Capturing the feeling of an event
wander women adventure race
For me, event photography is about more than simply documenting what happened. It’s about capturing how it felt to be there — the excitement, determination, laughter, connection and little moments that participants will want to share and remember.
It’s also about giving event organisers a bank of authentic images they can use long after the event is over — to celebrate participants, thank sponsors, share the experience and make promoting the next event easier.
Adventure races like Wander Women are exactly why I love sporting event photography. Wander Women Adventure Race is a fabulous team adventure race and an absolute joy to photograph for Fiona from Soaked in Adventure. Working together in teams of two or four, Wander Women navigate a secret course by foot and bike, collecting checkpoints and tackling fun mystery activities along the way.
Photographing Wander Women is always a highlight for me. I love cheering on and photographing these fabulous teams. (Added bonus is when I get to travel round the course in a Can-Am or quad bike). It's fabulous to meet new Wander Women at every event and see familiar faces – especially when there’s time for a quick catch up!
I think it’s a magical combination of the adventure and course that Fiona creates plus the women themselves that makes the event so special. Wander Women are so kind, fun-loving, adventurous, generous and incredibly encouraging.
You can see it in the photographs. Even when the course is tough, there’s laughter. When someone needs a hand, someone is there. I’ve seen Wander Women fix a flat tyre for someone in another team, I’ve heard encouragement in 360-degree-surround-sound when someone felt a bit overwhelmed on a waterfall abseil, I've even been given energy treats when I’ve been standing in a cold stream ready to photograph the next team.
That’s what I want event photography to do — not just show what happened but give a sense of what it was like to be there.
For participants, that means finding the photograph that makes them smile and tagging their adventure besties. For organisers, it means having a huge collection of images that tells the story of the event and gives them content to share, promote and build on.
If you’ve ever wanted to give adventure racing a go, can I recommend that you check out Wander Women Adventure Race at: https://soakedinadventure.co.nz/wander-women-adventure-race-2026-whangarei/
