Shannon is your classic Aussie legend; way too humble for her own good.

She’s competed internationally in BMX and now travels nationwide for downhill and XC mountain biking. Despite this, road-biking and bike-packing don’t fall through her radar, and impressively, she’s able to balance leisure riding as well as competing.

When she’s not on two wheels, Shannon is a high-voltage electrical apprentice. Just casually.

Clearly, Shannon has a lot to juggle, and between her busy schedule and my bouncing around the state these last few months on many different trips, we’ve postponed this shoot countless times! So it was very exciting to finally see her car pull up beside mine at golden hour one random Monday.

Mountain bike photography is very different to other extreme sports photography because you’re not doing the sport yourself when you take the photos. When you’re doing a paragliding shoot, you’re dangling out of the sky as well. You’re stretching over a ledge - one hand on the cliff and one on your camera - to take photos of a climber projecting the crux.

Instead, you’re crouched in the bushes, or positioned in the middle of the track ready to leap to safety. As a result, there’s more room for creativity and innovation, which creates a really fluid experience.