MATT WOOD

Canon 5D Mk4 Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens ISO-1000 F3.2 1/1250 at 70mm

“This was shot in Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa forest. It was Tihi’s (short for Tihi O Tawa) first outing as a trail dog in training. I needed a trail dog photo for Deep Summer and I went out thinking we would be mucking around most of the day training Tihi how to run with bikes. Surprisingly he Instinctively knew what to do and this shot came out of a short and sweet photo session.

When I think of capturing movement the first thing the pops to mind is pan shots. Wanting to stand out from what I thought the crowd would enter, I decided on this photo as even though it’s kind of a static image, the motion blur on Tihi and the angle Ben has his bike on straightaway tells you they are both on the gas. And to be honest, I suck at pan shots and haven’t got any to enter anyway.

I was blown away by how strong the other finalists entries were, Some of mountain bike photography’s biggest names had entered. So to take the win in a category I am beyond stoked. It was totally the dog that won it though. No one can resist a good boi! I just love taking rad bike photos, nothing more to it.”