Tom Wallisch at Breckenridge Resort, Colorado during a shoot for Level 1 Productions film After Dark.
Nikon D3 + Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 + Elinchrom Ranger RX AS Speed (2) + Paul Buff Einstein’s (2) + Nikon SB80 DX (5) + PocketWizard Plus, Multimax, FlexTT5 transcievers + industrial fog machine
It usually doesn’t work out where two of your favorite shots of the year end up being ads for the same company, with the same athlete. Last season I guess it just came together. Myself and Tom drove out from Salt Lake City the day of this shoot going from almost summer weather in Salt Lake to full to being slapped in the face with full on winter when we arrived to Peak 9 at Breckenridge Resort, Colorado. We were late and the crew was about an hour into the shoot. We unloaded our gear, got our gear on in the car and caught a snowmobile ride up to the feature. Level 1 Productions brought up a fog machine and combined with the snowfall, it made the shot for me. If you haven’t worked with a fog machine outside before, you’re in for one hell of a treat. I mean frustration. If the wind picks up at all, you lose all control of the fog and with wind being unpredictable, it’s all the luck of the draw. Fortunately this photo happened about half way into the session since the wind picked up a bit after that and made things difficult to say the least. With the wind being one of the elements of challenge in this shot, the snow became another challenge. None of the skiers were really excited about the heavy snowfall, but of course it’s my favorite bit of conditions to work in. Shooting with heavy snowfall brings in some challenges with keeping your lenses clean and dry, but also keeping my strobes dry and working properly too. Something as simple as a large plastic bag going over your strobes can do it. So far the bags that my outerwear comes in have been the best ones for this as they are HUGE and of course, clear. I have heard that a turkey basting bag works very well and is a bit easier to come by, as just about any grocery store is going to carry these. All that being said, I love shooting with the snow falling. There’s so many things you can do with depth of field and all the different lighting options, it can add a bit of extra dimension to the shot. As with most times I go out to shoot at night, we finished this night up about midnight and the very long day finally came to a close.
I know this was an ad somewhere, I just don’t know where. If anyone has seen it anywhere, please let me know!
Filed under Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
The last two issues of SBC Skier Magazine from Canada have hit the newsstands and I have a few more photos I’m pretty stoked on that made it into the magazine as well as three shots in their first ever Photo Issue as well.
SBC Skier Magazine issue 11.3 p98-99 – Pro Freeskier Will Wesson sliding a quad kinked elbow handrail in Reno, Nevada – w / Level 1 Productions
SBC Skier Magazine issue 11.3 p36 – Pro freeskier Tom Wallisch jumping a double sided spine at Breckneridge Resort, Colorado w / Level 1 Productions
SBC Skier Magazine issue 11.4 p59 – Pro Freeskier Byron Wells jumping the transfer gap in the King’s Crown Terrain Park at Park City Mountain Resort, Utah
SBC Skier Magazine issue 11.4 p63 – Dave Treadway launching a backflip off a huge cliff during the Red Bull Cold Rush in Silverton, Colorado
Filed under Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
A few shots from the first few issues of SBC Skier Magazine in Canada.
Roz Grouenwood at the 2011 Snowbasin Winter Dew Tour Superpipe Toyota Championships
Mike Hornbeck at Breckenridge, Colorado with Level 1 Productions
Anna Segal on the final jump at the 2011 Snowbasin Winter Dew Tour Slopestyle Toyota Championships
Justin Dorey at Alpine Meadows, California with Level 1 Productions
Kaya Turski at Alpine Meadows, California with Level 1 Productions
Alex Bellamare crashing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with Level 1 Productions
Alex Bellamare at Sun Valley Resort, Idaho with Level 1 Productions
Alex Bellamare at Sun Valley Resort, Idaho with Level 1 Productions
Filed under Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
About the last thing I’d ever expected was to have a urban skiing photo in National Geographic. Well, that day has come and it’s a pretty cool one. It’s not in the magazine, it’s just their “Extreme Photo of The Week” but hey, I don’t care it’s just cool. This shot of Nick Martini at Powder Mountain during a Poor Boyz Productions shoot last season was recently in the January issue of Powder Magazine but National Geographic Adventure picked it up for their website.
Check it out when you get a chance here: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/extreme-photo-of-the-week/#/powder-mountain-resort_44791_600x450.jpg
Filed under Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
This just came in over the interweb. Stoked about this one, especially since the shot is a few years old. Just goes to prove that pow skiing is timeless, whereas a jib shot wouldn’t be current enough after a season has gone by. This shot is of Hannah Whitney taken in Grizzly Gulch at Alta, Utah. This evening was at the height of a storm that dumped 5 feet in 5 days. The snow was so deep and light that I had to ask Hannah to barely ski in with any speed because when she came in at a normal speed so it wouldn’t look like burrowing through snow!
Filed under Cover Shots and Ski Photography. |
As long as I’ve been working with Level 1 Productions it’s one of the covers that have eluded me through the years. We have been working together since near the start of my career so finally getting it now is something I’m pretty excited about. My shot of Alex Bellemarre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is sharing the cover of the After Dark DVD with photographer Chris O’Connell’s shot of Tanner Rainville at Great Canadian Heli in Golden, BC, Canada.
This type of feature has been on my to do list for at least 5 years now. The urban death gap has eluded me now for quite some time but this past season with a really fast winch that Level 1 purchased we were able to do it. I had the shots on Alex’s first try, but standing up a 50 foot rodeo 5 to flat was no easy task. Fortunately a few tries after Alex said he didn’t think it was possible, the kid powered through and stomped one of the more ridiculous things I’ve ever shot.
Filed under Cover Shots, Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
One of the added benefits of shooting with Byron Wells is since he’s from New Zealand and their ski magazines come out in June I get to see my photos in print a lot earlier than waiting 6 months for the photos to run in the ski magazines up in the Northern Hemisphere. This year is no different except Byron’s a bit more prominent in the magazine this time! Apparently the cover has some pretty good detail treatment with a bunch of foil print on the text so I’m pretty excited to see it in person. This is a shot from 2010 in Park City in this little backcountry urban zone as I like to call it that crews have been milking for the past few seasons. The old mining buildings in this zone make for some pretty unique shooting opportunities. This shot has was actually a horizontal shot and was cropped quite a bit to fit the vertical cover. Just about every time I’ve shot urban with Byron, it’s something he hasn’t tried before, but we always end up getting shots. He’s one hard working kid that wants to get shots. Glad Byron finally has a cover shot down there. Check out the original below.
Filed under Cover Shots, Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
I get a lot of photo requests for some uses that are far from normal but this is definitely a new one. I sold a few shots to Line Skis last season with a one-year unlimited license. It’s when you have those licenses out on your photos is where you see some different types of usages. Different, but pretty cool. I’ve never had a photo on an air freshener! This shot of Will Wesson was taken last winter with Level 1 Productions in my backyard of Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s in the most played urban skiing location, probably in the world. I somehow manage to get a shot every year from the Rail Gardens (Olympus Hills Park) due mainly to skiers getting creative and looking for a new spin on the same structures in the park.
Do you have a photo on an air freshener? You should!
Filed under Recently Published Photos and Ski Photography. |
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