After a season of setting various different creative photo missions, the Burn Snowpark Rally finals went down in Gerlos, with the individual Mission winners challenged to come up with another bit of photographic gold dust. Check the video and top three shots right here…

The theme for the Finals was ‘Versus’. First place went to the Austrian crew of photographer Mike Wechselberger, and riders Thomas Tramnitz and Tom Klocker. The judges were impressed: “These two shots are a great interpretation of the mission! We really like the opposite of long lens vs. fish eye. The massive spot gets presented in very distinct and interesting ways. Also the riding is massive, and the lighting is no less than amazing. No doubt, this crew is a well-deserved winner!”

1st: Mike Wechselberger, Thomas Tramnitz, Tom Klocker (AUT)

The second spot was held down by the Polish crew of Marek Ogien Michalski, Michal Ligocki and Tomasz Wolak, who went all in on the Versus concept. “This crew has put a lot of “versus” in their two shots: black & white vs. color, straight air vs. inverted trick, shot from the front vs. shot from behind, bad weather vs. good weather, landscape vs. portrait. Especially the black & white shot comes with a great photo layout and a very stylish trick. Overall good work … just not as good as the winning one.”

2nd - Marek Ogien Michalski, Michal Ligocki, Tomasz Wolak

Third place went to another all-Austrian crew, this time comprised of Martin Fabian, Christian Fessl and Michael Hörschläger. “The idea behind these two shots is great! And the approach of combining the two photos is very creative. However, the execution could have been done better. Overall composition, lighting and last but not least the action didn’t really convince the judges. The reflections in the lake, however, earned this crew some extra points, but this didn’t help to achieve a better position.”

3rd: Martin Fabian, Christian Fessl, Michael Hörschläger (AUT)

1. Christoph Enderer (GER) / Wally
This photo definitely earns the first place! The crew found a great spot and managed to make the best out of it. The shot is realized with great technical perfection from photographer’s side but also with stunning action from the side of the rider. The lighting, the composition and the atmosphere on the sky with the sunbeams make this photo outstanding. Congratulations to the crew for accomplishing the mission with such a convincing photo!

2. Martin Fabian (AUT) / Bob the builder
We really like this photo. You can see that the crew tried hard to accomplish the mission. And they’ve succeeded! The spot is very creative and the photographer did everything right: he has chosen a deep angle and got nice colorful reflections instead of an empty black space on the ground. Also the composition with the rider on one side and the workers checking out the ongoing action on the other side is really cool. Maybe next time the rider could wear brighter pants so it’s not black in black. But still a great photo, congrats!

3. Renato Rocha (POR) / Spring session
This was one of the most creative spots in the competition, building a quarter in a lake isn’t something we see everyday. Also the composition is well done and contrast between the water and ice looks very cool. The angle from slightly above is good indeed, so you can really see what’s going on. There is only one problem: the rider missed the grab! As a photographer you have to check if the trick is ok and if not the rider has to try it again.

4. Mikel Besga (ESP) / The land of flying rocks
The judges were really stoked about this photo. The spot and the surrounding look awesome. Also the angle and the composition with the stones as a little framing are well chosen. But we think that the photographer used just too much Photoshop, and therefore we only give out the 4th position for this photo.

5. Ren Rob (FRA) / Front Board To Gap
Nice spot combined with good blended light. We like the mixture of artificial orange light and flashlight. Also the rider did a good job! Maybe next time you can park away the car and get the shovel out of the photo. All in all a solid photo, but the others were just a little bit more creative.

Mission 3 of this creativity-focussed riding/photo contest dropped the other day, so make sure you check what you need to do to make it to the finals with your crew and bag some tasty swag.

The BURN SNOWPARK RALLY in cooperation with VÖLKL enters the home stretch: the alternative photo challenge for snowboarders has just opened up its last mission of the winter! Until March 12, 2012 you have the last chance to qualify for the Finale Grande at Zillertal Arena (AUT). In the first two rounds, the participants have already delivered first-class shots, so give it your all and push the bar together with your crew! Get your 3rd mission from www.snowparkrally.com

After the first mission, the teams of snowboard shutterbug Mike Wechselberger has already obtained the tickets for the finals. According to the jury, they solved the missions “Silhouette” respectively “Framed” best. The judges praised Wechselberger’s shot for the choice of the spot, the handling of the lighting and the layout. Mission #2 of the 2012 BURN SNOWPARK RALLY just finished yesterday. The winners will be announced soon.

Mission 1 winning shot. BANG!

The BURN SNOWPARK RALLY in cooperation with VÖLKL is the ultimate contest for all snowboarders who love to meet a challenge with their crew and to take their camera along when they’re ripping the snowpark. The procedure is simple: first of all, you have to get your third mission from www.snowparkrally.com where Burn and Völkl team members Gigi Rüf (AUT) and Martin Seiler (SUI) will tell you what to do. Then hit the spot of your choice, live out your creativity, and take shots that comply with the mission. Upload the pics to the Snowpark Rally website until March 12, 2012 – mission accomplished!

Each mission’s winning crews will be invited to the exclusive BURN SNOWPARK RALLY finals at Zillertal Arena, Tyrol (AUT), from March 29 to April 1, 2012, with all expenses included: travel, accommodation & food! At the Hotzone.tv Snowpark Gerlos and the Gerlos backcountry, the crews will accomplish the winter’s last mission together with some Burn and Völkl pro riders and professional photographers. On Friday morning, the finalists will get their final mission. Then, they have two days to look for a spot and shoot an original picture. On late Saturday afternoon, they have to hand over their shot to the jury. Finally, the winners will be crowned at the party on Saturday night. The victorious crew will join the Völkl pros at their summer trip to the All Inclusive Völkl Summer Team Week 2012. Additionally, loads of stuff like Völkl snowboard sets are up for grabs. Moreover, the winning photographer will be invited to the BURN TEAM PHOTOSHOOTING 2012 with stars like Gigi Rüf (AUT), Stale Sandbech (SWE), Werni Stock (AUT), or Arthur Longo (FRA), as well as a professional film and photo crew. The perfect opportunity to work with pros, learn their tricks and make some first-class shots yourself!

For further information please visit www.snowparkrally.com & www.facebook.com/snowparkrally

It’s on: the BURN SNOWPARK RALLY in cooperation with VÖLKL kicks off this winter’s 2nd mission! Peep what you gotta do…

Mission 2 is dubbed ‘Shoot your Song’ so check the video for the finer deets, figure out your gameplan, shoot that shit ans upolaoad it to the Snowpark Rally site. To get yo ass motivated, check the gallery from Mission 1 – some bangers in there.

The Alternative Photo Challenge offers awesome prizes: the winners of each mission will be invited to the finals at Zillertal Arena (AUT), with all expenses like travel, accommodation, and food paid!

At the finals, they’ll have the chance to win a photo shooting with the pros of the BURN team, and a trip to the Völkl Summer Team Week. Get more info from www.snowparkrally.com

This photo/shred contest has been giving amateurs the chance to step up to the big leagues for a few seasons now, and they’ve just announced they’re back on it for the 11/12 season with the unveiling of the winter’s first Snowpark Rally mission: SILHOUETTES. Get involved.

Mission 1 – Silhouettes is on from NOW until January 17 2012, watch the video above for the deets, so get your crew together, get creative on the hill and ship your shot over on www.snowparkrally.com. For each mission there’s a bunch of swag up for grabs from Burn, Völkl and Onboard for who the riders and pro photographers judge to be the best shots.

The overall winners from each of the missions will be invited to send it with the Burn and Völkl pros like Gigi Rüf, Werni Stock, Chris Kröll and Aline Bock on an all expenses paid trip to the Showdown Finale at the Hotzone.tv Snowpark Gerlos and its surrounding backcountry from March 29 to April 1, 2012, with some even more awesome prizes to be won for the overall winners of the Finale.

And this would be a surf trip with the Völkl guys for the winning crew, and the photographers will also get to head to the Burn team shoot. You don’t need us to tell you that’s quite the opportunity.

So grab your camera, assemble your crew and get it done. Further information please visit www.snowparkrally.com

1st Place - Florian Model, Arne Klaas, Christoph Schwarz (GER). "The winning crew of the Burn Snowpark Rally 2011 Snowboard Finals has accomplished the final mission ‘contrasts’ in a very creative way. Their photo has an awesome layout with beautiful lines that support the contrasts really well. We also like that they didn’t change the photo to black and white but kept the shades of blue in the contrasty background. Furthermore this crew even used the obstacle - which is actually a kicker - in a creative way. And the rider comes with great style!"

Last weekend marked the end of a long winter of Snowpark Rally missions as the finals got underway in Leogang. Check out the results.

All the winners of the 3 previous missions had been invited for one last shot at the big time, and as the sun set on another fine edition of creative amateur shred snapping, the German crew of shooter Florian Model, Arne Klaas and rider Christoph Schwarz were rewarded for their efforts by ending up on top of the pile.

Judged by well-respected photo dude and all-round nice guy, Lorenz Holder, it was a tough one to call but Florian’s shot just edged out the church jumping Polish team and the pole jamming Swiss. Stay tuned for the full breakdown of the weekend’s action, along with a video, later this week. In the meantime, enjoy the shots and prep yourself for next season’s edition.

2nd Place - Adam Chrabaszcz, Michal Gren, Marek Kaczkowski (POL). "It was a lengthy discussion about the final ranking and this photo missed the top position only by a few points. The shot comes with a really great spot and sick riding! And the crew found an interesting interpretation of the final mission ‘contrasts’. We really like their approach, however we think it could have been elaborated more clearly. Furthermore, the image layout could have been improved. But overall it’s definitely an awesome photo!"

3rd Place - Carlo Schmid, David Kurth, Felix Höckel (SUI). "The 3rd ranked crew has chosen a very creative spot and the action is great, too. However, framing and layout could have been done a little bit better. And we think this crew took a rather easy way to fulfill the mission topic ‘contrasts’ by changing the photo to a black and white version. But in this case, it didn’t improve the overall impression of the shot."

The winners from Mission 2 of this year’s BURN SnowPark Rally have been announced, and the third and final mission is ON. Get involved if you want to win some goodness and bag your spot at the Finals in Leogang this April.

If you want to maintain the opportunity to join the finals of the BURN SNOWPARK RALLY 2011 in cooperation with VÖLKL, you only have one more chance now! At the third and last part of the dopest online photo competition of the winter, every snowboarder is invited to take part. If your brain’s bursting with good ideas and creativity, you can win nice prizes even without using high-end camera equipment. Via the video message above, Völkl team rider Aline Bock (GER) sends you on the last mission of the winter. Execute your mission at the snowpark of your choice, shoot a creative pic and upload it Originality and fun are more important than technical photo skills. Get your mission from and upload your submission to www.snowparkrally.com now!

Again, the contributions to Mission #2 of the BURN SNOWPARK RALLY shone with inventiveness and high quality. Polish photographer Adam Chrabaszcz and his rider Michal Gren perfectly realized the mission “Multi Angle” to take the top spot for this challenge.

Together with the winners of the other two missions, both crews will be invited to the end-of-season BURN SNOWPARK RALLY finals in Leogang, Austria, from April 7 to 10 2011. There, they will accomplish the winter’s last mission together with some Völkl pro riders and professional photographers. The victorious crews will join the Völkl pros at the All Inclusive Völkl Team Week 2011. Additionally, there’s a load of non-cash prizes up for grabs.

The last mission will end on March 14 2011. Check the best pictures of the first two missions and get further information from www.snowparkrally.com! In the meantime, check below for Mission 2′s top 5 so you’ll see what it takes to be amongst it…

1st place: Adam Chrabąszcz (POL). Michał Greń, Wallride. “Both pictures are just perfect! It’s obvious that lots of effort has been put into each single shot, e.g. the position of the flashes has been adjusted on each shot to achieve the best lighting situation possible. The left picture shows a superb composition with a nice fade from blur to sharpness and remarkably good lighting. And the right picture comes with an amazing composition, too and the structure of the wall is elaborated extremely well. The nice style of the rider completes the perfect execution of mission 2.”

2nd place: Christoph Enderer (GER) - hometrail “First of all the spot is really special. But the most outstanding part of this work is the realization of the double angle. Instead of taking very different camera positions – what most people did – the different angles were achieved with different lenses. The left with a fish eye and the right with more focal length. Great idea! The lighting was also done professionally as it’s not easy to do that right when the rider is on top of such a big obstacle. And of course the rider gets credits too: nice style and very well repeated!”

3rd place: Peter Buchebner (AUT) – igloos rock “Very nice double angle – you need the right picture to understand the left one. The rider’s style is pretty sick and captured nicely in the left photo, which comes with a really good framing. Unfortunately the right photo shows the rider from behind – something that should be avoided. But at least it explains the surroundings really well. The colors appear a little bit flat, something that could have been improved.”

4th place: Adam Laister (GBR) – Colour vs BnW “The left picture is pretty standard, but executed quite well. Especially capturing the nice sunset and a good usage of the flashes make it look good. The right picture comes with an awesome perspective that also shows the length of the rail. And especially the combination of the color and black&white photos result in a great double angle picture.”

5th place: Stefan Voitl (AUT) - Multi Engl “The idea of this photo is outstanding, no doubt. And you can definitely see the skills of the photographer. But the riding is just weak. For good snowboard photography, however, good action is essential. Furthermore the wordplay with the mission’s title and the rider’s outfit doesn’t add to quality in terms of snowboard photography either.”

Nose piercings: Strangely enough, they are never out of fashion.

Just so that you know: We’re backing this thing. So read this release, then go out and take some primo pics!

Kick-off for the second round: after loads of great pictures for the first mission of the BURN SNOWPARK RALLY 2011 in cooperation with VÖLKL were submitted, now the second mission begins. At the coolest online photo competition of the winter, every snowboarder is invited to take part. If you work with good ideas and creativity, you can win nice prizes even without having posh camera equipment. Via video messages, the Völkl team rider Chris “CK“ Kroell (AUT) send you on the second of three missions of the winter. Execute your mission at the snowpark of your choice, shoot a creative pic and upload it to www.snowparkrally.com! Originality and fun are more important than technical photo skills. Get your mission from www.snowparkrally.com now!

The first mission of the BURN SNOWPARK RALLY 2011 was closed last Monday. Since then, the judges have rifled through the wide range of creative and inspiring pictures and announced their favourites: after a tough decision, the high-carat expert jury consisting of Völkl team riders and pro photographers Lorenz Holder, Sami Tuoriniemi and Klaus Polzer voted “Indy Tailbone“ by photographer Florian Model and rider Christoph Schwarz best snowboard pic. It offered the nicest solution to the mission “natural obstacle”, the jury stated: “The picture has an extremely good image layout. The photographer solved the difficult backlight situation very well. The rider still has contours, and the light effects are done in a very stylish way.”

Winning photo Mission 1: "Indy Tailbone", Rider: Christoph Schwarz, Photographer: Florian Model

Together with the winners of the other two missions, both crews will be invited to the end-of-season Burn Snowpark Rally finals in Leogang, Austria, from April 7 to 10 2011. There, they will accomplish the winter’s last mission together with some Völkl pro riders and professional photographers. The victorious crews will join the Völkl pros at the All Inclusive Völkl Team Week 2011. Additionally, there’s a load of non-cash prizes up for grabs.

The second mission will end on February 17 2011. After that, the last mission will be proclaimed. Check the best pictures of mission #1 and get further information from www.snowparkrally.com!

For some inspiration we’ve picked some of the better submissions so far. Our photo ed Sami refused to help us select them. As one of the judges he will keep his opinion to himself until the very end…

Here’s how it works:

1. Check out the video mission briefing – your first mission is:
“NATURAL OBSTACLE”

2. Round up your friends, go on the mountain and get creative with your cam. It doesn’t matter if you use a SLR or a simple digicam. More important is your idea and the execution of the given task!

3. Then you simply upload the picture on www.snowparkrally.com. The upload period for this mission is from 15th December 2010 until 17th January 2011.

4. After the upload period the judges will award the best 5 pictures.

5. Win cool prizes!

Good luck!

For the last time this winter, the Völkl Snowpark Rally 0910 announced: ‘Mission accomplished!’

Last weekend, Team Austria with Stefan Voitl, Michael Scharner and Johannes Gruenbichler took victory at the snowboard finals of this season’s ultimate online photo competition at the Kitzsteinhorn.

Over the winter months, three missions had been issued on www.snowparkrally.com. At these qualification rounds, the participants had to upload their pictures to the website. A jury chose the respective winners. For the finals, the three victorious crews now changed from virtual to real mode and met at Zell am See- Kaprun, Austria, to shoot the ultimate picture of the winter.

This is the shot that bagged first place for Team Austria.

“Two in one!“ – this was the final mission for the three crews from Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland. After some runs at the Kitzsteinhorn they began to look for the ideal spot to take their picture. A Völkl pro rider assisted each crew and thanks to their experience, Chris Kroell (AUT), Michi Stanschitz (AUT) Cristina Monclús (ESP) and Aline Bock (GER) were able to give the participants some useful tips. After three days of hard work, the crews finally delivered their best shot to the jury on Sunday noon.

2nd place went to the Swiss team.

With their creative shots the riders gave the judges a hard time to choose the winners. In the end, Team Austria with Stefan Voitl, Michael Scharner and Johannes Gruenbichler took victory with a sensational night shot. Second place went to Team Switzerland with Corinne Suter, Carlo Schmid and Matthias Indermuehle who presented an innovative obstacle. Team Slovenia with Rene Strgar, Zigo Erlac and Anze Susa took third.

The Slovenians came third with this effort.

Team Austria won a surf trip with the Völkl pros to the All Inclusive Völkl Team Week 2010. The other crews were rewarded with precious non-cash prizes by Völkl. After the prize- giving, a relaxed Public Bag Jump Session rounded off this eventful weekend.