Meet city’s drone ranger
Mitch becomes sharp shooter after Bali crash put him in wheelchair
FOUR years ago an accident in Bali changed Mitch Bamping’s life forever.
The 30-year-old was hit by a car while on a motorbike, leaving him with a curval spine injury and a tetraplegic.
Mr Bamping had emergency surgery in Bali before being flown to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he spent three months in intensive care.
It meant the keen surfer was forced to leave his wife of nine years, Catherine, and young son Bryce and daughter Kaylah, who live in Indonesia, and return to Australia for an extended rehabilitation stint.
“I spent a year and a half in the spinal ward,” Mr Bamping said.
He spent that time deciding what to do with his life, eventually turning to his love of photography.
Mr Bamping bought a drone and started snapping, selling his pictures online from his new business Bampsy Aerial Photography.
“I was always into photography,” the former fly-in, fly-out worker said.
“I had a friend who had a drone (and) said to give it a crack.
“I picked it up and went with it. It opened a range of possibilities.”
Mr Bamping takes photos of land and oceanscapes with his own DJI Phantom 4 drone, capturing Gold Coast beaches to the rugged cliff faces of northern New South Wales.
He’s even taken bird’s-eye