Gear Articles tagged ‘photography’

Death By Slideshow

By: Adam Riser | April 13th, 2011
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Make your photos tell a story. Here Alex Meyer and Shingo Ohkawa wait out the settling forest fire smoke with an endless chess session.

We’ve all been there: a few days after your friend gets back from a week-long trip, he invites you and the rest of his buddies over to check out a few photos. He starts up his slideshow, and you know by the third frame that you’re in trouble. By the 30 minute mark, you’ve seen at least a half-dozen fuzzy shots of the same moose, camp from every angle, and even one shot where the camera accidentally went off in the backpack.

You are experiencing the worst post-trip torture there is: Death by Slideshow. Every frame of the entire trip is in your buddy’s presentation, nothing has been edited, and although all the shots are in chronological order, there is no storyline other than the standard, “Oh yeah, I remember that” when your friend is surprised by which shot came up. You don’t want to risk subjecting your friends to this same fate after you go on an epic trip, so put a little effort into your own presentation and get them stoked instead of putting them to sleep. Here’s how….

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Re Wikstrom Interview

By: Adam Riser | March 9th, 2011
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The lady behind the lens.

A few years ago, I’d occasionally open a ski magazine, see a photo of some girl going huge, check out the credit, and say, “Hey, I know the girl who took that.” Today, it’s rare to open a ski magazine without seeing a few Re Wikstrom photos inside, or even one on the cover. As Re’s career has blown up, she has seen her work printed in Powder Magazine, The Ski Journal, Freeskier, Backcountry Magazine (including two covers), several catalogs, and multiple pages around the interwebs. She even scored a several-page spread all to herself in The Ski Journal Photobook.

What sets Re apart from the pack (you know, besides unwavering dedication to her craft, a great eye for composition, and just being an incredibly nice person) is that she focuses primarily on female freeskiers. Outraged because no one could seem to take a photo of a women on skis unless it was a cheesy outtake or someone wearing a bikini, Re decided that instead of complaining about the state of ski photography, she would do her part to change it. After years of working with a crew of ladies who will ski you into the ground, it’s safe to say that she’s accomplished (and continues to accomplish) her mission.

Winter is a hard time to nail Re down for more than two minutes, but I get ahold of her during a quick stop in Bellingham between trips to Canada and ask her a few questions.

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GTS: Get The Shot

By: Adam Riser | June 25th, 2010
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From here, my friend flipped upside down and hit the wall head first. Of course I don't have any of that on film, because I lowered my camera when I should have been snapping frames.

This is the beginning of all hell breaking loose, but I missed all the gnar.

“I’m ready!” you tell your friend above, and a couple seconds later hear the distant response of “OK, dropping!” You fire off frames as your friend bursts from the lip of the jump, but he lets out an “Oh S#!T” as soon as he’s in the air, and you both know this is going to end badly. You have two choices. You can either lower your camera, and cringe as your buddy takes a massive digger, or you can hold down the shutter release and fire off frames like a machine gunner making his last stand. Either way, strange as it may seem, the first thing your friend will say when you get over to him is, “Tell me you got a picture of that.”

I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff happen to friends while I was holding a camera, but I rarely got the defining photo because I didn’t want to be that jerk who stood there taking pictures while his friend got broken off. Read More …

A River Runs Through It: Ten Favorite Hollywood Films Shot Outdoors

By: staff | June 11th, 2010
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We wouldn’t trade our topouts or summits reached for much, but there are times when there is little better than enjoying a good flick and acting slightly self-indulgent on the couch after a long day on the trail. When Hollywood decides to escape the studio and get into the backcountry to tell a story, we’re doubly satisfied. We polled the office for the favorite Hollywood movies shot outside of the studio. Here are the results:

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Getting the Shot: Photo Tips for Mountain Sports

By: Adam Riser | May 25th, 2010
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Anyone who has ever said “the picture doesn’t do it justice” understands how hard it can be to bring back good photos from a trip. Many people carry a high-end camera into the mountains and come back to find that they took very few pictures, didn’t take pictures of the moments they remember the most, or the pictures they did take don’t come close to showing the beauty of the places they saw. Apply these tips, and your next vacation slideshow will make your friends envious of your trip instead of putting them to sleep in your living room. Read More …