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The mother of all festival arts events

Past winners back for Pro Photographer Showdown encore

As the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival celebrates its decade anniversary this year much has been made of the wealth of arts and mountain culture events that have sprouted up.

But before there was a film contest or an art show or a collective novel or a storytelling night there was the Pro Photographer Showdown – the festival’s mother of all arts and culture events.

An invitational contest featuring renowned action/sport shooters going head to head with slide shows set to music, the Showdown is not quite as old as the festival, having debuted in 1998.

Its roots date back to the 1997 festival. A well-received solo slide show by Whistler photographer Eric Berger depicting a snowboarding trip to Iran led festival organizers to believe such an event was worth a go.

For a group of artists confined to a medium of 8x10 glossy magazine pages, the Showdown’s 10-minute slide show format was received as a rare and welcome opportunity. The participants revelled in the expression of creative vision and personality in music choice, composition and alternative content such as portraits, lifestyle and art photography – the stuff not usually sought by photo editors and advertising clients.

The festival audience also responded enthusiastically. Berger was judged the inaugural Best of Show winner at the 1998 event and the Showdown secured its place in the festival for years to come.

The Pro Photographer Search contest was introduced in 1999 to give a wild card contestant the chance to prove themselves alongside the three illustrious invited pros.

The two events continued in tandem over the next five years. In 2001 25-year-old Whistler resident Blake Jorgenson took the Pro Showdown title after earning a spot as the Search winner. It hasn’t been done since and it’s something that those in attendance still talk about. Boosted by the recognition from the event Jorgenson went on to become one of the most respected photographers working in the industry. He considers the win a benchmark in his career.

Besides Berger and Jorgenson, the Best Of Show winners’ roster includes Aaron Chang (1999), J. Grant Brittain (2000) and Jon Humphries (2003), as well as Dave Heath (2002) and Jason Childs (2004), all heavyweights from the snow, surf and skateboard publishing scenes.

Rather than reprising the contest format this year, the festival invited the past winners back for an encore showcase. All past winners are confirmed attendees with the exception of surf photographer Childs, who has made a zero hour withdrawal due to recent natural disasters in his home base of Indonesia.

The element of competition is another notable absence in 2005.The photographers, for the most part, don’t seem to mind. The sentiment being that with or without judges, the event represents the rare and much-appreciated chance to present their work in a unique setting – a raucous packed house with booming tunes and big screens. Something more important than a trophy will be on the line: creative pride.

Over the years, the level of work presented has provided an invaluable experience for up-and-comers.

Whistler snowboard photographer Crispin Cannon remembers Chang’s slide show from five years ago, and deems it "a huge inspiration."

At the time Cannon was new to Whistler and to photography.

"The Showdown made me want to go shoot photos of everything," he said. "I made it my goal to get into that contest."

Cannon has gotten close, making it into 2004’s Pro Photographer Search and he’s somewhat dismayed that due to this year’s format change he’ll have to wait for another crack at the Showdown.

Even so, he wouldn’t miss the event for anything.

"In the world of action sports photography it’s really important," Cannon said. "It’s the only venue like it that I’ve ever seen or heard of. It’s a really good way for photographers to see what each other are doing and to push each other."

This year’s TWSSF Pro Photographer Showdown takes place Wednesday, April 13 in the Telus Conference Centre. Doors open at 8 p.m. with the screenings at 9 p.m. Tickets are $30 available through the festival website at www.whistler2005.com.

Postcard from the edge

Childs to miss Pro Photo Showdown due to Nias earthquake

Up here in our little corner of the mountains the most earthshaking news of late has been a season where the white stuff wasn’t falling. Then, lo and behold, it started falling, but late in the season when everyone had pretty much given up.

Over in Jason Childs’s corner of the world the most earthshaking news has been the earth literally shaking.

A senior photographer for Surfer Magazine based in Bali, Indonesia, Childs has witnessed firsthand the devastation wreaked by the South Asian Boxing Day tsunami and more recently, the March 28 earthquake, measured at a severity of 8.7 on the Richter scale, that hit hard the surf paradise of Nias Island.

As of Tuesday evening, Childs reported he was attempting to get to Nias, as he had been unable to contact friends there that had been caught in the quake.

Understandably, this is not the time for he and his wife to embark on a party vacation to Whistler’s World Ski & Snowboard Festival. One of seven past Best Of Show recipients from the festival’s renowned Pro Photographer Showdown, Childs (who claimed the honour in 2004) has confirmed he will not be in attendance for this year’s encore showcase of winners, taking place this Wednesday, April 13 at the Telus Conference Centre.

"My head’s been spinning here," Childs wrote from Indonesia. "I will miss the Showdown, unfortunately. I'm so disappointed, but the Asian tsunami and Nias earthquake are in my backyard and I must do what I can to help."

Though Childs himself will not be present, he said he is arranging to send a new slide presentation to show at the event.

The creative freedom endorsed by the Showdown will allow him to reveal a very different side of the action-packed South Asian surfer’s paradise than the audience saw in 2004.

"I've spent a lot of this year in Aceh and Nias documenting the work of two aid organizations: SurfAid International and the Electriclamb Mission," Childs wrote. "I will be showing the natural devastation of these places and the people. It will remind people of how sad and tragic life can be for the victims of the Asian tsunami and the Nias earthquake."

To learn more about, or donate to the relief organizations depicted in Childs’s slide show go to www.electriclamb.org and www.surfaidinternational.org.