So it’s that time of the year when Pinkbike holds it’s POTY (Photo Of The Year) competition. 32 of the top photos (I’m assuming that means most viewed) from 2014 go into the octagon and battle it out in a round robin style death match that will see just one image crowned the very, absolute, total bestest. Of course, each victory and defeat is decided by the people that vote on each round, which means the feckless proles like you and I…and him and her. Now, this leads to all sorts of interesting match-ups and results.

Take two of the quarterfinal match-ups. Now, we all know that photography is subjective and what one person likes another person will hate, but it does seem that so long as the photograph has gratuitous roost then it will more likely win over the hearts and minds of the voters. I’m not saying that the roost shots are bad photos but what I see on the Mega-Aussie-Roost shot by Sean Lee is a rider who was probably going bloody fast, hit a pile of dust that he though would hold him and now he’s about to go down, or certainly offline (the plant right in front of where he’s facing is a clue that the rider might not be 100% in control and probably came to a whimpering stop moments after this shot was taken). And the Troy shot is nice because the dichotomy of the beautiful blooming fireweed and the raucous roost being thrown up behind the rider, the way that movement draws the viewer’s eye through the whole image, the body position, the composition, and the colour palate and the warm light – or something like that – but I wonder if people voted on it because of the rooster tail of dust and for not much else? Or maybe it’s because many of the kids who occupy Pinkbike are too young to have seen E.T.

Anyway, this year I’m planning to find a giant dust storm and do a massive wheelie in front of it and see if I can win the $10,000 next year.

Insert wheelieing idiot somewhere in the left lower third, grinning because he’s off to cash a big fat cheque.