RedBull Illume

The Story

Background: 

The photo with Teddy and the cliff was a remittance work. A Sponsor invited me to shoot the Rock Star Energy team meeting. That was in Saas Fee.. On these 5 days we had gloriously blue sky, but bitter cold days with temperatures between -15 and -20 degrees in the day. The mission was to take one action photo from each team members.

I’d never met or heard about Teddy before that week. There has been one story the tour manager told me, that there will be a teamrider who did a huge naked backflip on skis a couple of weeks before. That's freeze!

The Scene: 

I discovered the spot at Saas Fee´s glacier in 2010 the first time. For me this was the perfect spot for Teddy for this mission. The spot is not easy to hit. It has an icy, short inrun. If you slide away, you fall into the depths of the glacier. As Teddy is a professional free skier, he needs a challenge like this.

It´s a simple rule to follow:

To trigger the sweetshot, it´s much easier if you talk about the perfect moment beforehand. Communication is a big thing and makes life easier — photography too. Because during the shooting, you are a team, and good teamwork means good communication.

Advice:

Follow your passion. The best advice I can give is to create the photo in your mind and communicate concretely with your athletes about your ideas. At the same time, you have to be as professional as the guy in front of your lens.

Shooting action sports is like shooting advertising, it´s more scenic that you think.