Transworld Snowboarding Cover Shoot

This season the editors at Transworld Snowboarding Magazine have decided that a photo of the latest and greatest product will be showcased on the cover, instead of your typical action photo that you saw for the past 20 or so years. With weeks of debates on how the product was going to be shot, the photo was now past due and needed to be shot now. I assisted photo editor Nick Hamilton on the job along with TWS art director Dustin Koop and associate art dude John Antoski. The original idea was to shoot all the product together highlighting specific features of the product with antique magnifying glasses. After hours of "try this and try that, no move it here no move it there" we had to give up on the idea and move on. It just didn't feel right, and sometimes ideas work better on paper than in the studio. In the end we decided on a completely different look. The photos were shot and sent back to the art department for layout. Checkout this cover photo and all the latest in snowboard gear in the 2010 TWS buyers guide hitting newsstands August 18th.

Koop and Antoski.

It just doesn't feel right, does it?

Collecting ideas back on the computer.

I stand in as the extremely talented boot holder.

The old flying goggle technique. Is that a beer toque?

ESPN photo

Here is a photo of Sam Zuegner, published by ESPN in there July Zoom photo gallery. The photo was shot in Nicaragua during the Ripzone catalogue photo shoot I did back in June.

Benji Ritchie Photo - TWS September Issue

This photo of Benji was published in the first issue of Transworld Snowboarding this season in the framed section. Its one of my favorites from this season.

Whistler had a lot less snow this year and a lot more sun. It made for a pretty good season since I was able to shoot more (more sun = more photos) and due to the lack of snow we ended up shooting new features, creating more variety from years past.

This new jump was surprisingly a quick build and the riders (Rencz, Ritchie, Lyall and White) were amped to hit it. I spent at least an hour searching for a spot to shoot from (there was no obvious angle for it) before I decided to hike down the steep face on the side for a look. It was a little sketchy going down since the face was in full sun and starting to bake, and with me stomping around there was a chance of it sliding. It didn't.

Mikey Rencz hit it first and tried a cab 9. Holy shit he went big, I thought he was aiming for a landing spot a bit higher. I guess it rolls over so much that landing higher is almost impossible. With a bit of a hand drag, the crew agreed to let him hit it one more time before the others would start in. Again, huge and no land. Benji was up next and threw this cab 9 (the mag says 7 but its a misprint) and stomped it! I think Mikey stomped his next try.

In reality, you spend 10 days in less than ideal light, snow and location in order to get a day like this. The thing is, it's always worth it.