Six months from today will be August 28th 2011. The northern hemisphere’s last ski season will start to blend in with those of previous years, British Colombians will have seen many thousands of hectares of land burned in summer forest fires, ski resort plazas abuzz with mountain bikers and foreign tourists snapping pictures, photo editor’s inboxes will finally become un-clogged after receiving all the ski photographers’ images from the year.

And, every skier will be wishing they were six months back; in the middle of an amazing ski season.

As a Canadian the words from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi come to mind: “Don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” Though she wasn’t singing about skiers’ separation anxiety from fluffy white snow, the phrase sure as hell applies.

This is it; the sport we love in the peak of it’s season. It doesn’t get any better than looking out my window to see blue skies, while checking the forecast seeing another storm rolling in to pummel the mountains.

So; take a moment to appreciate and cherish it, before it’s gone.

ESPN Freeski picked up the story of my team’s win at the first Banff Photographer Shootout in January. Click on the image below to see 10 images from the contest. Including park, urban, pow, and big mountain ski photography.

Working as a photographer you get to walk the fine line between chaos and order. Taking time to plan in advance to eliminate risks and unknowns, while embracing the chaos that creative work thrives in, and the not so predictable worlds of Skiing and Mountain Biking. The Banff Photographer Shootout epitomized the conflicting worlds of (dis)organization in the life of a ski photographer.

A little background on the event: this was the first year of the Banff Photographer Shootout, a competition where you have 7 days to shoot, edit, and create a slideshow, which is then pitted against 5 other photographers. (Same idea as Deep Summer/Deep Winter in Whistler)

24 Hours before the competition started: Every rider, assistant, location, carefully planned out to work efficiently with people I wanted to, in the places I wanted to. Itinerary set. Then:
-35 wind chill in Calgary
The worst avalanche conditions in 30 years.
Highway closures adding hundreds of kilometers and many hours to traveling times.
Equipment acting unpredictably from extremely variable temperatures and humidity levels.
Riders getting injured.
Melting Levels near the peaks of lots of mountains.

Its events like the Banff Shootout that remind you, no matter how well you have a shoot organized, a team’s ability to act spontaneously, and create innovative solutions on short notice proves to be more valuable. Through all the madness my team of athletes managed to pull off some great work, and our slideshow won the event. Although I’m the one behind the lens pushing the button, the creativity, positive attitude, and skill of each of the athletes determined our success.

More pictures from the slideshow night, and some of the competing photographer’s slideshows Click here

Returning to skiing after a 23 month injury-waiting-surgery-recovery has been a really joyful experience. To keep myself from going stir crazy over the past two years I’ve been delicately managing my relationship with the winter season; doing everything I can to be around the sport and culture by shooting urban, going to Freshtival, and religiously watching great winter content online. However, at the same time I’ve consciously made an effort to avoid imagining and visualizing myself skiing: it was just too painful to see it in my mind’s eye, while being unable to actually ski.

The last week has i’ve been doing the gypsy transient skier thing; living in a van, hopping resorts, bagging turns, and making images. If you aren’t following me on twitter you might not have known, other than the absence of blogging. Over the last week I’ve found myself on couches and in parking lots in Revelstoke, Abbotsford (to ski at Mt. Baker), Victoria, and finally Whistler before a night drive back to home, warmth, and a real mattress in Calgary.

Other than a single day skiing some impressively deep snow in Fernie, this trip was my triumphant return to the winter wonderland we have the privilege to engage in and play with. Suiting I found myself living a bit of a ski bum dream; chasing snow around the province, embracing mother nature’s chilly side, and most of all sharing the experience with great passionate people.

For any culture to develop vibrantly there are some key ingredients; the activity and ideas people identify with, the environment within which they interact, and the people themselves. We’ve all heard and talked to much about the sport we call ours, and the mountains we get to play among, but for me on this trip it was the people who made the impression. Passionate people.
All the Writers, Photographers, Skiers, and Snowboarders, and that guy who sent the burly line. -Of course there was the one snowboarder taking his perceived superiority too seriously as he hurled obscenities at me, but he’ll always be there so stop worrying about him.- Thank you to everyone in our sport, for your dedication to the people, environment, progression and movement. This trip, every trip, and every day I have the opportunity to share with you is a privilege.