Wheels & Wax

Now in its sophomore run, the Ski Salt Lake Shootout is again pairing up photographers and local pro athletes to battle it out for cash prizes and bragging rights as they attempt to capture the magic of the Cottonwood Canyon resorts and Ski Salt Lake on film and sensor. Ski Salt Lake and its four resort partners are pairing five (5) of the world’s most recognized ski photographers with the freshest local big-mountain skiing talent in a peak-packed venue that receives more than 500 inches of “The Greatest Snow on Earth” each year. Two coveted positions will also be held for local photographers poised to break onto the scene with their undiscovered talent behind the lens. As an added bonus for shooting last year’s Grand Prize image, photographer Grant Gunderson is being invited back to defend his title.

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Tim Kemple - Interviewed by Brian Garson

This week we have an interview with a long time member of Wheels and Wax and a fantastic climbing and outdoors photographer Tim Kemple.  He’s 27 years old and based out of Salt Lake City.  You can check out his blog which he updates pretty frequently here: http://kemplemedia.com/blog/

When did you pick up your first camera?

I grew up in New Hampshire and bought a N90 after I graduated High School in ‘99. I was going on a summer long road trip with a bunch of friends. I didn’t have enough money for much else, so I borrowed a lens and was given a bunch of expired slide film. My goal was to document our road trip and do a slide show when I got back home.

A few years ago I gave one of my friends a block of expired Velvia for her trip to NewZealand and let her borrow a camera, she came back with some sick photos, I was so stoked.  So how did the first road trip go, were the photos a success?

Well being broke and on the road sucked, we weren’t running the AC because we thought we could save money on gas, we ate buttered bagels from Einstein’s for under a dollar, and would poach hotel swimming pools for ’showers’… but I shot lots of photos, they sucked, but I was learning and I came back with a slide show to go with all my stories.

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Another look into what a couple of the professional members of the forums carry with them when they head out on shoots. This week we have Chris Christie, Brian Hockenstein and Grand Gunderson.

Name: Chris Christie - http://www.christie-images.com/
Location: Squampton/Whistler
Primary Subject: Skiing/Adventure Lifestyle
What’s in the bag: Canon Mark II, 5d
300mm 2.8, 70-200 2.8, 24-70 2.8, 17-40 4.0, 15mm Fishy, 90mm 2.8 Tilt/Shift
2-Canon 580’s, 1 Vivitar 285, Ranger RX Speed, 2 Multi Max, 3 Plus wizards, 2-A Heads, Sekonic 358
F-Stop Bags of all sorts.
Lowe-Pro Super Trekker for my lunch.
09 Everest 800 154 to get me to the goods.

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Unlike other Canadian independent creators (creators who are not employees), photographers are NOT automatically the first owners of copyright in their work. Canada’s copyright law singles out photographs and some other types of commissioned artistic works for different treatment.

Section 13(2) of the Canadian Copyright Act states that the copyright owner is the one who commissions and pays for the photograph. In other words, provided a client or buyer commissions the production of a photograph and pays for such a work, the client/buyer automatically holds the copyright on the photograph - not the photographer - unless the buyer and photographer have an agreement to the contrary. The Copyright Act applies this provision to a portrait or other original created on a commission basis, but doesn’t specifically define what types of commissioned illustrations this includes..

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Lets start with the basics, what’s your name, age and where do you live?
My name is Owen Woytowich. I’m twenty-five and I currently am kicking it in Toronto, Ontario.

Do you have a blog, website?
I have my one blogspot one, which is shutterdopes.blogspot.com . I also was enlisted to contribute one to the bneeth.com community, so I post on that too from time to time.

How long have you been shooting skating, and how did you get started?
I have been shooting skateboard photos for about ten years now. I actually started out with a camcorder though bro-filming my brothers and friends. Then one day there was this snowboard/skateboard contest thingy in Saskatoon where I somehow scammed a media pass that got me all access. I borrowed a high school Pentax K-1000 and nabbed a few shots that had me stoked. My high school graphic arts teacher Cam Sikorsy was super supportive and let me display all these horrible photos in an exhibit and just encouraged me to keep at it. Gave me all the darkroom time in the world to make prints, and do other things… and I just kept at ‘er. My parents gave me a manual Pentax camera for grad and I just kept snapping away. No training, just trial and error with film…which I swear is the best way to learn. I used to tag along and study a local photographer too, Darrin Langhorst for any crumbs of information he might have dropped while he shot skating, but was always to afraid to ask. Ha-ha. Working at a camera shop helped a lot too. Aside from that, just submitting and hopefully getting lucky enough to have my work printed.

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Interviewed by Tim Kemple - http://kemplemedia.com

One of the best things, if not the best thing, about being a photographer is all of the cool people — from all over the world — you get to meet. From athletes to creatives, the people I share time with are just plane [sic] awesome. Plus there’s no better way to learn more about what’s going on in the outdoor industry or the photo world than to hear it from the people that are shaping its future. So with that idea in mind I’m excited to roll out my first one on one interview written exclusively for this blog. I’m not sure what I’m going to call these yet, maybe ummm… Straight Talk..?!

Who: Matt Stark
What: Founder and Editor of the new Deadpoint Magazine (www.deadpointmag.com) a new online and print publication with a primary focus on the young/urban climbing market.

What’s your title at the magazine?

I act as the editor and chief, but honestly, that title sounds a bit pretentious so I try to avoid such titles… We share many responsibilities at the magazine. Some days I am editing photos or text, other days I am licking envelopes. Licking envelopes sucks, so I would hate to ask one of our employees to do it, so I’ll get my tongue wet to keep them happy. (insert joke here)

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Interviewed by Jonathan Kirby

Well I guess we’ll start off with the basics here: so where are you originally from and what brought you to Whistler? I was born in Montreal and studied photography in a french college called Cegep Du Vieux Montréal in downtown Montreal. I left the East Coast for Whistler in 1986 in search of big mountains. I was an avid skier and wanted more that what the East had to offer. I was not disappointed and am celebrating my twentieth year in Whistler.

How did you get started in the whole photography thing? It started in high school. I was discussing course options with a councilor and as he was going through a list of options, photography caught my attention. I took two years of it in high school and was encouraged by my teacher to follow through with college courses. I followed his advice and did a three year photography major at Cegep Du Vieux Monréal. Things progressed from there.

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Robert Benson successfully created a long range radio camera trigger using walkie-talkies available from Walmart.  He started working on the project after shooting a Redbull Air race in San Fransisco where his pocketwizard remote trigger set up failed because the distance was too great.  After that race he worked on some alternatives and ultimately came up with this super long range radio based trigger for remote cameras.  He currently has a patent pending on it, to find out more visit his blog: http://www.robertbenson.com/blog/archives/860

Recently I sent out an email to a few of the professional photographers who frequent this board with a simple question, what gear are you rocking?  I didn’t think as many would get back to me as they did, so it looks like we have a 3 or possibly 4 part article in the works.  The question is simple, the answers, also straight forward, it’s just a chance to get a look into what tools certain professionals use to keep them employed.  This week we have answers from Mountain Bike photographer Fraser Britton, Skateboard Photographer Shane Hutton & Commercial Outdoor Photographer Tim Kemple.
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Lets start with the basics, where are you from, where do you live, how old are you, and how long have you been making it?

I call Vancouver home, but when the snow falls I head to Whistler for the winter. I turned 24 today, I hate getting older. However, its been a great year. I’ve been doing this thing professional for 3 or so years now and this year has been the best.

What type of gear do you typically take out with you on a shoot?

Typically I try not to load my pack up too much. I like to be able to ski and hike without having to compromise speed and fun. I shoot with a smaller body (D200 and more recently a D700) plus a fisheye, 80-200, 50, 28, and a tilt shift. I bring lights when I know I’ll use them for sure, but thats not day to day.

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