Rat Race

ratrace
BORN IN THE BACKYARD
Images by Ben Whitmore

Born in the backyard

A group of mates sit around a Gold Coast
backyard table on a balmy spring night. The
air is thick with moisture and despite its best
efforts to bend palms, summer's notorious
northerly sting has already arrived , but still
hasn't made a dent in the early season heat.

There's only one way to drink beer in this
kind of heat – fast and furious, pausing only to
rebut the ferocious debate over which football
team is likely to take home a premiership or,
better yet, intertwine creative ideas to
celebrate the game for years to come.

A light bulb goes off somewhere between
midnight and dawn as many clove cigarette
butts burn to their stump in an hand-fashioned
ashtray. Polish is applied to the foundations of
a new league, the kind that will live in the
backyard in the most Australian way.

The National Rat League is born and for the
following seven years, multi-generations of
blue and white collared folk from around the
country will join as equals into syndicates
and, under the regime of Chairman Meow, will
enter the Octagon with their best-trained
rodents.

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About Ben Whitmore

Based on Australia's Gold Coast, Ben is a
documentary-style photographer whose work
largely centres around his home and
Australian culture. Be it on the street, on
the beach or in back yard, Ben's work offers
a unique take on his surroundings.

Having worked on two of Australia's most
iconic surfing magazines, Ben has been
immersed in Australian surf and beach
culture for over a decade and is most at
home with sand between his toes and a
camera in hand. It was this journalistic
foundation that trained him to identify
stories and anticipate moments.

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ratrace

© Ben Whitmore 2019