I feel lucky to have an association with the Freeride World Tour. This season has been my third year working alongside the team, with a number of great relationships being formed along the way. Over the past year my workload has switched over to the junior Freeride Tour which runs parallel to the main event. Don’t be fooled by the name though. Despite them being classed as juniors, some of the skiing i’ve witnessed by them simply blows my mind.Verbier is the final showdown on the tour and like almost every event this season it was disrupted due to the weather. The juniors event went off without a hitch just over a week ago, freeing up my schedule for the main event that was postponed until this Saturday. I’d received an interesting commission from ESPN to shoot finish line portraits, keeping my back firmly turned to the action that was unrolling. With some of the riders crashing out and others elated with their results, there was a mixed bag of emotions shown in the above images.This marks the start of the end in terms of the 2013/2014 winter. Maybe it will be remembered as the winter of discontent by many. Sure it was a challenging one but productive nonetheless. With the changing of the clocks and the lengthening days i really can’t wait now for summer.
Tag: tim lloyd
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Freeride World Tour Portraits
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Cool Stuff: Salt Lake City Beckons
This weekend i’ll be making my way over to Utah to participate in the Salt Lake City Shootout. I got the invite earlier last month to make the trip over, where i’ll be competing against 7 other ski photographers to try and capture the best that Utah has to offer. Having never actually skied any of the resorts that i’ll be shooting at, i imagine that it will be a steep learning curve over the 4 days as i attempt to keep up with the locals photographers who will have the priceless local knowledge.
I dont fancy my chances of taking away the title but these contests are always fickle things so you never know. I’ll just look forward to my week in Salt Lake City, will work as hard as possible over the 4 days of competition and see what comes out at the end.
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Behind The Shot: Backcountry Hikers
Just before the Christmas break I spent a lot of time working with this image of backcountry hikers having received a commission to produce it into a large format, aluminium mounted print. A whole day was spent fretting about the quality of the shot, with any Photoshop imperfections ready to jump out and ruin the effect. The photo features in an experimental series that i hadn’t envisioned printing when i originally constructed them. Having carefully worked my way inch by inch across the image, I then paired myself with a very talented Geneva based printer who brought this abstract piece to life.
And now onto behind the shot:
One of the great things about working as a photographer on the Freeride World Tour is having the ability to witness the unique changes in the surrounding landscape as the tour comes through a resort. When watching the live stream of the event, or admiring a great action image it’s easy to assume that these skiers and snowboarders are simply dropped off by helicopter before getting ready to start their run. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Of course, some events are exceptions that feature helicopters taxiing the athletes, but hiking is the expected norm. It’s worth considering that for a second: these athletes have to hike with all of their gear across some precarious looking terrain for up to 2 hours before starting their event. There’s not many sports where this would ever happen, although it’s fun to imagine professional footballers walking 10km to the stadium already in their boots ready for the game.
I’ve always wanted to work on an image where the action is removed from its context, although a ski related image can prove to be a risky move. The ski industry has a steadfast belief that context is king. In most ski images the surrounding landscape is what gives the viewer the perception of a scene. For example, if a skier hits a jump then its common practice to include both the takeoff and the landing in the image, allowing us to get a sense of size. This is why i love removing these hikers from their context. Even though the landscape has been peeled back, the viewer can still paint a picture of what it’s like around them. There’s a sense of uniformity amongst the hikers as they all follow a boot pack towards the summit, creating a pattern that worked its way across my viewfinder. On this particular day the athletes were hiking up the infamous face of the Bec des Rosses, but removing them from context places them wherever the viewer wants them to be.
Capturing the image was only one part of the finished article. A large amount of time was also spent removing the background whilst trying to remain faithful to the original photograph including trying to keep the finer details such as ski poles. Album after album filtered through my iTunes library whilst i refined the work until it was ready to be sent to the printers. I breathed a huge sense of relief upon seeing the finished print happy in the fact that while context may still be king, this looks pretty damn cool too.
You can view more of my ‘behind the shot’ series [lobo_button url=”http://spine-chilling-clown.flywheelsites.com/category/behind-the-shot/” bgcolor=”#fff85f” color=”#000000″ target=”_self” label=”here”].
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Getting Prepared
I’ve been running around this week trying to fit all of the little pieces together before i head off home for the Christmas break. Getting prepared included giving my camera bag a much needed spring clean of sorts, with me adding a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV to my lineup along with a Canon 1.4x Extender II to get a little additional reach from my lenses. The Mark IV version of the 1D has since been replaced by a newer flagship model (Canon EOS 1DX), but with finances to consider I opted for the “cheap” older edition. I can’t wait to get out in the mountains and put this camera to work.Speaking of mountains, the snow has finally arrived (again). Since skiing some early season lines back in November there has been no snow, literally nothing. An extremely cold and dry period fell around the Alps with December not seeing any precipitation, until now that is. Yesterday saw the tides changing and winter seems like it’s ready to begin. A word of caution has to go out at this stage. Despite everyones eagerness to get out there and catch up on the lack of early season opportunities, this unusual weather is about to cause havoc to the avalanche risk here in Europe. The recent conditions have been likened to the 2005/2006 season which saw a record 57 avalanche deaths in France alone. This excerpt taken from Piestehors.com sums it up,
Avalanche expert Alain Duclos cautions,
“we’ve not seen these kind of conditions for a number of years across the Savoies and Hautes-Alpes. The warm temperatures at altitude are unable to refreeze the snow on shaded slopes and this is coupled with a strong temperature gradient. Anything that falls on top of this layer will be particularly unstable.”
Just last week I was sat down for dinner with French photographer [lobo_button url=”http://domdaherblog.tumblr.com” bgcolor=”#fff85f” color=”#000000″ target=”_blank” label=”Dom Daher”] and we briefly touched upon the number of friends that have been lost to the mountains. “Too many” were the words that were mentioned. Lets make sure we all try to have a safe start to this season.
As for the start of mine, after a ski over in Chamonix tomorrow i’ll be heading back to the UK for some festive cheer, along with a couple of running races. Then it’s right back to the thick of things with the Swatch Skiers Cup over in Zermatt as my first port of call. Watch this space for updates along the way.
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Behind The Shot: Jukkasjärvi Ice Hotel
Behind the shot is a new addition to this blog and is something i’m really looking forward to constructing. With a back catalogue full of interesting images, i’m hoping to provide a little visual stimulation in this weekly blog offering.The first image in this series dates back two years ago, to the beginning of the 2012 winter season. For the last three years now i’ve made the trip in October over to Annecy for the IF3 Freeski Film Festival. This year was no different and I was sat with cinematographer Kyle Decker while Swedish skier Niklas Eriksson pitched the idea of a early season trip to Sweden.A few years ago, city big air events were all the rage. They’re a dying breed now but i’ve attended many, including London, Barcelona (where I had all of my camera gear stolen), Zurich, Innsbruck, Denver and Sapporo. A Stockholm event proved to be rather fortuitous for me as I was able to plan to shoot that event for ESPN which would then fund a two week trip on the back of it. Sweden was on.This was a Level 1 Productions trip, so we were joined by two additional skiers: American Will Wesson and Norwegian Sig Tveit. Despite it being absolutely freezing in Stockholm, there wasn’t actually any snow around so we knew that we had to head North. The truth is, there wasn’t really any snow anywhere. Reaching Åre, Niklas’s home town, we knew that we’d have to head higher – much higher.In truth, we ended up 1300kms north of Stockholm in the mining town of Kiruna. If you know your geography then you’ll be aware that Kiruna lies 140km north of the Arctic Circle. A little additional knowledge was handed to us every time we spoke to a resident – literally every time. “You know they’re moving the town” people would say to us. Again and again and again the same sentence would crop up. And they’re right. The town is quite literally being picked up and moved 3kms East of its current location. Building by building it will all be moved until all 18,000 residents have settled in their new, albeit very similar, habitat.Kiruna was a dud. Checking out the Northern lights followed by a kebab and a night out lead to sore heads the following morning as we packed the cars and started to head South. 20 minutes out of the city we passed the sign for the Jukkasjärvi Ice Hotel and drove straight by. A brief conversation followed where we discussed whether we should, “being in The Arctic and all”, actually go and check it out.The decision to turn around was one of the best of the trip (admittedly we should never have driven past in the first place). The Jukkasjärvi Ice Hotel has become a bit of an institution in this part of the world, having now operated for 23 years. Each year a team come together to make this amazing place, with each room based on the vision of individual designers.Luckily for us we arrived about 3 weeks before opening and we were met with open arms by the marketing team there. Having sat down with them and shown them what we’d been photographing throughout the trip, they were more than happy to move ice blocks for us so we could make a scene. “Just don’t shoot any porno” was their only request!The setting of the image itself wasn’t really for filming. Yes it was at a very unique location, but the actual ice block itself was a little on the small side to get too creative on. With us shooting at 5pm (which at this time of the year falls during the middle of the night), i really wanted to focus on Niklas as some of the stuff he was working on. I actually thought that Will Wesson was a bit too tall for this feature and wasn’t convinced that he could make it work. Side note – Will actually went on to get a cover shot from this feature, although it was much doctored by the magazines designers, with the scene being flipped and a certain sponsor logo made more apparent. Not quite how i envisaged it.This shot, on the other hand, embodies the trip for me. The addition of Kyle filming while being pushed by Niklas on a traditional Swedish “Spark” makes the image almost fit into the lifestyle category. Despite the never ending darkness, complete lack of snow and somewhat week terrain options, this trip still sits fondly as one of my most memorable. I’ve got a portfolio documenting this trip over on the projects section of my site. Check it out if you’ve got five minutes to look through.The scene is completely backlit by 4 speedlights. 70-200m lens, f8, 1/200sec, ISO 640.You can view more of my ‘behind the shot’ series here. -
Cool Stuff: T’es Pas Bien Là? (Downside Up)
Through this new column “cool stuff” I want to introduce cool things that happen throughout the industry. This could be the release of a new camera, a portfolio that catches my eye, or anything that gives me that daily dose of inspiration that I crave.I’m kicking off this column today with a new short film from Seb Montaz that I downloaded and watched this weekend. T’es Pas Bien Là (Downside Up) is the latest offering from Montaz which turns the focus onto the world of steep skiing, predominately on the surrounding peaks of the Chamonix valley.I first came across Seb’s work through his Salomon mini series that focused on the life of Catalan athlete Kilian Jornet. ‘Kilian’s Quest’ played a major role in inspiring me to focus my summers on trail running, and three years on I can safely say that this has become the backbone to my summer time adventures. During this period, Kilian’s list of achievements grew longer by the day (Kilian is currently in the running to be National Geographic’s Adventurer of the year) with Montaz’s camera skills developing in unison.With Kilian’s quest running its cause, Montaz turned his focus to feature length productions, covering endeavours including Highlining, Base Jumping and Ski Mountaineering. With the release of each feature it becomes apparent at how talented Montaz is not just behind the lens, but as an athlete in his own right. I’m a firm believer that in order to cover these adrenaline fuelled sports you have to be proficient yourself in and around the mountains.T’es Pas Bien Là (Downside Up) is a testament to how comfortable he is in the mountains. One of the greatest compliments i can give him is that he is annoyingly good at what he is doing and it’s a pleasure to watch him work.The following is the blurb from the new, 34 minute long film:
We join skier and mountain guide, Vivian Bruchez, as he explores his backyard on several steep adventures in a winter of exceptional snow, in the company of a few talented friends. Previously impassable and unthinkable routes become a tangible reality when skill, experience and conditions align.
Check out the trailer above and head here to download the $9 film
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Red Bull Inspired By Illume Winner
Last week it was announced that i had won the Red Bull “Inspired By Illume” competition. The winning image (seen above) was a photo montage, which is inspired by mixing my love of skiing and trail running imagery. The skier is American Chris Logan, shot in Champéry resort whilst filming with Level 1 Productions back in the winter of 2012. The remaining landscape part of the image was photographed this Autumn whilst out photographing trail running in the exact same location.With the image appearing on the Red Bull Instagram feed, in a very short time the “like” count had surpassed 40,000 showing what great acclaim this image has received. An additional surprise fell through my letterbox in the last few days, as a Leica D-Lux 6 arrived. Winning the exposure from the competition was all that i was expecting, so this unexpected addition is more than welcome.I now see myself in the enviable position of owning both the Sony RX100 and the Leica D-Lux 6. These two cameras are often compared to each other whilst people consider what to spend their hard earned cash on. I hope to put together my experiences of using both cameras out in the field so as to give some first hand feedback on how they both act.