Ski Brule hosted the United States Ski and Snowboard Association’s (Central Division Region II) Finale for J4/J5/J6 class skiers. I went there to ski and to photograph the youngsters skiing.
I enjoyed watching the skiing and I believe I obtained a number of good images I can use at this site. In addition, I learned a few things about capturing skiing on pixels, and I will share those.
I arrived at Ski Brule later on Friday but prior to the bulk of the registrants, which was good, because then I was able to introduce myself to the USSA Central Division Region II president, John Manderfield, and I wanted to say hi to Jessica Polich of Ski Brule but she was busy (and is always busy helping to put smiles onto the faces of the guests). John and I discussed things a bit just so I could get a feel for what was going on and to let him know who I was and what my purpose was for.
Saturday the day of event’s opening, I got to Ski Brule and did some free-skiing with my father and shot video of him skiing down Spillway. This time, I ended up holding onto my camera with my hand. We skied around for a bit and he had enough so I went to the finish line of the slalom events. The finish of the slalom did not provide for much action. The competitors were often times upright, poling, and in any event did not provide any opportunities for shots of spectacularly skidding to a stop after crossing the finish.
Nope, what I did was to ski up to the top find a location not too far from the gates but off of the run and focused on one or two gates. I then kept the camera pointed at those gates (one or the other) and timed shutter release. I got some good shots and a lot more of a red pole against an empty blue sky. I also have one image of a younger sprawled out on the snow, don’t worry, it happens. I’ve crashed busting out of the NASTAR starting gate too.
The next day we got to Ski Brule on the later side. We skied around a bit and my father quite a littler earlier than normal, having problems with the new boots.
I then setup at the top of Whitewater again and started snapping photos of the competitors busting out of the start gates. My previous day’s strategy of fixing the camera on the gate and snapping it as the skier skied into view did not work. They were skiing faster, so instead I followed them and snapped as the gates came into view. This worked better because giant slalom gates were much more obvious than the skinny slalom poles. I snapped shots there for a while and I know I have some good ones and then I skied down to the finish gate again.
This time, the shooting was much better. I got some photos that really convey the dynamism of what they are doing, snow flying and them leaning into the their skid turn.
I am anxious to share the photos with you here!
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