Action!

I kept threatening my skiing friends that one day I'd lug my DSLR (aka my "big girl camera") up on the mountain for a photo session.  Well - a couple of weeks ago my pocket point and shoot crapped out on me for the second time in less than a year.  (I could write an entire blog post about how disappointed I am with Canon and their s95 camera right now!)  With my "ski camera" in the shop, I had no choice but to haul out the big guns.


Size matters!  Click on any photo to enjoy a larger version.

Linda shows her graceful style

However, instead of ruminating about my broken camera, I decided this was an opportunity to practice some action shots.

Katie makes a perfect tele turn

Last year, I completed a day-long ski photography workshop from Grant Myrdal, the photographer at Mt. Hood Meadows.  You can read about it here.  Grant loves taking action photos, so I got a great introduction to the finer details of capturing snow riders in motion.

Judy and Mt. Hood (one of my favorite photos of the day)

Grant encouraged me to carry my DSLR when out skiing and practice taking images of my friends.  But - let's face it - it's not exactly easy to ski with a big camera attached to your body.  My little pocket camera was much more convenient, even if it wasn't particularly good at capturing action.

Now it's Katie and Mt. Hood

But with the little camera out of commission, today was my big chance to practice everything I'd learned!  And, lucky me, I  had three willing subjects - Katie, my tele-friend, and Linda and Judy from my ski bus.

Linda's turn!

We were blessed with yet another wonderfully sunny day.  The inversion that was keeping Portland cold and foggy created warm, blue skies up on Hood.  Perfect for photographing skiers!

Go Katie!

We started up on the trails of Shooting Star Ridge.  Mt. Hood makes an incredible backdrop against the wide-open expanse of this run.  I was hoping to get some good pictures of my friends against this great scenery.

Judy appears as though she's flying

I took lots and lots of shots.  (You have to shoot a bunch of images to get a couple of good ones)  My friends enjoyed themselves and even voluntarily skied by my camera multiple times.

Linda makes an elegant turn

It's so nice to have people who want to get their picture taken!  (As opposed to my family members, who run and hide every time the camera comes out).

Judy readies her pole plant

Katie swooshed right by me and I captured a close-up.  Katie probably won't like this photo, because she's in the middle of a turn.  But I really like this shot.  I love Katie's huge smile.  It shows she's laughing and having a good time.  Describes our day to a "T".

Smile, Katie!

My friends were so happy and appreciative to have some photos of themselves skiing.  I gave them each CD's of the best ones.  Wish I knew someone who could take some good shots of me!  (Well - I do have Grant - but his photos aren't free)

My lovely photo subjects

It's fun to include some skiing action shots in a post.  (And you blog readers now can see, we do actually move!)  Although my pictures are nowhere as good as Grant's, I had a blast capturing my friends on an awesome sunny winter day.