Chris Bray

Chris Bray is an adventurer as well as a freelance photographer and photography instructor based in Sydney, Australia. In 2005 Bray led a world first, unsupported two-man expedition across the largely unexplored Victoria Island in the Arctic Circle. Bray is also Canon's Australian Ambassador for digital photography as well as their online tutorial host, and his photographs have won TIME magazine competitions, been bought by tourism commissions, magazines and used in calendars. In 2009 Bray became the first photographer that Australian Geographic magazine sent on overseas assignment. Sponsored by Canon EOS and Lowepro, Bray has been profiled in photography magazines and travelled to Antarctica as a guest photographer. Chris Bray runs 1 day photography courses around Australia, leads photography safaris to places including Tasmania and Africa, and is involved in representing and judging high profile competitions including Canon's and QORF's 'It's Better Outdoors'.
Early Years
Chris Bray was born into a life of adventure in 1983, sailing around the world for five years with his family on their home-made yacht Starship. It was during this period that he acquired his first camera, an old Canon FT film camera from a garage sale in London at age eight. When Bray was 16 he established his first business BlackJackal.com - retailing electronics online, and performed highly academically. A UAI of 99.2% earned him a 5yr co-op scholarship to study Electrical Engineering at UNSW, which he completed in 2006 with first class honours and awards in Leadership and Project Management.
Photography
Since acquiring his first camera aboard his parent’s yacht, Bray has subsequently honed his photography skills in some of the most demanding and inspiring environments on earth - unsupported world-first arctic expeditions, sailing across the southern ocean, hiking the Tasmanian wilderness and other remote areas.
In 2008 Bray became Canon’s Australian Ambassador for digital photography. In this role he hosts the Canon EOS Learn tutorials and judged the bokeh section of the 2009 . Bray is also sponsored by Lowepro, being one of their Australian Ambassadors
Bray became the first photographer Australian Geographic Magazine had ever sent on overseas assignment, visiting Papua New Guinea in 2009 to document the local culture, wildlife and landscapes.
Since mid 2009, Bray has instructed 1 day photography workshops across Australia and New Zealand. Bray’s workshops combine both practical and theory elements and are conducted mostly in zoos to let participants gain the most of Bray’s wildlife photography experience. In late 2009 Bray began running photography safaris to Tasmania and Kenya.
Adventure
At the age of 20 Bray organised and embarked on a 30-day expedition in Tasmania’s untracked south-western wilderness - complete with airdrops of supplies. Australian Geographic labelled this trek ‘one of the toughest foot journeys in the world’ and named him, along with his hiking mate Jasper Timm, the ‘Young Adventurer of the Year’ in 2004.
Bray’s trek was soon followed by other journeys and in 2005 he led a 2-man, world-first, 58-day, unsupported expedition part way across the largely unexplored Victoria Island in the Arctic. Together with companion Clark Carter they hauled their home-made wheeled kayaks behind them for 300km, loaded with 250kgs of gear and supplies each. Crossing regions never before seen by human eyes, they filmed encounters with arctic wolves and polar bears and documented archaeological sites while the temperature plunged to minus 38 deg with wind-chill. With progress slower than expected, about a third of the way across the island they buried a flag and vowed to return just as winter started to set in having been out there alone for 58 days.
In 2008 Bray and Carter went back to Victoria Island to finish what they started. They dug up the Australian Geographic flag and after a further 70 days alone and unsupported, reached the most Westerly point of the island, having travelled the remaining 700km through snow, ice, mud, boulders, tundra, rapids and swamp, hauling totally re-designed carts behind them. They again encountered arctic wolves and an enormous polar bear - sharing the experience online with daily updates and photos to the www.1000HourDay.com website, watched by over 13,000 people.
Following his return Bray became chairman of the Australia/New Zealand chapter of the Explorer's Club. Bray’s next adventure will be sailing the 29 foot junk rig yacht Teleport through the Northwest Passage in the Northern summer of 2011.
Motivational Speaking
Chris Bray has presented numerous lectures for the Australian Geographic Society, Air Canada, Icebreaker, Gore-Tex, The Explorers Club, adventure expos, climbing festivals and motivational talks for both high schools and primary schools.
Memberships
• Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments
• The Explorers Club (Aus/NZ Chairman)

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu