POV project
By Luke Phillips
23 September 2007
I started with a plan to shoot some fresh angles and particularly the riders point of view when snowboarding...then I saw how far I could take it...
I used to love riding down things on bikes and boards since I was a kid. There is shaky footage in storage somewhere from an old camcorder of bombing runs on skis age 6. I liked the feeling of showing a point of view that no one else saw, that upclose angle that connected the observer to the riders POV.
One day I bought an old battered 35mm Canon SLR, a 100 rolls of film and went riding. After a long while I worked out what looked good and what was another wasted roll of film.
Then I started hitting jumps.
Stuart Coburn was the first to try the Chase cam idea. At the end of one spring day, he got on the chairlift with me, saying he was getting his bag at the top and going down to the village. I set to work. By the time we had reached the top, I had convinced him to pull a backflip indy for the first time in about 12 month...with me close behind him. I was vague on details, reassuring and encouraging instead, just winding him up to not be a pussy and do it.
Unbelievably, the haze came in as we set up, and the light was blown by the time we hit it.....with the focus set at 2 metres it wasn't as close as I wanted either but it was a start though. Thanks Stu.
Next came a session with Olly Plumley and a load of French Canadians hanging out on the smaller shack jump. He wouldnt accept my suggestions of fame by trying to backflip, but pulled some fakie mutes to match up.
The results were starting to work better, and I wasnt totally shitting myself being so close to people in the air, although it was far from comfortable.
Jonny Caulfield was my fully fledged crash test dummy for the next chasecam shoot, being that the focus was set to 1 metre and if we crashed I would be using him as my impact pillow....
Jonny is a Brit who has spent most of his life in Canada. He has no sponsors but regularly lays down 9's in the park, and big mountain lines too. I've known him for years and trust his skills.
On the run in to the biggest shack jump, Jonny stood looking at the jump. He glanced up at me and I gave him a thumbs up. I started moving just before him and we both pointed our noses straight down. He pulled a backflip melon grab, smoothly boned out and stylish. Unfortunately I freaked out that I was too close to him and flapped my way to a scruffy landing, pasting the lens in snow.
For round two, I was still frighteningly close but solid on the takeoff. Jonny again floated a perfect backflip melon. I remember the rail of his board flashing past my face in the sun as he flipped. I was gaining on him in the air and slapped in to him after we put our boards down. We both kept the boards pointed straight and managed to ride away though...
One more attempt and I let him get a little away from me in the air as he boned the flip out ridiculously.
That photo, the main shot above, was the end result of a lot of sometimes painful and exhilarating trial and error, a lot of film, and a desire to find a new angle...
More Photo Essays
Thanks for letting us know!
Thanks for voicing your concerns. Rest assured, we take it seriously. We'll look into it and take any appropriate action.
