Blog Notes, Dom's boring stories

Every thing is too easy down here, so I'm leaving for Kitzbuehl, the mythic alpine ski race, tomorow with no credential at all, so I will be in trouble, I guess I'll be less than noting over there, as it's the most incredible race ever, in the most passionnated ski country on the most dangerous slope (well in some other words FIS+Austria=F*≠u£ you litle frenchie photographer). Even after 2 month internship at the redBull photofiles I can't have any help on a Red Bull event (waist of time?). But I love that, I've been treated like a king so fare, I shot almost everyday with some of the best rider since january 1st like Richard Permin, Candide Thovex (for his latest movie) , Phil Meier and Arno Rougier (maybe not as known as the other, but this guy is not a "B" rider, he is killing!). So it's good to come down as we all are: fragile mortal humman guy who have to take a shit every single morning! I also had a phone call from a journalist who wanted to know what I was doing since I quiet ski photography…So since I'm retired I'm shooting more than ever!! and to make things clear here is a little slide show from the publication I had in between skieur test 10 and Skieur Test 11, so in between october 10 and November 11, it's about 450 pictures published, definitely my highest rate for the lowest income… I don't care money stinx !

A couple of days ago I did a pretty good day of shooting in Verbier. I was only with Phil Meier, one of my favourite skier (and good friend too). We start before 8 30 and came back at 5, we worked non stop, and it worth it. Skipass.com put my selection online a couple of hours after, the fastest publication ever.

Yesterday I've been invited by Litght and Byte to present my work. It's a good opportunity to work close to them as they are the best camera and equipment provider in Switzerland (I would say they are the Swiss B&H). It was really great but would have been better if my power point worked out. Everything I did during 2 days before the event, didn't work…so I did my best with a couple of blur pictures and the space key and the arrow key to pass from one pictures to the other. In a world of Iphone, 3D and Other Ipad tool I felt realy naked. By the way thank you to Davolo Steiner who help me out to pilote the computer while I was talking…He was invited too to show his work. His presentation was really interesting especially to compare our work, basicaly the same, but so different. I learn a lot listening him…would be a mandatory to meet and talk with other photographers…but I guess it is already!

This morning it was better I found a picture I like in my stock…at least one, life is good.

Last June I was in southwest of France on assignment for the Swatch Girls Pro. During this event I had the opportunity to shoot the top 4 female surfers from an helicopter. I didn't realize right on that this was such a good opportunity.

I am lucky (and often scared) to use a lot this incredible machine to shoot events or skiers in the mountains. But shooting above the sea with surfers underneath is not that common. I realized this afterward talking with some surf photographers. Some of them are used to travel to the best spots on the planet but they never shoot from an heli. Now that I did it once, all I want is to go back there and shoot some more!

As I'm not a surfer myself (I'm surfing like a stone…but keep trying), I have to find my way to be creative in the water. The remote control helicopter was a good experiment and this real heli shooting was another one. I have (at least) 5 more ideas (keep your secrets secret) to go further, but I might need to go in the water too… which is a total new exercise. I only have the Lake Geneva to train, but Team Alinghi used the lake as a training place a couple of years ago, so why not!

At the moment I have those shot from above, probably the easiest way to shoot such a sport, but I was in the front of the heli (and not sat outside as usual) with my phone in one ear and the regular heli headset in the other. This setup allowed me to translate what the french pilot close to me and the Australian guy on the phone were saying to the American cameraman and the austrian photographer behind me...

Also I decided to shoot with a tilt shift lens and my 200mm with the new Canon extender x2. If the first one gets a manual focus the second one only has the central autofocus working (of course the guy from Canon said that it is normal…even if the one they sent me for a week test was working more normally). To make it short this one hour an half was exhausting and I was pretty much sure that I didn't get one acceptable picture. But it seems that I did good enough to make the other photographer (actualy not him but his boss, from Global News Room Agency) unhappy.

So for the second flight they didn't want to have me on board (they needed exclusivity for their clients…) so they killed an other hour and a half flight for nothing as they were not able to communicate with the pilote and not used to shoot from an helicopter. Also the translator they booked did not stop puking during the flight… That iz some bad hat Harry (I don't know what's that mean but I think sounds nice here) !

So here are my pictures, not the best ever but I like a couple of them anyway.

Here is my vision of the Swatch Girls Pro 2011.

The two last month were the busiest of the year. Something unusualy considering I'm mostly working on the snow, so in winter time… here is a quick look back of what happened in my camera, which is not including all the meetings I had, in Bienn, Paris, Biarritz, Marseille, Los Angeles, Annecy, Geneva…and which was in between all that.

June 18th Under the storm: Seems to be perfect to do a summer catalog mid june…it snowed 70 cm at the top of the aiguille du midi. which even not opened considering the wind and the lighting maked it too dangeroos. We did the alpine part on the mer the glace, our guide worked hard to keep us alive as the rocks were falling everywhere, pushed by the heavy rain.

June 19th runing after the sun the weather has been an issue all the winter long with almost nothing falling from the sky, but of course it didn't stay like that when I needed sun. That was my summer catalog 1st part, but I managed to have something.

Swatch Girls Pro mai 31st, june 9th. A week of crazyness in south west of France, from 6 am to 1 am every day, shooting action, portrait, life style, party…On the same day I did an Helicopter shooting, with the top 4 athletes, then a portrait of Miss France and an other one of Bethany Hamilton followed by a moustach and air guitar contest!

Art Rules night Stockholm mai on the 29th, have you ever tried to set up a nice studio in a disco? but have you tried to unset it a 2 am when everybody is drunk and the place packed?

Red Bull Element from the 20th to the 23rd, basicaly it was the hardest of 4 sports including trail runing, mountain biking, paragliding and rowing…but I feel I participate too as I almost run from the top to the bottom twice and with all the gear on…as usually a crazy Red Bull event (on the working side especially) but such a nice crew to work with.

Etnies shoot with Anne Flore Marxer…40°C not outside but inside her as she was totaly sick.

ATR Kicker…the last day of the ski season in Val Thorens,

This winter season was the worst we ever had in europe since we start checking it seriously 60 years ago. So to find some snow is not an easy task and Chamonix has been one of the last place to find some. Of course as we didn't get a single flake for at least a month the only day I expected to have some sun we get a pretty bad day.That's how it is…some told me it's maybe time to change my mind and take an other direction…but I can't imagine my life with no trouble, it would be too easy. I really like Chamonix it's such a nice place, but here you don't feel very confortable, maybe it's all those huge mountains around, but there is something here telling you you're not very welcome.

First the locals, they can't say hello without asking you what you are doing in "their" backyard, even some of my friends. Then the "English" (it's how the local call anybody who doesn't speak french). They are haten by the locals and a little war is on course.

I have to say that I saw one "english" (they were actualy american) almost killing himself after a huge tumble above the rocks at the entrance of the couloir Poubelle. I can't believe he was still alive, as I can't believe his wife is still too as he ask her to go above the cliff he accidentaly jumped up side down, to get his skis. She was a real beginer and was in reall danger, but she get the skis and throw it above the rocks where an another skier was standing. This poor guy (an other English, but from Italy…) almost received it on his head. Finaly I went over my job, more scared than ever by all that, and I met the new local. The new local is a new guy in the valley who try to be even more local than the locals, and so he is even more agressive with the english. Unfortunately for him, only his great, great, great, great grandson will be consider as a local, but he shouldn't learn english at school to have more chance.

Being freelance is more than working in a certain way, it's taking life by an other side. You decide every single morning where you gonna push yourself. Nobody gonna help you. Every day is a new adventure.You don't really work, you live your dream. Sometimes you're exhausted by the amount of work and sometimes desperate by doing nothing. I hate the last situation and if it happens I try to look for new possibilities. It's kind of crazy because the search of something new can also cost you money in a moment you don't have any, the remote controled helicopter shoot is a perfect example. Last fall, I was in this down situation. The 3D project came out of this reflection, I had time but no money. As a couple of year ago I work on a 3D project with Red Bull, I came back on Google and find a new and more efficient way to make a normal picture a 3D one. I did a bunch of try, found what works and what doesn't, then did a couple of sample. I ask a couple of brand if they can be interested. It went out that Oakley wanted to do a full exhibit during the Freeski Film Festival and later on Eider decide to do also a catalog in 3D. The result is great, I didn't reinvent photography but I went thru all the process of a new thing (for me at least!). Here is the Eider catalog, which as been used as a gift for their best costumer and not a final buyer one. I'm proud of it even if they forget to put my credit…

For those for whom numbers matter, youtube gave me a lot of exposure…this probably doesn't make my bank account bigger, but at least let me share my passion of photography and especially the one which allow me to work with athletes, a little bit more than 23 000 view on the Helicam project and 26 000 for the one with windsurf legend Jason Polakow. Considering all that is about me myself and I, I can't keep this portrait, Christophe Margot did during the Verbier Xtrem, with the bec des Rosses and my "take away" studio and the toy Light and Byte lent me, a Broncolor ring flash with an Hasselblad H3D. All that equipement is also a lot about numbers…

As the Verbier Xtreme event, the FWT final, will happen on Sunday, Christophe Margot and I decided to organize a studio shooting with all the riders from the world tour. Helped by Yannick Fluman from Lyte and Byte we seted up a big studio, with a couple of Broncolor strobes and Two Hasselblad H3D. My idea was to do some life style with a ring flash. At the last second I had to change my plan, to jump in the helicopter with all the equipment on my back in order to do a golf shooting at the top of the bec des Rosses at 3222 meters high. Maybe the highest european golf shooting…a last minute shoot which stress me out as it's not the kind of equipement required for a fast shooting. But I did it!

I'm not really matching with the word lucky and when it happens I'm not very comfortable. For our last day in Russia we got a pretty big snow fall and then a perfect blue bird day. I was the only photographer with more than 20 of the best world freeride athlete. Hard to make a choice in between them, some are more famous, some are better(actually not better but have a style I prefer), some have more generous sponsor… I decide to ask my old friend Matti Imbert who is one of the most motivated skier I know, to come along with Julien Lopez. They came with Samuel Hantamaten a mountain guide from Zermatt who actually won the Russian FWT stop. I discover that he was also such a good mountain guide which relax me a lot as the avalanche danger was pretty high. Igor a very good Russian skier came along too but as he didn't took his pieps we ask him to go back home… But the lucky part is that the top of the resort was closed and the bottom part turn into melting snow as the temperature increase dramaticly. We all wait for an hour front of the lift, with mountain guide and athlete. Sudenly they let only 4 people to go up, me and my little crew. We still didn't know why and how…it was pure hasard. As they let us do that once we were able to take it twice and then be able to have a full mountain only for us…I still can't believe it, it's what we call the Russian mistery.