Snowshoe Snowboarding Photography

Over the holidays I have been spending time at our condo at Snowshoe, WV and getting in some riding in the incredible conditions we have this season. The snowfall to date has been consistent enough that the quality of snow keeps getting better. As for today, we awoke to heavy snowfall in the morning and it snowed all day and it is still snowing as I write this at 10p.

Getting in so much riding in this short time frame, my legs are spent. So I gladly hauled my gear onto the slopes to get my friends Nick and Ryan to session a feature I have been wanting to shoot. The heavy falling snow always makes for interesting photography, so I wanted to use the lights and pick up the falling snow for effect.

Additionally, the cloud cover was heavy and low. Once the lights came on the slopes a unique ambient light was created. Being deep in the trees, we felt like it was almost daylight. Once the shoot started moving and the riders became more comfortable with the feature, I was able to grab a few shots that I was happy with. Using low light and slow shutter speeds can create some fun photographs and helps to lend to the action.

Sports, or action photography is flooded with great photographers creating incredible photography. Thinking of something that will make a shot unique is always the most important aspect of a shoot like this. Setting up lights and snapping away is the easy part. Once a photographer starts to bend the rules a little, a unique perspective can start to form and sometimes something special can occur. I enjoy looking at other photographer’s shots and trying to see how they set up the shot and what might have been going through their mind when bringing their creative ideas to life.

Tonight, I was trying to leave behind the more straight-forward methods for shooting a scene like this in hopes of grabbing a unique shot. The riders were fun and eager to keep the shoot going and this made my work much easier. I hope to return and shoot the same feature in different conditions to see what might transpire from another session.