There are some snowboard photographers out there who are able to capture much more than just an action photo. Some photos just come to life, telling the story of the place and the time when they were captured. True photo composition can be as simple as a centered shot of a rider mid-trick to as complex as a staircase feature made out of carved ice lit by 32 seperate flashes.
Foto Fridays are a mission to find the best of the best and deliver it straight to your inbox.
First up is this photo from the Cricket Campus Rail Jam's most recent stop at the University of Southern California. There's nothing utterly spectacular about this shot, at least not at first glance. The rider, Jon Montana, seems to have lost his helmet as a direct result of the latest "unbuckled helmet" fashion trend and he is trying to catch it. I never understood why you would bother with a helmet if you were not planning to buckle it, that pretty much defeats the purpose.
Jon is not, however, catching his falling helmet as a result of fashion versus function in this photo. He is clearly making a statement that true rail riders laugh in the face of protective headgear. A closer look at the photo reveals that two cops gave Jon the helmet telling him to wear it for safety or he'd get a ticket; so he grabbed it, bit it between his teeth and started wailing metalcore on his air guitar as he slid this boardslide. The cops looked on helplessly, then went back to enjoying their (non)alcoholic beverages from red party cups.
Okay, now to get serious...
YoBeat Magazine does a great contest that pits superb snowboarding photographs against one another in a battle for all kinds of prizes and shit. This shot of someone named Brett doing a frontside board to pretzel out got my vote. Why?
There are a few reasons. First, I like front boardslides. Second, you get an overall feeling of closeness when you look at this shot; this gives the photo a kind of a raw quality, it's as if you were there taking the shot. The last reason is of course the lighting. There is no flash or external light source; the light radiates outward from a point inside the gate, which adds to that raw quality and directs your focus to that one moment: Here's a feature, here's a trick.
Head over to the post at YoBeat Magazine to see the picture this one is up against and cast your vote!
Send your photos to desertsdontsnow@gmail.com along with your name, the rider's name, the trick, the location (can be as general as your state/country) and anything else you want me and readers to know about the photo.
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