Ian Coble, Phil Tifo, Dano Pendygrasse, Jordan Manley, Bryan Ralph and last years winner, Paul Morrison drew lens on Wednesday as the first dump of an epic storm forecast to hit Whistler laid down 30cms of fresh. With 3 days to shoot a 3-5 minute slideshow entirely within the bounds of the ski area during the dark January days, it is a monumental challenge. While most photographers are screwing the proverbial pooch, hesitant to venture out when there is no light and crazy weather soaking both themselves and their gear, these 6 guys sucked it up and snapped some truly incredible images that capture the harshness and beauty mid winter in Whistler.

I took the opportunity to follow Biglines photo-editor Bryan Ralph, aka Ralphie around to try to comprehend just how tough it is to crouch down and shoot athletes bootpacking and hucking their meat. And let me tell you, it was miserable. First of all, with high season in Whistler swirling around us, and being confined to the ski area, fresh tracks were sometimes hard to come by. Throw into the mix that is practically snowed for the entire 3 days of the contest, capturing clear, crisp shots with color was almost impossible but for the very best photographers. Falling snow between the camera and athletes made for grainy photos and it difficult to shoot towards the sky as snow would settle on the lens. The wind and the wet let Dano’s camera shorting out, shooting a few hundred shot sequence of his lens cap as he tried to dry it out. Lens foggy incessantly, and viewfinders were like fishbowls.

The athletes, including, Chris Rubens, Sara Burke, Dave Short, Mike Douglas, Jonny Law, Les Manley, Riley Leboe and Shane Carmichael to name a few worked their buts off, boot packing the coastal cement at lower elevations over and over and sometimes doubled as photo assistants holding flashes. Sweating and wet to the bone with fogged goggles, the athletes still showed their class sending it in flat light. The sentiment at the presentation of the slideshows from the photographers was that the riders were as much a part of the creative process as the shooters and made for a real team camaraderie. Teams worked 14hour days to milk every last bit of the light that was scarcely available to capture that unique angle on winter in Whistler.

With 60cms of snow that fell behind them on Friday afternoon, everyone went into post-production. Many teams stayed up all night, tweaking sequences, swapping photos in and out, deciding which would stay and which would go, crafting a story to present to the sold out crowd on Saturday night.

All 6 photographers made the deadline and the stage was set. Major sponsors Arcteryx presented the evening and the 500 strong crowd hooted and hollered as they witnessed the art before them.

The judges adjourned to deliberate and choose the winner and King of the Storm for 2008. When they returned, they named Bryan Ralph 3rd, Paul Morrison 2nd, and the new kid on the block, Jordan Manley as the Champion. There was little doubt that Jordan would take the honours, but the humble student form Vancouver wouldn’t hear it until they made the announcement. Trumping Paul Morrison in his own contest in his own backyard signaled that Jordan Manley had arrived on the winter photographers scene if he hadn’t already.

Jordans Photos were incredible capturing a quintessential Whistler- deep snow, dark forests, gnarly lines and some of the best shredders on skis, Jonny Law and Jordan’s brother Les Manley. When asked what the win meant Jordan was, “Stoked. I hope this just shows some of the editors out there that in the some of the toughest shooting conditions out there I can go and get good shots in a short time frame. Hopefully it means bigger and better things.”

Beating Paul Morrison in his own backyard and contest Im sure will go a long way to boosting Jordan’s profile as a photographer.

Paul Morrison won the “Best Image of Show” with a flash lit pow shot of Douglas shot from deep in the back of a cave. Paul’s show was also flawless with strong images of deep snow skiing and the characters that make Whistler the destination that it is.

Ralphie was absolutely overjoyed after being a last minute wildcard entry to the contest and pulling Riley and Shane together as his athletes at the last minute.
“Im just so stoked to be considered in the class of these 5 other photographers, and to win a cheque is just absolutely amazing.”

Check out the Deep Winter Photo Contest website for more pictures and the photographers shows. Also be sure to check out the Amateur Photo Contest that is now running.