With the 2024 BMX North Island Titles fast approaching, I headed to Auckland’s North Shore to visit North Harbour BMX. The beautiful light, scenic track, and an awesome crew of riders all came together to create some stunning shots. Excited to bring this same energy to the NI Titles this weekend in Cambridge!
Good to be back at Dome Valley for the 4th round of the New Zealand Downhill Championships. After a pretty wet week the sun finally came out to play. It was hot in the forest but the trails were greasy. After a few too many crashes in practise part of the course was changed. A great day with some great close racing. Fastest rider of the day was Joe millington in the U19 class followed by Tyler Waite and Jonty Williamson both U17. Fastest girl Eliana Hulsebosch U17. Looking forward to the final round in Rotorura this weekend.
Round 3 of the NZDH took place at the picturesque Rivenrock MTB park in Masterton. A good 7 hour drive from Auckland, we arrived at lunchtime in time for a drizzly afternoon of practice, not many people up the hill, but plenty of mud to go around. The afternoon made all the more exciting/nerveracking) by the fact we had to be towed out through the ford when we left! Race day brought brighter weather and a lot more riders, a new addition to the track was the rock garden in the top section which certainly kept everyone on their toes while the faster motorway section made for some very exciting fast sections. An awesome day of racing with some super speedy results. Bring on Rd4 next month at Dome!
Round 1 of the NZDH kicked off in October. Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa forest played host to the excited mountain bike DH community keen to get back to racing. It was a misty murky morning but the trails were perfect. So good to be back shooting mountain bikes again and so good seeing everyone again.
As a sports photographer with a passion for people photography, Crankworx week has to be one of my fave weeks of the year. My kids race which makes it exciting (and nerve racking), but getting to watch and photograph the people I see race all year round in all the different events, all in one location over just a few days, is thrilling. In addition, getting to see/watch and meet the creme de la creme of the sport as they battle it out with their fellow pro riders is super exciting. And then getting to work side by side with the many other media personnel who like me are there working hard, soaking up the atmosphere whilst documenting their version of the event. A totally inspiring, glass full kind of week.
I do love taking the action shots but my absolute fave thing to photograph is the BTS - the behind the scenes. Here’s a look at Crankworx week through my eyes, mostly featuring the CWNEXT kids (Crankworx Next generations).
All photos are available to view/purchase here
After a short break away, of nearly 2 years, Mad Love Media was super excited to be back in the pits at the New Zealand Superbike Championships as part of the official media team. Our video extraordinaire Lucas, flew over from Oz especially for our planned road trip to Taupo for round 1. Unfortunately and very disappointing for all those involved, the event was cancelled due to unsafe track conditions, an un heard of scenario, we were all gutted!
As a result I was super keen to make it to the next round, Lucas couldn’t make it. To say it was amazing to be back at the track would be an understatement, I truly forgot how much I love taking photos of the behind the scenes of the people in the pits. Bring on round 3!
First time shooting Crankworx DH - loved it!
Mad Love Media will again be at the track for the 2020 season starting at round 1 this weekend in Ruapuna, Christchurch. Check out some of the action below from last year’s NZSBK. We will once again be offering photo packages for all teams and riders, so if you want any pit, bike, race, team photos send us a message to book us in ASAP.
And this year we are very excited to be offering slow-motion videos of riders out on the track. Lucas will be at each round, so grab yourself some photos and/or some awesome video footage to share with all your followers, friends and sponsors. Limited spaces for videos so get in quick…
Each year on Boxing Day the town of Whanganui in New Zealand shuts down its streets and prepares to race. Motorcycle riders from all over the world come to compete against NZ’s finest in this prestigious event. Here is just a snippet of the day from Mad Love Media sponsored rider Toby Summers edited and filmed by Lucas Sudbury of Mad Love Media.
Very excited to be announced as one of the offical photographers of New Zealand Superbike Series 2019 for the 3rd year.
I love going to the gym, I love training (most of the time) and I love being fit but do I have what it takes to train hard for 6 months, sacrificing many things to compete in a body building competition up on stage in front of lots of people in not many clothes? The answer is NO! But these guys did! They are are from Fitcomm and they all did amazing! Congratulations guys you are an inspiration to everyone that knows you.
At the start of the year as with every year, New Zealand hosts it's national superbike series, otherwise known as the NZSBK's. This year Round 1 was held at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch and round 2 at Levels Raceway in Timaru. Two great tracks with loads of great racing. As one of 2 official photographers for the season my job is to capture all the behind scenes, the action that happens in the pits, the teams, the families, the riders and their bikes, everything that goes on before and after the bikes go out on the track and let me tell you there is always plenty going on!
Here are some of my fave shots from the 2 rounds combined. If there are no pictures of you from these 2 rounds it's because I can't get round to everyone. For rounds 3 & 4 I am offering 3 different photo packages. In my usual style packages will include photos of you winning & grinning, team shots, bike shots, pit shots etc, available to you Sunday night or Monday first thing, these can then be used for for social media and press releases or for sponsors etc. Just fill out THIS FORM ASAP and I'll add you to my list. All package prices are on the form.
Ruapuna FULL GALLERY
Levels FULL GALLERY
Rd1 Mike Pero Motosport Park
Rd2 Levels Raceway
I love being at the race track, the people, the bikes, the smells, the sounds, the emotions, the passion, you can feel it everywhere. I sometimes take pictures of the bikes on the track but I without a doubt prefer taking pictures of the people in the pits, the teams, the families, the riders. Motorbike racing is an individual sport but a lot of the time without a team behind you you it's not possible to do it. A picture can tell a thousand words and it's the moments before a race, or straight after that tell the biggest story! Here are my top picks from the 3 round Suzuki Series 2017, including the final round at the famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing day in New Zealand's very own Whanganui. This year I was primarily shooting for the Carl Cox Motorsport team but there were plenty of other moments I couldn't resist snapping too. To purchase photos or to enquire about any of these images please contact me here.
This weekend I got to attend another awesome fight night event organised by the Hardknocks crew. This time I photographed the whole event. Once again the fighters and the event organisers did not disappoint!
Below are some of my fave pics from the night. The full gallery of pics can be seen HERE. Please be sure to credit Hardknocks Boxing and Mad Love Media if you repost any of the pics on social media.
Sunday 12th November 29 teams of 3 riders battled it out for the top spot in the annual Motul Playday 6 hour endurance race at Hampton Downs. Each team had 3 bikes. These photos are of the team M1 Motorsport who ended up in 2nd place. The team was made up of Carl Cox Motorsport sponsored rider Toby Summers on his Kawazaki ZX10 , M1 Motorsport's Alastair Hoogenboezem on his S1000RR and MTF Finance sponsored rider Avalon Biddle on her Kawasaki ZX6R. A total of 314 laps of Hampton Downs was completed in the 6 hours with a fastest lap time of 1.05.018 and a best lap speed of 147.8 Kph over the 2.7k circuit.
Recently I got to experience one of the most amazing weekends of my life, I think I may also have found my dream job! Sports photographer. A few weeks back my husband and I and a bunch of good mates travelled over to Phillip Island in Melbourne for the Australian round of the MotoGP. I had media accreditation which meant I'd be taking photos all weekend whilst the others unfortunately, (for them) only had GA passes :( The gate in the first pic is where their access stopped! So I made my way to the media centre where all the photographers, journalists, commentators and anyone to do with media from all the world got to hang out for a few days. I was in photography heaven. Over the course of the weekend I got to meet and work alongside some of the world's greatest sports/MotoGP photographers, including one of my faves: Gigi Soldano, who is the nicest guy and takes the most amazing photos. He introduced me to Valentino Rossi! And took the photo below! As if my mind wasn't already blown!
I had pit lane access on the Friday and Saturday so I got to take photos of all the MotoGP riders and their teams during all the practice sessions. Then for the rest of the weekend I borrowed a big fat lens and an upgraded version of my camera from the Nikon team, (who represent at every round of the MotoGP), and went out around the track to get some action shots. During the weekend it rained, shined, rained some more and blew a gale. I walked miles, I carried heaps of stuff, I learnt loads and connected with heaps of people, I absolutely LOVED it all!!!
Be sure to check out the latest online edition of Kiwi Rider where some of my pics have been published. There's a great write up on the weekend in there too.
Some of the best boxing I've seen in a long while. The team from Hardknocks Boxing sure put on a hell of an event. Congratulations and huge respect to all the fighters, takes balls to get into a ring and fight! This fight:
Steve Archer (Pars Acadamy) vs Afakasi Sione (HardKnocks Boxing)
