WEBVTT

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(flamenco guitar music)

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- [Cameraman] All good?

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- My father was a world champion.

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Dad's uncle was a world champion, but on my mum's side,

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mum's uncle and mum's brother was a world champion.

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So, as a kid growing up, watching my dad win world

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championships and hoping and dreaming that maybe

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one day that you could win a world title like your dad.

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Well in 1979 my dream came true, but it was much bigger

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and better than whatever a kid could ever imagine.

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I won my first world title with my dad, at Sydney's Show,

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which is the Wimbledon of wood-chopping, which was an

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unbelievable thing but I finished up winning that

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world title 21 years straight.

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11 years with dad, and then 10 years with my brother Peter.

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So yeah, I'd classify myself as one of the

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luckiest guys in the world probably.

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- We've got the concept that came about with David,

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together when we were photographing him in the first

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shoot under the beautiful big tree, and he took us to

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a place where his family,

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they had won a few world championships. (laughs)

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And he's standing under the tree and when he said,

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"If the tree could talk, imagine what it would say to us."

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And I said, "Why?"

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And he said, "Because it's witnessed all of the years

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"of the family, and the legacy of championships."

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And I said, "Wow, what the tree saw."

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And that became the title, so he gave me a high-five

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and he said, "I'm an artist!" (laughs)

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And enjoyed that moment of coming up with a little bit

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of poetry, I suppose you'd call it.

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- We've got the underhand, where you cut between your legs.

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The standing block where we cut up and stand.

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The single double hander, cross cut, sorry,

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and then you have tree-fellings.

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They said that if you can win the underhand and the standing

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block world title in Sydney, you can call yourself the best.

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But if you can win the two of them in the one year,

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it's called the double, which is one of the

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hardest things in the world to do.

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There's only been seven people that's

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ever won it and I've done it six times.

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The only person in the world who's ever done it six times.

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And I just know just how much work

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and effort has gone into that.

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I might let me dog in.

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- [Camerawoman] (laughing) Go for it!

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- Cause she's a whinger.

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She'll stop whingin' as soon as she comes in.

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I'm sorry, okay, well sorry Miss Mufford.

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Sorry Jordan.

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This is your house, sorry Jordan.

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Sorry about that, we've cut to now me dog come in

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her name is Jordan, and she's never been

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outside in her life and she whinges.

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If you wanna come back as an animal

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come back as a Foster pet. (laughs)

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- The idea is to create a photograph

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that looks like a painting, is maybe a mix

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of a painting and a photograph.

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So, I like the idea of hand-colored photography.

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The inspiration has come from the works of John Dempsey.

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I see the frame really as a theatre and that person

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is there, posed, in a particular way.

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Often with a prop, or some sort of costume.

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And you see with Dempsey's portraits, up close,

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he uses lots of little brush strokes.

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So I would be doing this a little bit differently than

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hand-tinting, which is rubbing in.

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There's not really a lot of detail, as much as this.

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But I'm a sucker for punishment.

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I think it's nice because you are working with a photo

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at the base of the image, which is very perfect,

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so my job will probably be, whether I like it or not,

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to create less perfection,

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which is the hand, that's what I like.

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- (laughing) Well when you have a hundred axes,

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and they're all sitting in a cupboard,

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what we decided to do was actually name them.

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I bought two axes a while back, and I had all these

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names, Bill and Ben, and the next one was the

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Flowerpot Men, and then there's Brutus and there's

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Hotdog and there's, because I had a hotdog one day.

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So we do name all the axes, only because

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you know exactly that.

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Okay, I'm gonna grab Hotdog, because

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I know that that axe is gonna cut that.

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And there's one called Henry, my father-in-law was called

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Henry, and that axe I've won world titles with, so I'll

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grab that for a particular event.

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So, every axe has got a name.

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- I find it interesting myself where I have a

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miniature sort of portrait of a very well-rounded,

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robust sort of Australian athlete like David.

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He has a lovely presence.

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Here also the expression on his face is really beautiful.

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It's very strong, and it's also very gentle, and it's

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questioning like he's bringing something to it.

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This is a chance for an artist to interpret his story.

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And through this project too, because I've travelled to

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his place, where he lives, and spent time with him,

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so I get to know him and learn about him.

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And we've sort of, there's a

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collaborative nature of this, really.

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So I'm becoming familiar with my subject.

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And then the result is there for people to, they'll

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see the work but there's a story behind it as well.

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And I also think that I couldn't get David

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to give me this expression if I didn't spend time with him,

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and if we didn't get along, I think we get along. (laughs)

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It helps to get along.

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- Yeah, it's amazing when ya sit back and think about it.

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186 world championships, 175 Australian titles,

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the only person in sporting history who'd ever won 1,000

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championships and its about 1,800 and something now.

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My sport has taken me for over 40 years,

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and I'm an OAM, and one of me mates said to me

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that was the OAM stood for Over-sized Australian Male,

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so I've got one of those titles.

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Made Tasmanian of the year.

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I enjoy life, I wake up every morning with a smile on

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my face, and there's 24 hours in a day,

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you can only do what you can in that day.

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And hopefully that rubs off on people,

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I'm a bit of a clown, I love taking

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the mickey out of myself, everybody else.

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Wood chopping is not one of those high-profile

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bunny sports, but I taught people that I

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classify myself as a millionaire.

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I might not have it in money, but there's no way you can

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put a value on winning a world championship, winning a

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world championship with your dad, and the last world

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title that I won with my dad it was a five and

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a half months after his heart bypass, and he hugged me

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and he kissed me, and he told me that he loved me.

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Well, money can't buy that.

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How fortunate at the end of the day, mate.

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(camera person laughing)

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(TV chatter)

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(dog sneezes)