What: Out
of Bounds artist reception
When:
Sunday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m.
Where: MY
Millennium Place
Admission:
Free
By Nicole
Fitzgerald
Photographer
Joern Rohde is a regular lens around town.
News,
events, lifestyle and sports, he does it all as a staff shooter for Insight
Photography and as a freelance shutterbug for his own company,
www.whistlerlife.com.
With the
exception of an occasional snowshoe trek into the backcountry, Rohde’s images
have always stayed in-bounds. Until now.
For the
first time Rohde has entered Whistler’s biggest backcountry photography
competition, Out of Bounds: Tale from the Backcountry.
The
photography exhibition shows for the entire month of February with the launch
party kicking off on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. at MY Millennium Place.
“I didn’t
have a lot of out of bounds pictures in the past,” Rohde explained. “This year
I went heli-skiing in Terrace, so I got some good stuff.”
All photos
exhibited in the Out of Bounds competition must have been accessed by foot,
snowmobile, helicopter, skis and/or dogsled. No chair lifts allowed.
“The
competition is a good way of seeing what everybody else is doing and realizing,
after I went out and shot for myself, the amount of effort that goes into those
images,” he said. “It’s not just about going into the backcountry and going
skiing, but going through the work of taking all your camera gear up there.”
Hauling
around 25 kilograms (50 pounds) of camera gear, ensuring extra film, batteries
and extra everything is packed, and keeping up with your guides and ski group
while still getting your shots is always a challenge. And then, of course,
there’s the weather.
“It’s not just
a matter of if the shot didn’t work out, that you go back and shoot it again,”
Rohde said. “A lot of those scenes will not present themselves twice.”
One of
those scenes was what Out of Bounds jurors picked to compete. The panoramic
image encapsulates the never-ending Skeena mountains just outside Terrace in
Northern B.C.
“It’s a
fairly simple photo,” Rohde said. “I had a minute to take my camera out and get
the shot I wanted. My skiing group was almost down at the bottom of the bowl. I
liked the way the skier’s tracks looked leading down and with all of the
mountains and clouds surrounding them.”
Rohde will
compete in the fourth annual Out of Bounds competition. Photographers competing
in the competition were selected by a jury of four professionals. The public
will vote for Best in Show with the winning photographer and one member of the
voting public being awarded a heli-skiing trip with Coast Range Heliskiing and
an Arc’teryx backpack. Winners will be announced in early March.
Rhode will
be competing against amateur photographers and industry pros like Dano
Pendygrasse (Transworld Snowboard Magazine contributor), Jordan Manley (recent
winner of the King of the Storms photo competition), Eric Berger (founder of
the World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s Pro Photographer Showdown), and Brian
Hockenstein (Snowboard Canada Magazine contributor). For the past two years,
photography legend Blake Jorgenson has won Out of Bounds. However, he will not
return to defend his title this year.
The juried
show will also showcase the works of Alex Wigley, Andrew Bradley, Andy
Anissimoff, Angela Percival, Anne Price, Bradley Slack, Dave Smith, Duncan
MacKenzie, Greg Griffith, John Irvine, Matt Watkins, Nicolas Teichrob and Rich
Glass.
Along with
the photography show on Sunday, Feb. 3, the Out of Bounds reception will also
include music from DJ Mister Fister, appetizers, snow “cougar” sightings,
Arc’teryx backpack draw prizes, and cash bar. Many of the photographers will
also be in attendance.
Admission
is free.
New this
year, Out of Bounds will also host an evening slideshow event with Jeff Lowe on
Feb. 20 at MY Millennium Place.
In the late
1960s and early ‘70s, he specialized in big-wall climbing, including numerous
early ascents of the Yosemite classics. He is also a free-climbing master, and
the author of hundreds of classic traditional rock climbs throughout the
western U.S.
Along with
the slide show, Lowe will also read an excerpt from his new book, Many Climbs,
which chronicles 100 of his favourite first ascents.
Tickets are
$17.
