Steven's Pass Terrain Park 3

This photograph was taken from the same location as the prior, however, I had moved to the opposite side of this jump.   As you can see, the skiers were hitting the jump at much greater speeds and getting much more air.  This was taken using a 200mm lens, f10 at 1/250s, ISO 200.

Steven's Pass - Terrain Park

The terrain park at Steven's Pass is not for the faint of heart, particularly a photographer whose downhill skills are limited at best.   After about a 10 minute video and $5.00 I had my season pass to the park.  The video is a much about etiquette and planning your jumps as it is about safety in the park.   The photographs I took were at the second big jump.   Needless to say I hike around this spot.   No way I was going to attempt to go over it.   This trip was a preparation trip for a photo shoot planned next week at the park.   It allowed me to map the terrain and identify the best (and safest for me) locations to set up my camera and photograph from.   Hopefully next friday will be sunny, little wind, and no snow.

Crystal - Skiing 2

Crystal - Skiing

I went with the family to Crystal Ski Resort, which first opened in 1962, is located on the Northeast corner of Mt. Rainier National park. Naturally I took my camera up the slopes and was treated to a group of students practicing slalom off of one of the lifts. I was able to ski close to the last couple of gates and photograph them. I used an SB-600 speed light and 70-200mm f2.8 lens - no tripod. This was the first time I've used a speed light while photographing skiers.   Although I like the results, I'm not totally sold on this technique - more gear than I'm used to packing up the slopes.  I think with the right f-stop and shutter speed along with having the sun at your back - I can get the same if not better photographs - 20/20 hind sight and I would have taken a few without flash - it was cold.   Perhaps if I had two more speed lights, a 4-square might do the trick. 

Ski 4

One more skier. I photographed this skier by chance as he came by quite close to where I was sitting observing both ice climbers and snow boarders coming down by the C-4 lift at Mt. Baker. I'm not thrilled with the photograph, but do like the proximity and quick reaction to this surprise visit. Next opportunity, I hope to focus on snow boarders.

Skiers at Steven's Pass

I've always wanted to see if I could photograph skiers like I've seen in sports magazines. I had the opportunity this past weekend. I hiked up through the snow to about mid way on the ski slope. Watched the skiers for a while until I determined their path, then positioned myself. The sun was out so the reflectance from the snow was a challenge. I ended up setting my aperature at about F8 and shutter speed to about 1/500th to catch these skiers. I'm fairly satisfied with how the photographs turned out. I must say it was a lot more work hiking through the snow than I anticipated.