japan

2009-05-29T21:56:00.005+10:00

Japan Part 2.

2009-04-28T17:20:00.009+10:00

Finally got around to editing through some more shots from Japan.

I swear I could shoot these monkeys all day, they are just so damn entertaining

I think I shall name this pic "Reign In Blood". I can hear SLAYER just looking at it.

Copped a lot of bad weather in the Nagano region so had a lot of down time waitiing for the rain to stop. Mitch Allan killing time..

I put my time to good use and whipped these up.

Japan Part 1.

2009-04-02T22:36:00.018+11:00

Recently I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a month shooting in my favourite country Japan. Having been going there for over 10 years I decided I was well overdue on some tourist destinations rather than spending my time purely based in the snow. I'll post some more pics as I trawl through my shots.

This is Golden Pavillion or Kinkajuku Temple located in Kyoto. As the name suggests its made of gold and is even more impressive in real life.

Also thought I'd try and shoot a bit of a time lapse look at how quickly the weather can change in a day while up at a resort called Shigakogen in the Nagano region.

Jindabyne in Summer

2009-03-30T23:00:00.004+11:00

Over the Xmas / NYE period I headed down to Jindabyne to get away from the big smoke. I figured it would be fun to visit the mountains I only ever seem to frequent in winter. Was pretty cool to look at features and runs you only ever really see covered in snow. I took a few snaps and managed to survive being attacked by swarms of march flies as big as your thumb, I shit you not.

Some of the pics I posted on the Snowboarder site which you can check out here

I aim to frame a few shots up the same way this coming winter so as to give people a look at the differences between the seasons

Heres a couple of pics anyway..

Gorilla Biscuits Australian Tour

2009-03-30T21:55:00.000+11:00

Isn't it funny how you seem to find out about a band all too late. I first heard Gorilla Biscuits around 1992 on a Birdhouse skate video called "Ravers', maybe a year or so after they had already broken up. They had recorded one of the most amazing hardcore albums in that of 'Start Today' which had such a massive impact on my life around the defining years of turning 18. But alas they had already broken up.

Well fast forward to modern days and Gorilla Biscuits had decided to reform and I can still remember the day Graham from Resist asked me how I thought a GB's Australian tour would go? I nearly shit my pants!

I know its very cliched of a person to say a band changed their life but fuck it GBs were THAT band for me. Their song "Cats & Dogs" is one of the major motivations behind choosing the vegetarian lifestyle I have pursued for over 13 years now, and this album really taught me self respect and I cleaned up my life solely because of the profound influence it had on me.

Anyways I managed to catch two of their Sydney shows on their Dec 2008 tour which were absolutely brilliant.I had a Nikon D90 on loan that week so I thought I'd test out it's video capabilities. While the picture quality is rad the sound sucks big time but you can check out some of the footage here

I did manage to shoot a few pics as well. Ahhh the memories..

The Gaslight Anthem Australian Tour

2009-03-30T20:13:00.000+11:00

The Gaslight Anthem in case you have never heard of them before are an amazing band hailing from New Jersey. In July of 2008 my good friend Graham at Resist Records toured Gaslight for the very first time around Australia.
Personally I had been struggling to find the motivation to shoot much in the way of live music over the past few years as a lot of bands these days really don't do much for me. But given that Gaslight would be playing a tiny room up at the Lucky Hotel in Newcastle, I decided it was time to bring the ole camera out of retirement.

Melbourne band A Death In The Family also played and are one of the most amazing bands doing the rounds at the moment. As I type this both bands are probably playing a show together somewhere in the USA.