Shooting Mountain Biker Silhouettes Against an Epic New Zealand Landscape

For his recent project, titled “Scenic Silhouettes,” photographer Miles Holden captured mountain biker Connor Macfarlane’s silhouette against epic landscapes in New Zealand.

Holden and Macfarlane visited the region of Central Otago in the south island of New Zealand and did a photo shoot that went back to the basics: it was simply a beautiful combination of a talented athlete, incredible natural light, and stunning scenery.

“My plan was to show the athlete in a big-landscape setting, and create beautiful scenic images with an action element to them,” Holden tells Red Bull Photography.

The shoot was held at a remote 50,000-acre farm that can only be reached by boat or helicopter. Holden spent 12 hours zipping around to different remote vantage points in a helicopter and capturing Macfarlane doing soaring jumps. The challenge was visiting each spot at the right time for ideal lighting conditions.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video showing how the project was done:

And here are a few of the resulting photos in addition to the one found at the top:

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Image credits: Photographs Miles Holden, behind-the scenes photos by Graeme Murray, and all images courtesy Red Bull Media House