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As a photographer, shooting skiing is one of the most demanding sports to cover. No other sport requires you to practically participate in the event, often being on the course when you are shooting. One has to be a proficient enough skier to be able to work of steep ski hills, especially when you are carrying a 40 pound pack on your back. Often times, the race course is injected with water the night before, to make the course faster and more trecherous for us. Luckily, there was a lot of snow on the course to slip on this time.

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Dealing with all of the challenges that Mother Nature has to offer is often a challenge as well. For example, as we went off to work today, the temperature was a balmy -17 degrees. Standing on the side of a ski slope for hours on end, concentrating on athletes moving at high speeds at regular intervals throughout the day is test of ones’ will. It is important to have finger dexterity when operating a still camera, and when the temperature begins to drop, that becomes more and more difficult. One of the great things about ski photography is the camarederie amongst the photographers who are from around the world. France, Italy, Austria, Norway, Germany and Japan all send photographers to cover their athletes, or who cover the enitre World Cup curcuit.

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When the weather is nice, the photography is often much better. As with all photography, background is very important. But with ski photography, you only have one chance to choose where you shoot from. If you are at a baseball game and you don’t like the position you are in, it is easy enough to move and find a better spot. The rules of FIS (International Ski Federation) state that all photographers must be in place one hour before the start of the race. In order to find the proper spot on the course you must ski the course a couple of times before this time and try to visualize how the skier would look at different positions. You also have to be approved by the resident race official named Gunter, who will not hesitate to kick you out of your spot for safety reasons. If you choose the wrong spot, you are stuck and basically screwed.

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It is difficult to try to come up with something different at the races. It is easy to shoot from the “pack” of photographers, because often times there are just not that many positions to shoot from and you want to come back with the required shots.
Overall, the challenge is equal to the reward when working ski racing. You have a greater appreciation of the athletes and what they do when you are out there on the course.

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