And The Wiener Is…

Err, I mean Winner. And, I mean Are. There are two of you, and you’re not wieners. You’re winners. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Two weeks ago, I started a contest to win a copy of my 2009 Teva Mountain Games photo book. After realizing that I had no plan for how this contest was to end, other than that someone would win, I decided that the activity seems to have ended, and it is now over. I jotted down everyone’s answers and compared them to my own picks, and come to the troubling conclusion that there was a tie. No one had guessed all three, but two people had guessed two out of three. And what’s more, they picked the same two; meaning that I couldn’t just go for the person that picked the better two. I saw that I only had two choices. I either pick based on which of their third picks I like best (and what could be less fair in a contest that is clearly already governed by “what I say goes”?) or, they both win. I went with the latter. Find out my favorite three, why I like them and who the winners are after the jump!

So let’s get to it. At the top was Numero Uno. That is hands down my favorite image of the whole event. I love this image for many reasons, like it’s significance, it’s energy, it’s complexity, my own attachment and how much it illustrates the craziness of the Bouldering World Cup event. In this image you see Jonas Bauman on the left, climbing for Germany, and Alex Johnson on the right, climbing for USA. At an event like this you have many of the top climbers in the world, all in the same place, and frequently climbing at the same time. Many times the problem isn’t whether or not something awesome is happening, but which of the many awesome things currently happening you want to point your camera at. The stage was set. Alex was on the final Women’s problem and Jonas was on the final Men’s problem. Both were serious contenders for first place. I had my eye to the camera tracking Alex as she went up the route, when I see out of the corner of my eye that Jonas approaching the top of his route. Pause. People had been flying off the Men’s final problem for the last hour. The last move was huge, and left the climber with feet swinging and two bad hand holds, trying to arrest a lot of momentum. It was Jonas’s first burn and no one has stuck it on their first try yet. Play. I see a burst of movement from my left eye and swing my camera over to just barely catch Jonas sticking the move to take first place. He then proceeds to freak out and celebrate while hanging on to the finishing hold, which can be seen in the original post’s slideshow. I’ll be totally honest and say that this is one of those magical shots that is 95% luck and you can’t take much credit for. I like that I somehow managed to get both of them in the frame. But what I love the most is the juxtaposition of their bodies and the way that Jonas’s wildly swinging legs don’t obscure any part of Alex, which can mostly be attributed to good fortune. Alex went on to take second place.

And that bring us to my second favorite.  This was on the lat day of the event and all of the climbing events were finished, so I figured I would check out some of these “other sports” people kept talking about.  I headed east from Vail Village towards Vail pass, which would be the steepest part of the time-trial distance bike race.  Positioning myself near the top of the climb, I expected that I would be in a good place to document some suffering.  What I wasn’t expecting was to see aHoney Stinger rider doing Gladitorial battle with the hill.  This guy was a beast.  Here he comes, ripping up the hill like it’s a bump in the road, with a ferocity the would fit right in with Brad Pitt and the rest of the Myrmidons charging the beaches of Troy.  I saw him coming and started unloading.  I didn’t need to look at the back of the camera to know that something awesome just happened.  Everything about this scene was completely epic.  In fact, the Lightroom preset that I used to start the editing process on this photo was even styled after the movie ’300′.  Naturally, it was a perfect fit.  My only hesitation was that I hoped he wasn’t faking the look because he saw the guy with the camera.  But a few weeks later I ran into another Honey Stinger rider at the Summer Outdoor Retailer and I asked him if he could identify the cycling combatant.  He took one look at the photo and said, “Oh yeah.  That’s Ben Portilla.  He always looks pissed when he’s riding.”  Done.  Anything that was holding this photo from my top 3 just got cut down by the confirmation of Ben Portilla’s “always pissed” riding face.

Lastly.  And by ‘lastly’, I mean ‘in third place’.  This was an image that resulted from wandering around at the end of the day with a camera still around my neck.    I saw this girl with a friend, standing and talking on the flanks of of a evening concert audience.  They were laughing and having a good time.  Something about the jacket, the background colors, and the fact that she just had an incredibly natural and great looking smile immediately grabbed my attention, and I had to grab a few frames.  It wasn’t until I downloaded and started editing that I realized how much I liked this image.  I don’t think I could have done any better if I had complete creative control over location, wardrobe and model choice, and was directing the scene.  Sometimes images just come to you as a complete package and all you have to do is be there and see it.

What is common in all three photos is the element of luck or serendipity.  I think as a photographer, you can do everything right on you part; have the right gear, know how to use it, be in the right place, and be ready.  But the thing that takes an image from top 50 to top 3 always comes as a gift from your subject. And speaking of gifts, the winner are…

Katie L and Dave M!  Congratulations, you are the (hopefully) proud new owners of a 2009 Teva Mountain Games image book.  Thanks to everyone who guessed, and get ready for more action packed images from the 2010 Games in June!