So I've had this idea for a little while now on the back burner. It's nothing completely wild, but I thought it might be an interesting concept.
I needed: an easy-going, talented skier, a trampoline, space for a trampoline, and some lights.
The skier was the day part, I know plenty, and most of them are keen to jump on a trampoline in full ski gear, but I chose Ryder. Ryder is a young gun out of Whistler, skiing for Salomon and guiding at Whistler Blackcomb. I had only shot with Ryder once before, but I knew he is incredibly good at twisting into wild shapes with minimal amounts of airtime.
The trampoline and space for the trampoline turned out to be the tricky bit, as for a while I didn't have anywhere to put one, and the was a high likelihood that a ski edge would rip it so renting or borrowing one was out the question. Enter: Facebook Marketplace. After a while of casually keeping an eye out, I found a free trampoline! Even better, it was just up the road from my house, which is good because it didn't fully disassemble...
Well there I had it, the trampoline was set, I tacked up a black backdrop from the patio railing and set up my lights. Time to bounce.
Ryder arrived and we didn't really know how it was going to feel to be bouncing on a 14ft trampoline with 180cm skis, and we didn't know if the edges would immediately tear the trampoline, but Ryder jumped on and gave it a shot. He originally estimated he would get maybe a few feet of air, but within a couple of bounces he was consistently 4-5ft up, giving him a good amount of time to click into a trick.
We worked on different tricks with different lenses, each time making sure to get the body position just right so I was happy with the shot, and Ryder was happy with the trick. We ended up coming out of it with a number of great options, with angles and lighting that you would never be able to get on a ski hill. And with that, the project was a success in my mind. I set out to get close angles of ski tricks, with lighting you could only find in a studio.
