Nick Fletcher is a Melbourne-based street and sports photographer who heads up the world's greatest photography festival. It constantly amazes me when humble photographers, like our most recent guest Nick Fletcher, refer to themselves as ‘not real photographers’ or ‘frauds’.
Nick Fletcher Full Interview - Episode 92 of The Camera Life Podcast
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Despite the body of work, commercial clients, and running the best photography festival in the world (probably), Nick works a day job and fulfils his creative pursuits in his spare time. Nick is a well-established bike and biking event photographer who shoots BMX, mountain bikes, and road and trail motorbikes. If it has two wheels and moves fast, Nick will photograph it. He also often does so while riding a mountain bike or trail bike to keep pace with the action.
Nick can recall always having access to his dad’s camera or having his own. He was an active kid and thoroughly enjoyed extreme sports, including dirt biking, mountain climbing, and hang gliding. As a young man, Nick joined the military and travelled extensively while building his skills in various positions, including diving, engineering, and parachuting. Nick’s time in the military mainly saw peacekeeping duties; however, he trained extensively and was involved in training and active parachute exercises. Nick always took a camera with him whenever possible and recalls jumping from a plane with a camera tucked into his top. Despite breaking his back during a jump, Nick hasn’t lost his determination to carry a camera (or a pack full of gear) on his extreme adventures.
It was Nick’s friend Rupert who encouraged him to buy his own trail bike, and the two began taking long journeys together. Nick would always have a camera with him and would photograph the trip while also penning words for an article. He sent the article and images to Adventure Riding magazine and was later published. As a result of Nick’s article, he was invited to photograph and document official rides organised by brands. Before long, Nick found that rather than travelling to a location and taking photos incidentally, the travels became his camera lead the way. Nick loves the opportunity to document his adventures and those of others to share the thrill and experience of participating in extreme sports.
“I am still happiest sitting around a campfire editing images after a hard day's riding/shooting.”
"Never shoot for free? Rubbish. I got to Crankworx by giving away photos."
Back on earth, Nick’s efforts and passion for photographing extreme and action sports grew, and before long, he worked with leading brands such as Ducati and KTM. Nick’s role extended far beyond taking shots of an event. He worked alongside organisers to plan and document leading events, including the Melbourne Marathon and other large-scale motorbike rallies. During our conversation on The Camera Life Podcast, Nick spoke about his role at these events and how documenting a multi-day, multi-stage event requires a lot of gear and the ability to ride ahead of riders to set up and capture the shots.
Nick shoots all forms of two-wheeled action from young kids riding their first BMX tracks to photographing and promoting pro-grade teams and bikes. Nick’s images feature in Australian and New Zealand motorbike and mountain biking magazines. To add to his impressive resume, Nick was appointed to the board of the Museum of Australian Photography - not bad for someone who considers himself a fraud as a photographer.
"I'm not a full-time photographer — just a passionate fraud with a camera."
Back in 2017, Nick agreed to host the first Victorian photography festival, which became BFOP—one of the most popular events on Australian photographers’ calendars. Held every year since, excluding the online versions during COVID, the Bright Festival of Photography is an image maker's dream weekend escape in the gorgeous central Victorian town of Bright. Surrounded by three mountainous national parks, Bright is one of the most beautiful towns on the map. Justin (Lucky Straps Founder) and I (Greg) travelled to Bright in 2025 to attend our first BFOP and get a taste for the magical, whimsical, educational, and community-centric event.
Justin and I took part in creative workshops just as much as we participated in the shenanigans and tomfoolery, taking part on stage throughout the days and nights. Front and centre, alongside his partner in crime, Matt Krumins, Nick held court and took us on a journey like no other.
“Nick is principally responsible for looking stressed and herding participants in the right direction whilst providing inspiring pep-talks to the BFOP instructor team.”
It was so much fun catching up with Nick and learning more about his photographic work outside of BFOP. Plus, we got some exclusive scoops on what to expect at this year's Bright Festival of Photography. Justin, Jim, and I will be there…will you?
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The second show, The Random Photography Show, airs every Monday at 7:30 pm AEDT. The Random Photography show is a little random, a little loose, and a lot of fun! Be sure to check them out. Can't make it live? You can always listen back later! Click here to listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more....
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