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Deep Summer returns

The cutthroat contest challenges pro photographers to capture the best mountain bike photos in only three days

The Deep Summer Photo Challenge returns to Crankworx this year for its sixth installation.

The annual competition pits six pro photographers against each other to see who can capture the best mountain bike images in the Sea to Sky Corridor and around the Whistler Bike Park in three days. The results will be presented in a slideshow at Whistler Olympic Plaza under the stars Aug. 14.

Pique takes a look at the contenders.

Harookz (Haruki Noguchi)

This B.C.-based photographer got his start borrowing his mom's point-and-shoot camera and toting it along on his action sports adventures.

This is his second shot at Deep Summer glory, so he knows what to expect. "I enjoy striving for challenging experiences," he says. "It's physically demanding and mentally exhausting to pin it for three full days straight with minimum sleep, but the feeling of accomplishing such a task is sublime."

If he wins first place — and the $5,000 that comes with it — he says he'll be right back on the mountain ready for more fun. "I'd be amped to take my team on a riding adventure and shoot more photos!"

Scott Markewitz

Lauded as one of the most influential outdoor photographers around, Markewitz's images have appeared in ad campaigns for every company from Salomon to J Crew to Red Bull and Oakley. He's also had photos grace the covers of over 400 magazines. He splits his time between Salt Lake City, Utah and Provence, France shooting photos and skiing, mountain biking and trail running. Dubbed one of the World's Greatest Adventure Photographers by Men's Journal, Markewitz ups the ante in the Deep Summer competition.

Duncan Philpott

This 21-year-old U.K. photographer might be a burgeoning talent, but he already fought his way through one round of competitions to earn a spot in Deep Summer.

He won over fans and votes online to sweep the Pinkbike Wildcard contest, making him the sixth photographer in the Crankworx contest. "There were hundreds of brilliant photographers who entered the Wildcard contest, so making it through to the final six then going on to win was unreal," he says.

He's young, but Philpott says he's been taking photos for nearly eight years. "I got into photography when I was 13," he says. "Injuring my foot on a family holiday meant I had to sit by the pool and couldn't join in. With nothing to do my uncle was kind enough to lend me a stack of magazines ranging from things I probably shouldn't have seen at that age to some travel and photography mags. I settled on a photography magazine and got hooked."

He's been shooting ever since. It wasn't until he started university in Sheffield, though, that he pointed his camera towards mountain bikes. He counts having a cover photo in Dirt magazine among his career highlights.

Nicolas Teichrob

You might remember Teichrob as the co-director of the environmentally focused, locally produced documentary STAND, which debuted in Whistler earlier this summer. But the multi-talented action sports photographer and filmmaker started his career as a geoscientist. "My entrance into photography was sparked while doing geology fieldwork in Nunavut," he says. "I'd fly around every day in a heli and get to see all the really cool landscapes, and thus I started photographing them to share with others."

Since then, he's had a spread featured in the Red Bulletin magazine, a cover photo on Bike magazine and he competed in Deep Summer in 2010. "This year's field is stacked and you never have any idea what others are going to do," he says. "These events are great because they force you to elevate your game in an effort to best show your skills... Dealing with a total lack of sleep will probably be the hardest part during the event itself."

Bruno Long

The Revelstoke photographer narrowly missed competing in Deep Summer last year, so he's especially excited to be added to the mix for 2013. "I tried to get in last year through the Pinkbike (Wildcard contest)," he says. "I made it to the last five, but didn't get voted in. Luckily, I got invited this year. I've definitely been wanting to do it for quite a few years."

Growing up in New Brunswick, Long's first connection to photography was watching his amateur shutterbug dad's photo slideshows as a kid. (It's fitting that both his parents are travelling to Whistler to watch his presentation.) But it wasn't until he moved to the Rocky Mountains of Jasper that he picked up a camera. "I was mostly shooting photos of my friends, riding, skiing and biking," he says. "I'm just starting to shoot more in the pro scene."

He sites career highlights as the first few times his images appeared in Bike and Powder magazines, where he now contributes regularly. "But this is a pretty big highlight too," he adds. "If you want to become a professional photographer and you want to do this kind of thing fulltime, you have to put yourself up against the other big names in the industry."

Garrett Grove

Based in Washington state, Grove has a laundry list of editorial and commercial clients to his name, including ESPN, British Airways, Gore-Tex, Patagonia and a whole slew of ski and mountain magazines.

According to some of the editors he's worked with, besides turning in great shots, Grove is particularly adept at working in tough circumstances, giving him a competitive edge for Deep Summer.