It is the same reaction I receive when I tell people that mountain biking is big in Indiana. They are like what, no way, but yes it is and growing stronger every year. Skiing and snowboarding is also a popular activity with a few good spots within the state to rip up the powder. One of those great spots is Perfect North Slopes in southeastern Indiana. For a 3rd year Perfect North held their Big Air Competition where amateurs and pros competed peforming various turns flips and all kinds of dope tricks off of the jumps. So I packed up my gear and jumped in the car for the hour and half drive down south to hopefully catch some epic big air and stunts. Make the jump and I’ll share with you the images and story of this excellent event.
On this little adventure I was joined by Kim Tricoche, a friend, fellow photographer, and snowboarder who hails from Salt Lake City Utah. Kim was somewhat apprehensive about a so called ‘ski resort’ in Indiana since she is from a place with real mountains and awesome downhills. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much myself, I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like what one would find out west. As we neared Perfect North you knew you were close as you could easily see the lighted slopes from quite far away. Though from the lights you could tell that it was actually good sized. As we pulled into the entrance it was evident that this was quite a bit more than just a few slopes down a small hill, it was actually quite large. The place was packed with people and finding parking took a bit of driving around. The Big Air competition began at 7 p.m. with the amateurs going first and then the pro’s making their runs at 8. We had arrived just in time, it was around 6:30 when we parked and that gave us plenty of time to get up to the lodge and find out where we needed to be.
As we made the walk from the car to the lodge I was really taken aback at the size of the place. To me the slopes were good sized and based on what Kim has said I can’t imagine how extremely large the slopes are out west at some of the major ski resorts. Upon entering the lodge we headed for the information desk and inquired as to where photographers could go to get the best shots. They called up one of the event staff and he made some calls on his radio and then guided us on how to get up to the jump area where other photographers had positioned themselves. I was stoked that we were going to get to be right up where the action was taking place. Kim and I made the small hike up the side of the slope to where the jumps had been setup, one for the amateurs and one for the pros.
At the jump site they had setup some scaffolding which is where the judges for the competition sat providing them a good view of the athletes as they made their jumps. There were also other photographers and videographers hanging out around the jumps. The photographers that worked for Perfect North had setup some strobes with soft boxes to light up the athletes. Kim and I sat our bags down by the scaffolding and we pulled out what equipment we thought we would need.
I decided to go with my 28-70mm for my lens and grabbed my SB-800 Speedlight along with my SC-17 flash cable. The 28-70mm lens gave me wiggle room to zoom out or in and isolate the athlete as they made their jump. I set my camera at ISO 400 with an aperture of f/8 and using my Speedlight in manual mode setting it to full power I was able to shoot with a shutter speed of 1/100 sec. Since it was dark out by the time the competition started I knew focusing would be a problem, being so close to the athletes as they came off the jumps setting the camera to continuos mode and trying to track them would be very challenging. So what I did was to focus the camera by pointing it at the ground in the middle of the jump path, then setting the camera to manual focus. Figuring the athletes would stay close to the center of the ramp and thus their trajectory path being rather centered in front of the jump, combined with shooting at f/8 which would give me a better depth of field, I knew this should provide me with in focus images even if the athletes strayed off of center a bit. Every so often I would check my focus by pointing the camera back to the center of the jump path and looking at the range finder circle to make sure it was solid green. Only a few times did I have to readjust focus by switching the auto-focus back on, doing a quick refocus and then turning it back to manual. This strategy worked very well and I was able to concentrate on following the athletes as they came down the hill towards the ramp and then snapping a shot off as they went into the air.
With my Speedlight attached to the SC-17 cable I hand held it up high above the camera at arms length. Then as an athlete came off the jump I would pan following the athlete through the air with both camera and Speedlight snapping off the shot at what I thought was the appropriate time. Once again this strategy worked well and I was able to light the athlete effectively.
The other challenge I faced was capturing the athletes without also getting all the other strobes and flashes going off in the background. For this I decided to kneel down shooting upward at the athlete which eliminated the other photogs with their lights. There were a few times when getting them in the shot couldn’t be fully avoided but it wasn’t anything I could fix in post production.
Speaking of post production, I decided to change all the backgrounds to complete white. Of course they were completely black in the original images due to the event being held at night. I felt that the black background mixed with the darker color clothing most athletes wore caused them to fade into the background, there was just no clear definition between them and the background. I like the results with the white background, it really makes the athletes pop from off the page.
Overall this was an amazing experience. The competition was absolutely fun to witness in person, probably even more so because we were able to get right up at the action. All the people there were so friendly and helpful. The photogs that were around us were fun and thoughtful as they attempted to make sure and not get in your shot. Perfect North was a pleasant surprise as far as being a great place to go skiing or snowboarding in Indiana, who would have thought such a cool place existed in what is typically thought of as a flat, full of corn fields state.
~ William