Travel Photography Scholarship 2008 - The Winner Tells All!

Gallery: Australia 2008

nelson-mouellic — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:10:00 GMT

Travel Scholarship Pictures

Day 8 - The End to the Adventure

nelson-mouellic — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:37:00 GMT

I didn’t bother going to bed this morning. I just packed my stuff, called a cab and went straight to the airport at 5am to catch my flight to Sydney, which would connect to Vancouver. For those of you who have ever thought about going partying with friends you haven’t seen in a year, in a foreign country, a couple (literally) hours before 18 hours of flight, all I can say is don’t.
However... what I can say is this. Always ask for the 1st class upgrade, especially if you have the aforementioned “Canadian Charm”. Nothing nurses a hangover better than a first class flight home! You get big comfy sleeper bed, poofy slippers, and anything you want from what seemed to be your own personal stewardess. Just don’t touch the complimentary champagne; stick to the OJ and water!
I got home just fine, and dropped off my 43 rolls of film at the local lab hours after getting off the plane. I would spend the next 2 weeks scanning those rolls 24 frames at a time. It’s times like this where I wish I shot digital! Regardless, I think I’ve walked away with about 100 great shots to add to my portfolio, all of which I’ll be submitting to World Nomads and National Geographic. Which reminds me, that I’d like to thank World Nomads, National Geographic, Queensland Tourism and none other than Jason Edwards for making this trip possible and giving me the experience of a lifetime. The memories, knowledge, skills and insight that I gained are priceless and appreciated more than you could ever imagine. Needless to say, my goals in life have shifted a bit and I’ve come home with new endeavors and dreams of where they might take me next!

Cheers and thanks,

Nelson Mouëllic
Photographer

Day 7 - Well this is it...

nelson-mouellic — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:35:00 GMT

Well this is it, the end of my Adventure draws near. I’ve killed a kangarro, shot camels, nearly ran over old ladies (oops did I let that slip?), hung out with cowboys, and absolutely thrashed the rental car. Jason and I packed our things, or rather tried to. We were allowed one piece checked and one small carry on. We both had two huge checked bags and one huge carry on. Lucky for me I’ve got what I’m sure airline check-in ladies call “The Canadian Charm”; I just call it luck. I managed to get all my things out of Longreach without paying, and so did Jason, although words were exchanged and he did get threatened with a $450 surcharge for his luggage. Whatever, talk is cheap check-in ladies! (A few days after I got home I received an email from Jason that read: “Actually there was a call from [The Airline] on my mobile when I returned. They wanted to talk with me before I flew back, presumably about my excess baggage. Unbelievable, I have them hounding my butt, and then my plane [to Melbourne] was delayed...”)
One we landed in Brisbane, Jason and I then said our thank-you’s and goodbyes to each other and we then parted ways. My layover in Brisbane was great, I won’t go into detail, but it did involve meeting with some good friends living in Surfers Paradise with Beer, Pizza and a 3am visit to the beach. Enough said.

Day 6 - Homeward Bound...

nelson-mouellic — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:33:00 GMT

We got up just before noon, with no real plans for the day other than to drive to Longreach. This meant we could take our sweet time and take the scenic drive on Muttaburra Road, a 325km drive on dirt road through the middle of nowhere. It was only fair that I drive, as Jason did the long drive up on day one.

I was given’er pretty good when I crested the hill and plowed through an outcropping of grapefruit sized granite rocks on the backslope. “Please only have one flat tire! Please only have one flat tire!” was my first train of thought as I skidded to a stop. After all, we had just driven for 2 hours, and had another 2 hours to go, with not a single form of life in sight. Thank god it was only the front left tire that blew out. We were pretty quick with the swap, but as we lowered the jack the full size spare also lowered. Turns out the rental company failed to notice that the spare only had about 10psi when they gave us the damn car. Great. The upside of doing 30km/h for 200km through the outback is that you see things you otherwise wouldn’t, and you’re quiet enough that sleeping animals next to the road don’t even hear you coming!
We did 30km/h for several hours before we reached the 200-person town of Muttaburra. We topped up our tires, fueltank and cupholders and booked it (a little slower) to Longreach. We got in fairly late, though not too late to grab a bite at the pub. Our flight back to Brisbane is at 2:30pm tomorrow, so we figure we’ll sleep in and spend the morning packing our way around bite-size domestic airline luggage restrictions. Off to bed, it’s been a long day.

Day 5 - A Cowboy Campfire

nelson-mouellic — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:25:00 GMT

Wow. What a day.
This morning was my first time in a helicopter, and what a great first flight! We arrived at the aerodrome to be greeted by Mark, our pilot who would be flying us today. The doors had been taken off the chopper on one side so that Jason and I could hang out the side and get some shots. It was pretty chilly on the ground and I couldn’t imagine how cold it would be one we got up in the air! Thankfully I wore about 5 t-shirts and a small coat and was fine! Unfortunately, we ran into the same problem as race day one; a thick overcast sky. The light was pretty horrible, and the land below up looked very flat (well it sort of is right?) and muted of any colour. Thankfully we managed to fly over Porcupine Gorge and the White Mountains, which are absolutely breathtaking, I’ll let my pictures do the talking, as words can’t describe their natural beauty. It was pretty intimidating being up there changing lenses and reloading film in my camera with cold numb hands, I kept having visions of a lens, or worse, a roll of film going off the edge! After all it’s probably cheaper to buy a new lens than to hire a helicopter for an hour!

Once we got back into town, we packed our bags, cleaned out our now semi-permanent offices in our hotel rooms, and got some last few pictures before heading homeward. We said our goodbyes to the Jockeys, Paddy, our new friend Mayor Brendan, and even the Camels. We would miss Hughenden for it’s eccentric touch, it’s people and most of all the F.J. Superburgers at the F.J. Holden Café. Thanks Hughenden, I don’t know if I’ll ever be back, but the times I had were great and those memories will last forever.
We were now heading back to Longreach, with a planned stop just out of Hughenden to get some pictures of a local cowboy called Bill who was mustering 1760 cattle down past Longreach. In an excellent twist, we missed the turn off, drove 10km too far, and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. In a stroke of luck, those extra 10k brought us to the remains of an old wreck of a 1960’s looking pick-up truck in the middle of a field, next to a small tree. Scatted around this wreck were loads of bones from a sheep that had gotten its feet tangled in the rusty springs of what was left of the trucks seat. To add to the surreal landscape, the truck was riddled with bullet holes, and there were old beer bottles scattered around the whole scene.

When we finally found the herd, our timing couldn’t have been any better. Bill and his three helpers were just finishing a days work and we watched them herd the cattle into a coral made of a temporary electric fence powered by a car battery. Once the cattle were rounded up for the night, the boys then got to grooming and feeding their horses, and got changed into more relaxed clothes for dinner around the campfire. As I mentioned before, the timing was amazing, as we got to shoot all of this with a nice warm glow from the setting sun behind everything. As the night went on we all sat around the campfire and exchanged stories of life in the city and life on the farm over a couple beers. This was by far the most memorable part of the trip, and I really feel that I captured the moment with my pictures.

It was dark when we got back on the road after saying our goodbyes to the cowboys, and we were only 30km out of Hughenden. Do we drive to Longreach in the dark? Ha! We learned our lesson about driving at night on day one! Back to Hughenden for the night; we thought we would never come back, but here we were. We checked back into the hotel for a night and had our meal in Hughenden. Again.

Day 4 - The Races are Over

nelson-mouellic — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:21:00 GMT

This morning we managed to get some shots of the camels getting ready for the race. We arrived to the show grounds and got to shooting immediately. There were a couple other photographers there and they were all shooting flash with wide lenses. Since I had neither a wide lens nor a flash, I decided to pull out my tripod and get a long exposure of the whole scene. I set the exposure to 30 seconds and pressed down the shutter button. At that instant, I saw a camel emerge from behind a truck so I sprinted over to Jason (who was in frame) and got him to fire a couple flashes with his camera at the camel in question. The result was pretty cool, and I’m happy with how it turned out.

As the camels made their way to the start line for a second day of racing, I stayed at the show grounds to shoot the Jockeys trucks in the morning light. However, Jason decided to attempt a mad dash after the Camels all the way to the start line; with the car keys.
Half an hour went by before I started wondering where Jason ended up. I suspected he made it to the start line, but with no car keys, I was essentially stranded. Finally, a very out of breath Jason Edwards emerged from a corner of the show grounds. Apparently he had tried to climb a wire fence to get back into the show grounds, only to find himself hanging upside down with his boot tangled in the top of the fence. From that point on we agreed to hand over the car keys before chasing after wildlife in the bush, little did we know we would make the same mistake numerous times further down the road.

The race today went well. We managed to get all the shots we planned for and couldn’t get yesterday due to light complications and time management issues. By noon Jason and I were happy with the pictures we had, and decided to grab some lunch and head to the community centre, so that Jason could give a short talk to the local residents about working for National Geographic and the art of photography in general.
Later that afternoon, after the talk, we were taking pictures of the town when the Mayor of Hughenden walked up to us and pulled Jason aside to have a quiet word with him. It turns out that the Mayor had arranged for Jason and I to get some aerial shots of the town and nearby porcupine gorge tomorrow morning! Way cool.
That night at the pub, Jason and I shared some pints (not really, they were “schooners” which are a lame Australian attempt at a pint) with a couple other photographers. It was interesting to see and hear the different experiences these other photographers had, compared to those of Jason. It was cool tthat all these photographers were all shooting the same event, but for different levels of publication, whether it be Getty, the local newspaper and National Geographic. That night I got to bed fairly early. As mentioned before we had to be at the aerodrome for our private chopper ride in the morning!

Day 3 - The Race is On!

nelson-mouellic — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:17:00 GMT

The jetlag must have played a part in keeping me awake this morning because I felt as though I just slept 9 hours. Nice! We loaded up the car and drove to the Hughenden Show grounds to get some shots of the camels getting ready for the race. By the time we arrived at 6:30, all the camels had already made their way to the starting line! One of the things that was nice about the 2 day race format was that we could learn from our mistakes on day one and then make up for them on day two; It looks like tomorrow morning will be a little earlier than today!

We arrived at the start line a couple minutes later and found the Jockeys and their camels waiting around, cracking jokes, but at the same time looking a little uneasy, not knowing what lay ahead of them. The morning light we had planned for was a complete disaster as there was a thick patch of cloud on the horizon, crushing any hopes of golden rays of light hitting those camels. Improvising a bit, Jason and I got to shooting in our own different styles. The dull light allowed for shots with lots of detail and made my pictures look very flat, which I find I sometimes like.

The time between the start of the race and the end of the race today was a bit of a blur consisting of Jason and I running around (and driving) the course trying to milk every photo opportunity for what it was worth. At times this was stressful as there were another dozen professional photographers there covering the event, which made it hard to get a really unique shot that was different than everyone else’s. Jason seemed to shoot with a cloak and dagger mentality, making sure no one was around to snake the same shot as him. After all, when your livelihood comes from getting very unique shots, it’s imperative that no one else gets one similar to yours.
As the racers finished their day and the sun went down, a tired Jason and I, headed back to the hotel to eat our first real meal of the day, and get some shut-eye. I set my alarm for 5:30 and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Day 2 - Making a Game Plan

nelson-mouellic — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:12:00 GMT

I woke up feeling hungry this morning, which may have been because my last meal was at a gas station in Winton, a small town on the drive between Longreach and Hughenden. Wasting no time, Jason and I got our gear into the freshly ‘roo dented rental and made our way into town to try and find some food. We eventually found a small café, and after a couple BLT’s and coffee we were ready to get a lay of the land around Hughenden. We only managed to walk two blocks before spotting a bunch of camels waking down the street. Locals stared from a safe distance in a state of awe, as a couple other photographers ran down the street, shooting frame after frame. I managed to get a couple shots of the bizarre setting with some of the more eager locals getting their own pictures.

Later that afternoon we had a briefing for the camel race from event organizer, and “camel man extraordinaire” Paddy McHugh. The course consisted of 9 laps around the town on Saturday, and 7 laps of the same track on Sunday. There were only eleven camels in the race, which meant that the Jockeys had pretty good odds of winning the $15,000 first place prize.

Once we all knew what the plan was for the next couple days, Jason and I decided to drive a couple laps of the course and try to scope out some good spots to shoot from. We found a couple spots, jotted them down on a pad and went back to the hotel to make a game plan for tomorrows race. As we discovered this afternoon, the Australian sun is a tough match for shooting, as it washes out all the details in your highlights, and makes your shadows seem like pools of pure darkness. With this in mind we set out to do most of our shooting when the sun was low in the morning and in the evening, even to the point of where we were trying to figure out times for when shadows would fall in a certain way, or when dirt would appear a certain shade of red. It was all starting to look like a very meticulous and planned operation. Once we were happy with our plan, we decided to call it a day and head to the pub for some grub and drinks. We got to bed early; Jason and I have agreed to leave the Motel at 6:00, and it’s quarter to one now.

The Adventure Begins!

nelson-mouellic — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:59:00 GMT

As I stepped off the plane is Brisbane yesterday, I was filled with excitement for the adventure that lay ahead of me. This was my first time in Australia, and I didn’t quite know what it had in store for me, but I knew that I would soon find out! Katrina Greeves of World Nomads, who would be my chauffeur and guide for my short stay in Brisbane, greeted me at the Airport. Once everything was dropped off at the hotel, we headed out for an excellent seafood lunch by the river, which was a breath of fresh air after my last five “meals” of typical airplane fare. The rest of my afternoon was spent walking around downtown “Brissy” checking out the shops and Chinatown. I kept seeing signs for “Pokies” everywhere, which as I found out later, is Australian for slot machine. Later on, back at the hotel, dinner consisted of more seafood, though I was a little let down when I was told that if I wanted to have a beer with my prawns I would have to bring over a pint myself. On my way home, I’ll stop by again and try and bring my own food as well!
This morning was early. Very early. I got up at five to catch a 6:55 flight to Longreach from Brisbane. A lovely Katrina once again picked me up, and a couple hours later I was sitting in a 30-person propeller plane about the size of a school bus, but with smaller windows! Once on the ground in Longreach I caught a cab to the cattle sale yard to meet up with Jason Edwards of National Geographic. Jason was to carry me under his wing for the next week and provide me with mentorship on everything photographic. Wasting no time, we got to shooting immediately, taking pictures of the cattle auction as the sun started to drop towards the horizon. The cattle were kicking up dust, which was catching that late afternoon glow and made for some pretty spectacular shots. Our hotel for the night was booked in Hughenden, a 5-hour drive from Longreach. This wasn’t a problem, however we were faced with the dilemma of either staying and shooting in this great light, but at the cost of driving to Hughenden in the dark. Jason warned me that driving in the dark would mean dodging a couple Kangaroos along the way, but I figured that the light was too good to pass up and that the night drive would be worth it. So we stayed.

We hit the first Kangaroo about 3 hours into the drive, which I must say, seemed to be pretty good considering the hundred we “creatively” dodged previous to that. It was a small young red that leapt out at the last second, leaving a nice dent in the front corner of our rental SUV’s bumper. A couple kilometers later we managed to brake and swerve, just clipping the tail of a larger ‘roo. From that point on, the remaining 150k into Hughenden consisted of me yelling to a very tired Jason “LEFT!”, “RIGHT!”, “LEFT AND RIGHT AND RIGHT AGAIN!”, “BRAKE!!!”. At times It seemed like they were just doing it to mess with us. We would see a group of them sitting still by the road and we would slow down, only to have them leap in front of our headlights at the very last possible second! Bastards. As we drove into Hughenden at around eleven to see the glowing lights of the Motel, I’m not sure if I was more relieved that I wasn’t running over ‘roos, or to finally wash off the cattle infused dust that covered me from head to toe. Needless to say, I slept well, and got to sleep in that night. Which is good because it was the only night of this whole trip that I’d get to do so.