Kangaroos, Dirt And A Memory Worth Saving: Tom Pearsall, Australia

Capturing a scroll-stopping image is about being in the right place at the appropriate time – mostly anyway. Seasonal awareness matters, local know-how can guide you, the rest is straight luck. Obviously if you’re fumbling with your tools, or you’re pointing a lens of less-than-satisfactory standards, then it’s going to be an uphill slog. But if you’ve ticked all the boxes and find yourself standing (or swimming) in front of something special, then spray away!

Recently Aussie lensman Tom Pearsall spotted a blob on the charts spinning around the Southern Ocean and seized the opportunity. Wandering out into the desert with a ski, rough directions and their swags, he and pal Luke Sarranah rolled the dice, won the prize and came out the other side with a handful of digital memories to prove it.

“We drove 26 hours with only fuel stops and hit Nullarbor Desert at night,” said Tom. “It was like a scene out of walking dead, roo entrails blasted everywhere and stacked up on the side of the road like a video game. We didn’t score the wave were were expecting to, but instead ignorantly stumbled upon a few others that were more than satisfactory. This spot looked perfect and tiny from the cliff, but quite intimidating and throaty when we got out. I surfed for the first twenty minutes and ate shit every takeoff before deciding to grab the camera.”

This image has been hand-selected as this week’s Stab x O’Neill Full Frame winner. In case you hadn’t heard we’re currently running a competition in which we’re going to pay for one talented photographer to fly to Hawaii and get schooled by lens veteran Brian Bielmann in his elite workshop.

How does one have a swing at this fine offering? Much like our current monthly #stabfullframe x @oneillusa competition, you’ve gotta dig up your finest frames, post on Instagram tagging  #stabfullframe, @oneillusa, @developinglegends and @turtlebayresort then email your full name, address and the link to your post/s (you can enter more than once!) to [email protected]

Head here to get all the juicy deets.

Or view the full competition gallery, here: