It’s got to be said, trite as it may sound – the real winners at Kokanee Crankworx’ Deep Summer photo showdown are the audience members. 6 photographers wrangling crews of 6-10 athletes, editors, assistants and moral-supporters, over 72 hours, dedicated purely to art?
A quick crunch of the numbers and that’s 3500 hours of creative intensity (in what Tim Zimmerman called “biblical conditions”) all culminating in one darkened screening. A giant scooping of dedication and passion. Plenty of humour. Eye-candy. And a shot in the arm of bike love.
Check out Blake Jorgenson’s behind-the-scenes shots from day three of the challenge.
Tim Zimmerman’s RIP Summer gave the Grim Reaper his comedic due – because the Reaper (as Bill and Ted knew) is a funny dude. (Loved the shot of the two freaked out kids riding the chair next to the Dark One.) Dan Barham kept the mood light with his 5 Stages of Bummer Summer, taking us from Denial (it’s amazing what a fruity cocktail with an umbrella in it can do for your head-space) and Anger right through to Acceptance. John Wellburn, pride of the Cariboo, played his wild card with finesse, proving that coming from the dry and dust of Williams Lake (the “Shangri-La of mountain biking”) certainly doesn’t preclude you from capturing the moss-and-fog of Whistler in its current ironic version of “deep summer.” Justin Olsen was gracious about sharing the screen with his own icons, like Margus Riga’s crew of Froriders (Schley, Simmons and Tippie, whose raucous laugh soundtracked large chunks of Riga’s show, alongside Johnny Cash’s Further on Up the Road.) Olsen’s “behind the scenes of a photo showdown” approach was as much a testament to the beauty of photography as biking, giving us all a great insight into how some of those shots are captured. (Nice chest cam.) And Robin O’Neill, who won the event with an “all killer, no filler” show, turned her lens on the guys behind Chromag, local bike fanatics who were supported with high-action efforts from Chromag riders Matt Hunter and Brandon Semenuk.
Respect to all the teams. Thanks for the ride. See you on the trail.
