Tony ‘Harro’ Harrington has led a busy life chasing the storms that bring swell and blizzards to exotic locations around the world for more than 45 years.
He has returned to Mt Buller again this season – and you will find him out on the slopes snapping photos of skiers, snowboarders, kids, families and all the fun that happens on the slopes.
He also contributes many snaps to the Buller News.
However, while Harro is happy on the snow slopes it is not the only place where he is to be found.
During the summer months he can be anywhere around the world photographing ‘big surf’, surfing competitions with world-renowned surfers and on the slopes of ski resorts in Europe and the Northern Hemisphere – USA, Japan etc.
He is known to fly in helicopters to gain access to those ‘unbelievable’ heights where daredevil skiers take the plunge down slopes that only those looking for extreme excitement dare to venture.
Last year he published ‘Defining Moments’, a breathtaking coffee table book of his photographs and the stories behind them – all 1352 pages and 10.25kg of it.
‘Defining Moments’ takes the reader on a journey of Harro’s unconventional life following those adventures, the backstory to the images, the cultures he’s embraced and of many aspects of the surf and snow industry that he’s been involved in over the decades.
Very few have documented the extremes of surfing and big mountain alpinism – no-one has so thoroughly documented both at this level.
Over the past eight months Harro’s captivating slide shows and talks to promote his book took place up the East Coast of Australia, across the US including Tahoe, Jackson Hole, Aspen and Chamonix, and even Sumatra, Indonesia.
During this snow season Harro will be sharing similar slide-show talks on Mt Buller and in Mansfield.
“I never considered myself a public speaker, but I love sharing the stories from the book and the nights feel like a conversation as the audience connects to the people and places.
‘Defining Moments’ is my story but it’s also the story of everyone in the pages as we’ve created that moment together,” says Harrington.
Mt Buller locals will love the memories from their favourite mountain including parts of the resort no longer there such as the Kooroora and Blue Bullet Chairlift.
There are also mesmerising chapters that capture the majesty of Alaska, where Harro has routinely spent months at a time for 30 years, and similarly Hawaii.
Part documentary, part social history and part a personal journey of exploration and discovery, ‘Defining Moments’ is a special book and sure to be a collector’s item with only limited copies published.
As Harro jokes, “it could easily have been 1800 pages but I had to stop somewhere!”
Limited edition copies are available at www.harroart.com or drop into the HarroArt Gallery located in the Village Square of Mt Buller where Harro will sign your copy and happily swap stories about surfing, skiing and everything in between.