Jasper da Seymour is not a newcomer to the AMB Photo Awards – having previously taken out the Raw Reels category. This year, Jasper was voted the Photographer of the Year in a unanimous vote by the judging panel.
Hailing from Launceston, Tasmania, 36-year-old Jasper said he scoured the Photo Awards website when the finalists were released – disappointed not to make the cut. Little did he know he was about to receive a phone call informing him he had won the 2025 AMB Photographer of the Year.
Jasper explained that the AMB Photographer of the Year title had remained elusive – until now. “I’ve had a crack at this a few times, but a lot of times I don’t feel worthy. I finally felt like I had something that felt more cohesive this year and [the portfolio] represented my approach and how I see biking. The categories catered to that slightly, being more on the adventure side. It felt more me than it ever has – which makes it really surprising that I won. It still hasn’t sunk in; it’s quite bizarre!”
Jasper hasn’t been a lifetime mountain biker – his entry into the sport came via his friend group, later in life. Not an immediate convert, it took borrowing a friend’s bike with a dropper post for him to realise that mountain biking “can actually be a bit of fun.” From here, despite only tolerating the need to pedal, Jasper kept going until something clicked, and he began to realise he thrived on the social connections found within the sport. “I found a home for my weirdness in the biking world,” he says.
With these newfound connections, Jasper progressed from his life as a wedding and landscape photographer to taking photos of friends and himself riding bikes. His earlier work as a photographer focused more on the artistic side, having toured the USA to capture urban decay and abandoned infrastructure – a form of documenting ‘dark tourism’ in the country that included exploring and photographing bygone architectural relics like decaying psychiatric institutions and abandoned tuberculosis hospitals.
Now, with his newfound appreciation of life on two wheels, a new world of photographic opportunity has presented itself to Jasper. Initially photographing friends riding and experimenting with self-captured shots, over time his passion for cycling photography has led to around 50% of his full-time photography work being related to the bike industry.
“The people are so genuine and lovely in the bike industry,” Jasper explains. “There is a level of mutual respect in the industry that I didn’t always get in the art world.”
“The best thing about bikes is that they transcend all backgrounds, career paths, and demographics – we can all enjoy it together. It sounds very spiritual to say that out loud. For now, it’s a headspace with my family, and I get to teach the kids how to ride as well and get out and reset.”
Jasper shares his tips for taking a solid mountain bike photo: “Composition is definitely king, and from a videographer’s perspective, if you can form a story that is translated through an image or a narrative – I find that really intriguing.”
Oneup Components Send It
Location: Eggs and Bacon Bay.
Camera Setup: Sony A92, Sigma art 50mm lens, f1.4, 1/200, ISO 800.
Lighting: Amaran 300C spotlight, fog machine, Ryobi fan, 4 Nanlite tubes.
“This one is part of a larger project. Essentially, I did a project with a young fella when he was just 13 years old and lived on the edge of Tasmania in Eggs and Bacon Bay. I made a video with him called ‘Humble and Hidden’, because I wanted to showcase him. Nearly ten years later, it has come full circle – the kid, Sasha Kim, is now riding for the Giant Offroad team.”
“This little kid has grown into a really humble young man, driven by self-motivation and passion. I pitched a project to Giant Bicycles on the basis of the earlier project to show the trajectory of his rise. I wanted to capture the absolute transcendence from being that little kid to travelling the world and taking podiums.”
“There were a lot of factors involved – wind, fog machine, lighting, timing, visibility, line of sight – and I was taking a photo while also shooting a video sequence. It goes back to me loving light-painting at night. It was a real scratch of an itch I’d had in the pipeline for years.”
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