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Photographers in action

$10,000 for Best in Show

What: Pro Photographer Showdown

When: April 19, 9 p.m.

Where: Telus Conference Centre

Tickets: $20

So often, action-sports magazine readers view photographs in the way the editors intended them, not as the photographers planned.

However, photographers get to be the creative eye, editor, layout tech and composer at the Pro Photographer Showdown competition, one of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s signature events.

"It’s world-class photography," said Catherine Yates, event organizer. "It’s an opportunity for people to see a collection of the world’s best action-sports photographers and see their work in the way they want us to see it. Quite often photos are submitted to an editor who chooses the images and works to make them fit whatever medium. This way, photographers are telling the story. It’s a very cool format."

Double cool this year with a newly added $10,000 cash purse going to Best in Show. Five photographers, chosen from more than 60 who submitted, will battle it out on the multiple screens at the Telus Conference Centre.

Anywhere from 180 to 270 images will pack their way into the five nine-minute digital photographic escapades choreographed to music.

"We are going fully digital this year," Yates said. "It allows photographers to be creative in how they showcase their work."

From surfing waves off North America’s West Coast to scouring cliff faces in Mexico, the action-sport showcase runs the gamut of adrenaline-fed activity.

Skateboard images can be expected from Vancouver’s Scott Pommier who held editor positions at Transworld Skateboarding and SBC Skateboard magazines. His images have frequently graced the covers of Transworld, Thrasher, Skateboarder, Slap, Heckler and Concrete Powder. He was recently awarded the 2005 Freesports Photographer of the Year award.

The pop culture of snowboarding is the driving force behind Kevin Zacher’s lens. The senior staff photographer for Transworld Snowboarding Magazine and Burton Snowboards wields an impressive client list of Coca-Cola, American Express and Hummer, just to name a few.

More snow riding can be expected from Whistler’s own Blake Jorgenson, a previous Pro Photographer Showdown winner. The senior photographer for Powder, Skier and Freeskier Magazine has won numerous accolades, including Whistler’s Best Photographer for 2004.

Ride the waves with Jeremy Koreski’s surf images, which are no stranger to Outside, The Surfer’s Journal, Surfer, enRoute and Explore Magazine. The Tofino boy captures the earth’s most intense landscapes both through still photography and film. The Numb producer launches his newest surf flick, Shrink, later this year.

Californian Corey Rich’s images run the gamut: from freight-train hopping in the American West to snowboarding in Papua New Guinea. Along with a lengthy list of international clients such as Nike and Patagonia, his images are found in the pages of Sports Illustrated, Outside, Men’s Journal and National Geographic Adventure.

Tickets are $20 and are available at www.whistler2006.com.