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Pro Photo Showdown: the Rundown

The photographers are all top notch... but who are they?

Whistler people love their winter sport photographs, like, A LOT and that's why this year's Olympus Pro Photo Showdown sold out five weeks before the competition date. It's the first time in the competitions 14 years that this has happened.

"You're looking at some of the best in the world of action sport photography, doing a worldwide call and we're bringing these people in from anywhere in the world," says Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival executive director Sue Eckersley.

"If you've been to it, it's an epic moment. When (people have) seen it they don't want to miss it. If they've been once they want to keep going back," she says.

For those with tickets, these brief bios of the six photographers should make one thing very clear: they all love their winter sport photographs.

 

Blake Jorgensen

 

The man has skills, there's no question. His documentation of backcountry excursions has earned him worldwide recognition and the trust of a long list of companies, from Bell to Helly Hansen.

But at the end of the day, he just wants to show his personal favourites for a crowd of people in his chosen hometown of Whistler.

"Mostly everything I do is for someone else," he said.

"Someone else chooses the photos that you see out there, so to put together a presentation that is made by me for that audience in our hometown, I don't know why you wouldn't want to do this (year after year)," he says.

This is the fourth time in 10 years he's been included in the competition and he says his slideshow features images from the past decade, as sort of a 10th Anniversary edition of Blake Jorgenson.

 

Re Wikstrom

 

True or false: Wilkstrom is the first woman chosen for the Pro Photo Showdown in history?

Answer: True. And it's as bizarre to Wilkstrom as it is to most others, because she says she has met a multitude of talented female photographers over the years that could have cut the mustard.

"But at the same time it's really amazing," she says. "On any level, male or female, it's great to have your work validated like that."

Based in Salt Lake City, she has made a career of shooting female skiers in ways not previously depicted in the media.

"I took a look around at photos of the women in the media and there were a couple of good ones here and there, but then there were a lot of cheesy dumbed-down ski photos, or there were lots that were exploiting the sexuality of these women to sell gear," she says. "That's not cool! Girls love to just ski too, so why don't we just see more of that?"

And she made it so.

 

Bryn Hughes

Hughes knows his dramatic shots. His photos of skiers hitting cliffs make it look as pant-wetting as it really is.

"I just like dramatic moody shots," he says.

Anything dynamic will do, and many of his shots depict skiers in situations the wary would only ever dream about.

Hughes came to Whistler from Comox in 1996 and, like most others who've stayed, the Dream took over. A Merlin's employee by night and Freeskier shooter by day, ski photography was a way to earn a living while pursuing his passion.

This is his first year in the photo challenge and says he's excited to be in the ring with fellow Whistler shooters Jorgensen and Russell Dalby.

"It's something that I've wanted to do for awhile but I just wanted to make sure that I would have the right kind of show. This year I felt that I did," he says.

 

Steve Lloyd

He's been shooting professionally for eight years now and for the last four, has been focusing on the art of it. This isn't just a way of documenting skiers on backcountry excursions. No!  He plays with shadows and weird angles to create unique visual experiences for every image.

"With my photos, I really try to capture something different and unique than what everyone else is trying to shoot," he says.

"Before I was a photographer I was an art major and I really try to make it look like a piece of art...like a painting."

Taking pictures his a lot more fun than painting, says Lloyd, adding that he focuses on backcountry and adventure photography, shooting skiers, bikers and climbers in locations across Utah, where he's based.

 

Mike Yoshida

After attending the Pro Photo Competition in 2010, Yoshida went home, inspired, and made his own slideshow just for the heck of it. He called it a visual scrapbook and he liked looking at it. When the opportunity came to submit work to the 2011 challenge, he thought, "Ah, what the hell..."

"There's just so much insane talent out there I figured there was no way I'd ever get selected, so it was quite a pleasant surprise (when I was)," he says.

As a kid growing up in Bellingham, Washington, he was always inspired by snowboard photography. It stirred within him the unshakeable need to get on the mountain and, later on, become a professional photographer.

"I'm just trying to make that same photo for that same kid out there," he says. "I don't even care if they know who I am or who the rider is. If they see and image that makes it exciting to go snowboarding, I feel like my job has been done."

 

Russell Dalby

Dalby came to Whistler as a snow bum in 1997 and slowly turned his passion into a job. He's been boarding for 20 years now, loves it the way everybody probably should and would do it every day if he could. Photography was the most obvious way to make a living.

He's a staff photographer for Snowboard Canada Magazine, documenting the Coast Mountain region and the crazy folk who hurl themselves down it.

As for the competition, he's been dreaming of winning it since he attended his first Pro Photo gala eight years ago.

"I've always loved it and always wanted to win it, so I finally got the idea that I was ready for it and got in," he says with a laugh.