“Magic hour happens on the mountain, not under your duvet. Get your ass up there..!” Jacques Marais

Jacques, aka #TomTomBandit, as happy as an otter to have found the G-Spot along the route of the Otter African Trail Run©Jacques Marais

Adventure couple Martin Dreyer and Jeannie Bomford, aka The Beast and The Bomb, always make for a brilliant shoot, no matter what the circumstances. Martin likes pushing the envelope, but no matter how far he goes, Jeannie is always there to step it up another notch. ©Jacques Marais

Desert marathon world champion Ryan Sandes, training on the dunes in Silvermine Nature Reserve near Cape Town for Racing The Planet’s sub-zero 7-day stage race in Antarctica in 2010 ©Jacques Marais

Arguably the most adrenalin-charged shoot of my life … I joined forces with ADIDAS (Europe) to shoot this incredible world record attempt by a German and Austrian duo who walked the ‘NyamiNyami Line’ across Batoka Gorge, at Vic Falls. They conquered their fears and the inch-wide line, with the full might of the Zambezi thundering besides them, while I clambered amongst monstrous cliffs of this great river. ©Jacques Marais

The very early days of trail for Christiaan Greyling, arguably one of the hardest-working athletes I’ve ever photographed. This was shot in one of the cave sections during the Oorlogskloof Trail Run, near Nieuwoudtville, and was probably the first time I realised how much potential lurked within ‘Landie’s running partner’. The proof is in the pudding when you look at what he has achieved since then. ©Jacques Marais

Adventurer Andrew Kellet tests a range of #S2S gear while kayaking, SUPing and coasteering along the False Bay coastline near Simonstown, near Cape Point, South Africa ©Jacques Marais

I joined Hano Smit, Graham Bird, Andre Gie and Tatum Prins during the Adventure Racing World Champs in Brazil in 2008, shooting mainly for Sports Illustrated (I think) at the time … The awesome foursome found themselves up on a Brazilian desert dune at race start. It reminded me of a Marathon des Sables scene as all the teams charged through the sand. ©Jacques Marais

Endurance trail runner AJ Calitz, shot for a CAPE UNION MART advertorial in INTREPID XPLORER Magazine, on location in the Glencairn Valley, Cape Town. ©Jacques Marais

A dawn mission onto Elsie’s Peak with Landie Greyling, Peter Kirk and the Trail Ballie himself – Noel Oupa Ernstzen – rock-hopping along the precipitous cliff edges spearing high above False Bay. (Stuart ‘Doctor Mooove’ Hutcheson was hiding in the fynbos, smoking his buchu pipe). ©Jacques Marais

I love this shot of Meg Levinson (not sure she will agree though) I took during a Salomon shoot on the peaks above Kalk Bay. There were some cracker images of her blasting along the mountain trails, then the wind came up and nearly blew her off the summit rocks. This is one of a sequence of her getting her balance back (and collecting her wits). These are the images that never get published but reveal a little of the humanity of the trail idols. ©Jacques Marais

Martin Dreyer on an Altiplano rock face overlooking the Bolivian plains far below, during the Land Rover G4 Challenge in Bolivia, 2006. This world-class paddler and adventure racer once again proved his innate physical capabilities and never-say-die attitude when he stormed to victory in this incredibly tough multi-sport event in South America ©Jacques Marais

Anne-Marie Dunhill organised me this amazing shoot at the Grand Raid des Pyrenees Ultra Trail Run in France in 2011, for which I am forever grateful. This was around 30km into the 160km trail run, with a ‘Stairway to Hell’ feel as the runners ascended the steep scree slopes. The green European landscape ‘popped’ so much that I had to shoot some monochrome to make the landscape less surreal. ©Jacques Marais

Trail runners on a recce run along the Ultra-Trail Cape Town route on the Devil’s Peak section of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. ©Jacques Marais
Follow Jacques on Twitter at @jacqmaraisphoto and check out his work on www.jacquesmarais.co.za
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