Welcome to the
website of Grant “Goba” O’Brien. I am a photo journalist from Australia based in Northern NSW who specialises in capturing the action and lifestyle of motorcycle related sports. I am also passionate about music, adventure, travel, extreme sports, nature, people's stories, and am available for photography/journalist work covering all of the abvove so if you need a moment captured in either medium then please contact me at gobadirt @ gmail.com (no spaces) or phone
+61466598525 to talk further. I look forward to hearing from you … Enjoy the
site!
MXoN 2008
Written by Goba
The recent
Motocross Of Nations held at DoningtonPark was one of my highlight events
since being in Europe. I was there to cover it
for Aussie mag Dirt Action www.dirtaction.com.au,
and to see riders like Bubba, Villopoto, Pourcel, Searle, Coppins, to name a
few, and the Aussie boys Reed, Burner and Metty, battle it out was epic. Of
course I would have liked to see our guys finish higher, but against such a
competitive field they gave it their best and came away with a solid sixth
place, which is still pretty good out of 35 countries entered.
Chad
Reed laying it flat over the finish line jump
These photos should
have been put up ages ago, but when you’re living out of a van and rarely have
access to the internet it’s kind off hard. What usually happens is I go to an
event like X-Fighters, which is usually a pretty full-on event, then I arrive back
in the UK and to my van that is full of crap and I can’t find my head from my
tail, and then try to figure out where the hell I’m going to find a quiet place
to write my article, browse through a stack of photos all in time for a looming
deadline, which is at most times only a few days away.
Stroll into the
tranquil town of Belluno
any normal Thursday night and you’ll find the locals relaxing at sidewalk
café’s enjoying a glass of wine or beer after a day at work while the town slows
down in readiness for a quite evening once the people filter back reasonably
early to their comfy homes. On Thursday 10th of July the atmosphere
in the centre square of Belluno changed somewhat, and instead of the usual
small crowds going about their business, thousands filled every available space to
take in one of the most spectacular shows they’re ever likely to see, well
especially in the town of Belluno.
Why you ask? Local hero Alvaro Dal Farra invited his friends Andre Villa, Busty
Wolter, the Page Bros Charles and Thomas, who joined the Daboot crew in putting
on a Freestyle motocross show that blew the minds of those fortunate enough to
witness it.
Capt: Alvaro was
out injured, but his show was a huge success nonetheless and the thousands that
attended went home with big grins on their faces.
I spent the two
days leading up to Alvaro’s special invitation night, in his home town of
Belluno, at his park on the outskirts of town shooting some of the Daboot crew,
and Andre Villa, which was a real bonus for me as he is riding off the hook
right now and is easily one of the world’s top riders circulating the globe.
Villa has just been invited to X Games to compete in Freestyle, as well as
competing at several X-Fighters events. I look forward to seeing how he rumbles
against the high quality field at X, and I just hope the judges call it fairly
and not just go with the riders’ they know well, which has happened many times
before. Villa has worked incredibly hard to get back on top after the knee
injury he sustained back in 2006. He has learned big lessons on how important
it is to stay fit and healthy, and now the guy is like a machine, and his
tricks flow effortlessly, which makes my job as a photographer much easier. Keep
an eye on Villa’s progress here www.andrevilla.com
Capt: Villa showing
his style pointing over at me while he lays it flat.
It was so good to
escape the temperamental gloomy UK summer weather and spend a week with Nick
Franklin and FMX4Ever crew at the Club Magic Life resort on the coast of
Antalya, Turkey, where the sun beamed down all day every day and the
temperature never dropped below 30 degrees. Freerider MX asked me to hook up
with Franky for a feature story which will run in an upcoming issue, and thanks
to Redbull, who covered my flight there, the week turned out to be a lot of fun
and I had a great time hangin out with the lads surrounded by 2500 Austrian
students. I managed to shoot three of their shows with the highlight being the
last with the guys jumping over the resort pool full of rowdy girls and guys.
Here’s a few photos for you to check out, remembering I’ve saved the best for
the pages of FRMX, which you have to wait to see in a month or two.
Capt: Nick Franklin
Nac Flips his way over thousands of screaming Austrian students at Magic Club
Life resort, Antalya, Turkey.
