Davun Walsh, Cab 3 by Colin Adair.

This is the second entry in our column for this American photographer after this epic shot of Anto Chamberland. And this time, it’s no other that Devun Walsh himself who’s not only showing that he’s still ripping, but also puts Colin’s talent in the spotlight. Here’s the story behind the banger.

 Shooting up on Mt. Seymour in Vancouver, BC, where Devun Walsh grew up riding is always fun.

Camera: Canon EOS 1d Mark IV
Lens: Canon EF85mm 1.8
Speed: 1/1000
Aperture: f/5.6

THE TECH

Nothing too crazy here. Just natural light on an overcast day and my camera set to manual. I like to use the 85mm lens as much as I can because it’s so sharp and you get really good contrast, color and depth of field. I pushed the ISO to 200 in order to get my aperture up to 5.6 because even though I wanted some shallowness to the depth of field I still wanted it sharp as can be. The foreground trees are a bit of out of focus but not so much that it detracts from the photo. Even though Devun is wearing bright colors in the white environment I still tried to frame him in a bit of window between the trees so he pops out even more.

THE CONTEXT

Shooting up on Mt. Seymour in Vancouver, BC, where Devun Walsh grew up riding is always fun. A short hike up past the lifts and you’ve got some fun and varied terrain. There are a lot of trees so when it snows up there you can find great stuff to do and the light is good even on cloudy and foggy days. We definitely spend a few days up there shooting every year and it’s usually just like this because on the best sunny days we are up in Whistler in the backcountry. This photo ran on the back cover of Snowboarder Magazine in North America this winter. I was really happy to have it chosen even though I think it should have been on the front cover, haha!

Check Colin’s work on his website and follow him on his blog.

Also check all the previous photo tips on this Tag.

Marc Salas, Nollie Back Tail to Fakie, Are, Sweden © Matt Georges

Our French senior photographer Matt Georges once again shares his thoughts, doubts and passion about snowboard photography. Not only do you get to fix your eyes on a banger, but hopefully you also learn how to take better photos yourself!

Marc SALAS – Nollie BackTail to Fakie – Are, Sweden

Aperture: f/4,5
Speed: 1/100th
ISO: 400
Camera: CANON EOS 1D MARK II N
Lens: Fisheye CANON 90mm Tilt-Shift

2 Flashes connected with Pocket Wizards Radioslave

I’m not so sure about the flash at the bottom right behind the car window…

THE TECH

When I go on a trip I try to think about a general feel or style I want to have for my photos. For this trip and because it’s only night time up north in Sweden at that period I knew we will only shoot with flashes and lights so I bought those “stars filters” to make obviously all the lights look like stars, wishing it won’t look too cheesy at the end. Well I was right because I really think it looks cheesy at some point, especially in colors with the flare added. It can work in Black and White thought so I shot a bunch for the rest of the trip. On this photo I had set up 2 flashes as backlights to get this silhouette feel and to had two more “stars” to the composition. I’m not so sure about the flash at the bottom right behind the car window. At first I thought it looks cool but the more I see the photos the less I like it. The rest of the stars are random lights. I have used a tilt-shift lens but as a normal 90mm which is really sharp. The composition itself is pretty simple and the photo is kind of cut in two parts from the top left to bottom right.

THE CONTEXT

That was the first trip of the season, beginning of december in cold and dark Are, up north in Sweden with the Euro Forum team 3 winters ago. I remember Gerben Verweij from Holland drove all the way up with his trailer full of lights, generators, shovels, winch etc. for a solid 48hrs, drinking at least 50 cans of energy shit and probably smoking 6 packs of cigs. Who said snowboarding is a healthy sport? Anyway, we started the trip with this very good looking but unfriendly wooden rail and had to freeze the wood with water before hitting it. Marc has this Spanish mellow touch and got this smooth skateboard south style when riding and nailed this tech trick pretty quickly. He even did it few times to get other angles. Thanks Pollo!

Check Matt’s website. And if you want to see the previous ‘Behind The Shot’ articles, here’s the tag.

Anto Chamberland, Miller Flip, Quebec City © Colin Adair.

Colin Adair and his beard have been picturing snowboarding for a good while now, and the American native is considered as one of the main talents in the industry. Colin has been traveling across the planet for clients like DC, Red Bull, Burton, The North Face, Monster, and he’s regularly published in tons of different magazines, including ours. Here’s his first entry to your beloved Behind The Shot feature.

Anto Chamberland – Miller Flip – Quebec, Canada.

Camera: Canon EOS 1d mark IV

Lens: Canon EF 70-200 f4 shot at 109mm

Speed: 1/125

Aperture: f5.0

Flashes: Mix of Elinchrom Ranger and Canon 580 EX speedlites

If it’s too low at night it’s easy for autofocus to miss your spot and blow the shot. I usually focus with auto and then turn the lens to manual focus before getting the shot.

The Tech

I shoot urban and jibbing probably once or twice a year, 2 weeks total for the whole winter I’d say. I like working with flashes and lighting even though I curse and yell at them because they never work properly when you want them to. The cold temperatures and moist air really messes with the electronics and remote triggering signals. I always like to have one big powerful flash with one or two heads (Elinchrom Ranger kit) to create the ambient light and then use smaller flashes hidden from view closer to the subject to create the highlights. Pretty basic stuff but if you do it properly it looks great. If you don’t do it properly your images will look really flat and unexciting. I chose to shoot at 400 ISO mostly because the smaller flashes aren’t too powerful so I needed more light to come in. I also wanted a bit more of an f/stop even though 5.0 is pretty low. If it’s too low at night it’s easy for autofocus to miss your spot and blow the shot. I usually focus with auto and then turn the lens to manual focus before getting the shot. I also like to add a bit of the light from the video lights into my photos. It adds color and texture. Using a shutter of 1/125 on this one let in some of that light but not too much to overpower the shot.

The Context

In this photo I couldn’t get the big flash exactly where I wanted because cars were driving by and having to run back and forth to move it all the time wasn’t an option. Anto Chamberland hit this thing only a few times and it was really cold (-20C) so I was happy to get the shot and get out of there. This spot is in a very small town in Quebec, Canada. People drive their snowmobiles in the streets when there is enough snow and at our hotel there were snowmobiles parked in the parking lot right outside the rooms. Anto is from that area and he knows a million spots so it’s great to link up with him for a week or so each year and get some shots.

Check Colin’s work on his website and follow him on his blog.

Also check all the previous photo tips on this Tag.

Gigi Rüf, Haines, Alaska © Blotto.

Dean ‘Blotto’ Gray has been documenting snowboarding for ever and he is without a doubt one of the most respected photographers out there. His ability to create a surrealistic atmosphere, or at the opposite take the essence of a glimpse of a moment, are unique. For his first entry in our Behind The Shot feature, he chose to picture the quiet, peaceful moment that you can get killing time in AK between two big mountain sessions. Get in the head of Blotto now!

The pleasure of documenting snowboarding is the unlimited possibilities for fun, creativity and travel, all of which cure boredom, promote productivity and enhance adventure in our everyday lives.

Gigi Rüf, Hippy Hopping in Haines, Alaska.

Camera: Hasselblad 203FE

Lens: 80 mm

Aperture: 6.3

Speed: 1600

ISO: 400

Film : Provia F100

The Context

The pleasure of documenting snowboarding is the unlimited possibilities for fun, creativity and travel, all of which cure boredom, promote productivity and enhance adventure in our everyday lives. Some of these missions bring you to sleepy mountain towns where people go to get away from the everyday hustle and stress of over populated cities; finding refuge and a mellow existence around limited numbers of humans. However, a handful of these sleepy mountain towns conceal just the right amount of snowfall and terrain features that snowboarders are looking to explore, ride and document.

Haines, Alaska has long been a destination for shredders who strive to find a new line, push the envelope of riding and fill out video parts. This Southeast Alaska town has played host to many film crews over the years, most notably Absinthe Films and their band of riders, who’ve certainly left their stamp on the town and the mountains.

The Tech

While most of the riding happens in the hills, we’ve occasionally found ourselves with time to kill while chilling around the hotel as the newest storms reset the mountains. Longtime Absinthe rider Gigi Rüf saw a good opportunity for a few ‘hippy hops’ over the yellow barricade outside the Thunderbird Hotel, so I used a Hasselblad 203FE with 80mm lens and Provia 100F film. After the action session, a few of us went exploring around the shore line, locating a snowed in Volkswagen Beetle, among other items in this mini junk yard. The same camera and roll of film was used for the portrait. As you can see, the skies and mountains look clear and ready go, but it’s the range to the North we were patiently waiting on a reset.

Check Blotto’s awesome work on his website, and follow him on Instragram/Twitter: @deanblottogray.

For previous Behind The Shot, check here.

Shayne Pospisil, Method. Arlberg, Austria. © Jerome Tanon.

Monsieur Tanon has been working with us for a few years now, but we are always and every time amazed by his creativity, and his skills to shoot and develop analog photography. We actually wonder what is the biggest of his passions: snap his odd cameras, or put on his crazy chemist outfit in his lab and try the weirdest way to print his stuff. Anyway, this is one of his creations, and the explanation that goes with it.

Shayne Pospisil – Method – Arlberg, Austria. Silver-gelatin print.

Aperture: f/4
Speed: 1/500th
ISO : 800
Camera: Pentax 67
Lens: Pentax 90 mm
Film : Ilford HP5+ pushed 1 stop
Paper : Ilford MG IV Fiber Matte 30×40 cm

That banger being in the box he went back up for a method as well, for his sole enjoyement!

THE TECH

I shot and processed this black and white film shot as usual, only the light was very dim so I had to push the film to 800 iso, therefore leaving it longer in the developper bath. Pierre Minhondo the main filmer from People and Elias Elhardt hiking back on the side gave me a perfect balance for the framing. The balance and the proportions is the main thing I focus on when looking through the finder. I snapped the “one shot one try” picture and hoped for the best, the best which happened in my darkroom when I made this print with my enlarger. After the exposure, when dodging and burning with tools and hand shadow games is done, instead of putting the paper in the developper bath, I put the chemistery on the paper directly with a brush. It’s a great game to play because the result of each stroke only appears a minute later. It’s usually hard to get a good contrast because the chemicals get used very quickly and stop reacting, but this one worked well.

THE CONTEXT

This galley hip pretty much saved our day in the bad weather of Arlberg. The People crew wanted to make the best out of their trip to Europe and that landing spoke for itself when we found it. A bit of shape later for the inrun and the kicker, Shayne and Elias started flying pretty hard over the lip. Elias was into good old backside airs when Shayne actually did a indy nosebone turned into an un-expected backside 180 in the middle of the air. Crazy. That banger being in the box he went back up for a method as well, for his sole enjoyement.

For more of Jerome’ stuff, check his website, and like his Facebook page!

Check also our previous one with Matt Georges, and all the others on the Behind The Shot tag.

Per Loken, Handplant, Avoriaz, France © Matt Georges.

For this new Behind the Shot, we welcome for the second time our beloved senior photographer Matt Georges, who’s not only good at taking epic photos, but also pretty handy at explaining how the magic works – to a certain extend, a piece of mystery and randomness is always good innit!

Per LOKEN – Handplant – Avoriaz, France

Aperture: f/3,2
Speed: 1/160th
ISO: 320
Camera: CANON EOS 5D MARKII
Lens: Fisheye CANON 15mm

3 Flashes connected with Pocket Wizards Radioslave

When shooting I often think about how it could work well as a spread in a magazine.

THE TECH

When shooting I often think about how it could work well as a spread in a magazine. I really enjoy shooting pipe cause there are lots of lines and symmetry to play with and it’s even better when it’s puking snow.
To make this shot I have used 3 flashes: One down the pipe to light both walls and snowflakes in the foreground, one on the top left to light the rider, the right wall and also more snowflakes in the air, and the last one close to rider to light him up from the lower left side. I have over-exposed the pipe because I wanted to have a monochrome style image and not much details in both snow walls.

THE CONTEXT

We were shooting for the Rip Curl movie few years ago and planned to do a night pipe session with tons of lights, few generators and a pretty big crew. Unfortunately it started puking snow like crazy and in less than half an hour we got 10cm in the pipe and couldn’t do anything due to speed issues. The session was already pretty much over before it even started and we had to re-pack everything and wait for ages in the snowstorm. Luckily for me, Per was keen to do few handplants so we set it all up quickly and get the shots in few minutes. When shooting a handplant it’s absolutely necessary that the hand has to be on the coping of the transition, but as Per is really good at that, it only took couple of tries before heading to some warmer environment.

Check out Matt’s website.

Find the previous Behind The Shot here, and especially Matt’s first explanation here.

Rusty Ockenden – Crail cliff drop to pillow. Whistler, BC.

Behind the Shot brings you every week or so a sick shot from a rad photographer, where he explains the context of the photo session, as well as all the technical aspects you might want to know about. If you’re a snowboard photo geek, this is for you!

After Mike Yoshida, here’s another extremely talented photographer from the Great North West, addicted to backcountry and respected for his work all across the planet: Jeff Patterson. Here are his secrets behind this epic shot of Rusty.

No need to double cork, spin flip or twist, he just busted a big ollie, classic Craig Kelly style Crail.

Rusty Ockenden – Crail Grab Cliff Drop to Pillow. Whistler, BC Canada

Camera: Canon Mark3

Lens: 70-200 F2.8

ISO: 100

Speed: 1000th

Aperture: 9.0

The Tech

Like Yosh said in last weeks posting – nothing uber camera tech. Settings almost standard of what most shoot on a classic bluebird day in the snow.

I liked the texture details of the snow, and how the sun played off the natural shapes. I pulled in the foreground trees to get some color, and depth, and hoped that it would add “Height” to the drop giving some vertical lines. The light was great, the snow was deep..

The Context

This was a random day after a huge snowfall last season. The weather on this morning was actually horrible, so loads of the main bowl pillows got hit in low/foggy light as it looked like the day would be a write off. Suddenly the sun broke, and left a short time with warm morning light to get a few shots. Rusty is one of the hardest working guys I have been able to work with in the last few years, and has style for miles. This was one of my favorite shots of last year, and was passed over by all the mags.. not sure why! I like it, Hope you guys do as well.

No need to double cork, spin flip or twist, he just busted a big ollie, classic Craig Kelly stlye Crail, and dropped into neck deep choker pow!

Check Jeff’s website, and follow him on twitter/instagram @pattersonimages

Aaron Bittner, Switch Back 7, Whistler BC © Mike Yoshida.

Behind the Shot brings you every week or so a sick shot from a rad photographer, where he explains the context of the photo session, as well as all the technical aspects you might want to know about. If you’re a snowboard photo geek, this is for you!

After we focussed on our senior photographer Matt Georges, then Scandi’s own Lucas Nilsson and lately Colorado finest’s Zach Hooper, it’s now time to get into the eye of another sharp shooter from the other side of the pond: Mike Yoshida. Here are all his secrets behind this damn fine picture:

I popped off a couple shots, and the riders had no idea I had shot them.

Aaron Biittner – Switch Backside 720 – Whistler, BC Canada

Camera: Canon Mark3

Lens: 70-200 F2.8

ISO: 100

Speed: 1000^th

Aperture: 6.3

The Tech:

There’s not too much tech to this shot.  Shooting at the settings described above is pretty much the industry standard of what most shoot on a classic bluebird day in the snow.

I use the rule of thirds for this particular shot, which worked out nicely.  I also pulled way back, and shot the rider sillouhetted in the sky.  The sled tracks in the foreground made for some interesting lines, so I was also able to incorporate those as texture in the photo.  I think that this gives the image a well rounded effects, so that there is interesting things to look at in every piece of the photo.

Shooting at 1000^th or above is crucial to freezing the action as well.

The Context:

I was actually shooting with a different crew when I got this shot.  The people I was shooting with actually took a little lunch break, and I new Seth Huot and Aaron Biitner were in the next bowl over about to hit this nice jump.  I talked to them earlier in the parking lot, and they mentioned that they did not have a photographer.

As soon as I rode my snowmobile into the next bowl, I set up and got this sort of far away shot, that I was really stoked on.  I popped off a couple shots, and the riders had no idea I had shot them.  I think Biittner was super stoked on the shot, once he saw it, so that makes me happy as well.

Check Mike Yoshida’s website, his blog, or find him on Instagram: @mikeyoshida

Matt Ladley, Lofty Back Tail, Aspen © Zach Hooper. Click to go BIG.

Behind the Shot brings you every week or so a sick shot from a rad photographer, where they explain the context of the photo session, as well as all the technical aspects you might want to know about. If you’re a snowboard photo geek, this is for you!

After we focussed on our senior photographer Matt Georges and then Scandi’s own Lucas Nilsson, we continue this serie with Colorado’s finest: Zach Hooper.

Here’s his breakdown:

Matt Ladley, Lofty Back Tail

Buttermilk pipe – Aspen, CO

Camera – Canon EOS 1D MarkIII
Lens – Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS EF USM AF 
Film: They still make that stuff? ISO 100
Speed – 1/320e
Aperture – f8
Flash – Elinchrom Ranger ASYM RX Speed – 2 A Heads – Full Power

You can go to school to learn photography but they can’t give you the eye.

The Tech

I could sit here and try and talk like I know what the hell I am doing with all of this fancy equipment which compared to most pro’s isn’t that fancy. Instead I would like to tell you a little bit about the madness behind the lens known as Zach Hooper. I didn’t go to school for photography simply because my family couldn’t afford anything. They were able to afford pens and paper where I found myself becoming quite the artist. I grew up fascinated by all the surf, skate and snow mags. I always told myself I would be in those pages one day just never realized it would be as a photog not as an athlete. As fine art started to burn me out the old snow TM at Volcom (Jay Twitty) hooked me up with his Nikon film body to dork around with. This new medium to create art was so inspiring to me just the nick of time. My first pic that made it all seem worth while to do this as a hobbyist, was of pro skateboarder Rune Glifberg doing a Madonna to Body Jar in a vert bowl in Huntington Beach California. When I saw the developed image I was hooked. It is funny how life works out like that and I feel very blessed for all the opportunities that have presented themselves over the years. My head/eye has been programed from countless images studied over the past 30 years in action sports especially with skateboard and fashion photography. I am pretty sure I have exhausted my professors (Blotto, Zimmerman, Basher, Serfas, Bartle) with endless photography questions but I had to learn somehow. So when I show up to shoot nowadays, angles/exposures seem to just come together that much easier. Then I just try and put my artistic twist on it.

Photographers always seem to know so much more about the technicalities of photography than I do. They will be talking about this piece of equipment and all the math that goes into using it. I’m sitting here listening to them thinking, “I hate math.” I just move some buttons till shit looks good to me, ahaha. So don’t believe the hype about having the most expensive equipment or have gone to the best school, just focus on making do with what you have while most importantly making your subject/work look amazing and new. Some one once told me: you can go to school to learn photography but they can’t give you the eye.

The Context

As far as professional snowboarders go, working with Matt Ladley is a breeze. This young man is a workhorse and a skilled all around snowboarder. Consistency and effort are champion characteristics when you are trying to get the shot in a timely manner. You don’t want to wear out the subject due to whatever technical issues you might experience along the shoot. If your original idea isn’t working out for you, move on without haste. So with that being said I try and create a very relaxed stress-free environment when I shoot with the emphasis always being on having fun with it. You need to know when you have the shot. I know this sounds very obvious but you would be surprised how many times photogs will exhaust the shoot out of indecisiveness. Things can start to go very wrong at that point.

This shoot went a little like this; Matt and I showed up to Buttermilk one sunny morning in Aspen to find a pipe with wavy walls due to the ZAUGG bouncing along the wall during its cut. This sucks for shooting pipe for us because it limits where you can make the pipe look clean. The emphasis was to be on style not tech on Matt’s backside wall. I knew that the sun was going to be out in full effect behind my subject so I would want to fill Matt with flashes to make him pop. While Matt warmed it up with a couple laps, we chose a spot where I placed my lighting pack and dialed my exposure/composition. One flash head was above him on the deck and the other below. We did 5 exposures in less than 30 minutes and called it a day.

You can see more of Zach Hooper‘s work on his website, on  Instagram @zachhooperphoto.

Jonathan Nilsson’s Handplant in Riks. © Lucas Nilsson.

Behind the Shot is a new regular on this site, and will bring you every week or so a sick shot from a rad photographer, where they explain the context of the photo session, as well as all the technical aspects you might want to know about. If you’re a snowboard photo geek, this is for you!

After we focussed on our senior photographer Matt Georges last week, we continue this serie with Scandiland’s very own up and coming talent, Lucas Nilsson.

Here’s his breakdown:

“I shot this picture of Jonathan Nilsson up in Riks in 2011 while working with a Swedish movie that the Riksgränsen locals produce” – which you can watch again here.

THE TECH

Mamiya 6
mamiya 75mm F3.5 lens
APX100 rated at iso80 film
1/500
F16
Orange filter

“As it’s an old medium format camera with a built-in shutter in the lens, I can only have a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. This combined with the light up in Riks made me use an orange filter that takes away two stops of light and develop my film for a shorter amount of time just to get some better tones in the highlights. Usually you need a faster shutter speed than 1/500th to freeze motion, but with a quarterpipe you get a good peak in the airs and slow handplants so the shutter speed would not be a problem this time.”

THE CONTEXT

“It was at the end of May and we’d had a few sunny days in a row so the ice on the lakes around Riks had opened up. We had to tow after the sleds over a bit of open water to get to this natural quarterpipe that Viktor Björnström found earlier in the season. Knowing this, I decided to leave my big camera backpack at the cabin and only bring my Mamiya 6 in a waterproof bag along with two rolls of film. We got there without sinking any sleds – unlike a unnamed French filmer managed to. The quarterpipe was so good from the beginning that we only needed a few minutes to give the lip a bit of love and clear up the in-run before we were able to hit it. It’s really nice after spending several weeks up in Riks building big kickers to find small natural spots where you don’t have to spend a full day shaping before you can hit it, and then waiting for the weather to allow a session. I must admit that this is one of the best things with Riks, you can find so many good natural transitions around the mountain if you know where to look!

You also need to think about your composition: since the sun was a little bit behind thin clouds which created a very soft light I knew that contrast in this photo would be very low, I tend to aim at rather minimalistic compositions, removing as much as possible and let the viewer look at a few strong elements of the picture instead. I wanted to have the Riks mountains in the background to show where we were – everyone that has spent some time up there recognizes that mountain. I wanted to show the natural quarter pipe and how good it looked. Usually I would have tried to shoot it from a little bit lower, getting more of the snow and get the rider a bit higher up in the frame as it makes the whole thing look a bit bigger, but I chose to place the rider a little bit more centered as it makes the picture a bit more static and lets the eye wander a bit more. For me this picture is not about the rad action and going the biggest, but about how good snowboarding can look!”

Check some of Lucas’ work on his blog-ish page.